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Synopsis of Olaf Witkowski’s Consciousness Club Talk 10/25/2017

Abstract:  Information is found all across the domain of physics, seemingly retaining all its properties regardless of the media in which it is instantiated. Substrate-independence and interoperability made possible symbolic representations such as the genetic code, allowing for life to develop upon it. The next transition closed the loop by producing organisms increasingly aware of their environment. This eventually led to human life, capable of learning the underlying principles that created it, with the invention of language and science.
      I focus my research on collective cognition, which one can see as the informational software to life's physical hardware......

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[#16]  Evolution of Parts and Wholes in Life-Like Entities

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[#16] Evolution of Parts and Wholes in Life-Like Entities

In nature, culture, and technology, surprising novelty has appeared as products of ongoing evolution.  Many new forms  of organization are themselves remarkably life-like.  A key aspect is that their building blocks evolve together with  their structures and processes -- and so do we, as building blocks of many overlapping societal systems.

By Piet Hut

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Synopsis of 9/30/17 YHouse Lunch talk by Ohad Nachtomy

Title: The Psycho-Physical Lab

Ohad is working on a book with this title about the Mind/Body problem in philosophy and links to the practice of Yoga.  This book is not intended as an academic contribution to research but for a broader audience.  His coauthor, Eyal  Shifroni, Has been a yoga teacher for years.  He argues that reflective yoga practice goes beyond health, but offers a way to engage body and mind to train each other.  We use our physical abilities and limitations to train our mental capacities, and vice versa, to improve each.  Reflective practice is essential to development.  He emphasizes practice with less effort and more attention.  This does involve posture and breathing exercises, but to what purpose?  We cannot make sense of mental states without referring to our physical bodies.  Body and Mind are interconnected.  We train the body through reflective processes and improve the whole being......

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SYNOPSIS OF LIAT LAVI'S IAS LUNCHEON TALK ON SEPT. 28, 2017

In my talk I will present the account of understanding I am developing under the title of 'expectationalism'. The account draws heavily on Jamesian Pragmatism and the thought of Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty. Its central premises are: 1. That the meaning of something is its consequences, and to understand something is to grasp its consequences. and 2. That expectations are not some internal content, but are rather actualized by our bodies. I will link this account with contemporary approaches in cognitive science and philosophy of mind, and suggest that if the account is correct this implies that strong AI is possible and that limited instances of it already exist......

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[#15]  Computer Simulations as Dynamical Metaphors

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[#15] Computer Simulations as Dynamical Metaphors

To point out something really new, we can use a quick metaphor or we can take our time to tell a story that is richer in details.  A computer simulation can do both: pointing out a few salient characteristics of a situation as a kind of metaphor, and then letting it run to dynamically produce its own narrative.

By Piet Hut

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Synopsis of Randall Beer’s YHouse Luncheon talk 10/19/17

Abstract: "I will briefly describe two intertwined research programs. The first concerns issues of embodiment, situatedness and dynamics in understanding how an animal's behavior arises from the interaction between its nervous system, its body and its environment. Specifically, we use genetic algorithms to evolve model brain-body-environment systems and then analyze their operation using the tools of dynamical systems theory and information theory. This approach has been applied to a wide variety of behaviors, including locomotion, action-switching, learning, categorization, selective attention, and referential communication. The second concerns the organization of minimal living systems and its consequences. Specifically, we analyze  persistent spatiotemporal entities in cellular automata models from the perspective of autopoiesis and enaction. We identify the local processes that underlie

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Synopsis of Consciousness Club talk Oct. 11, 2017 by Yuko Ishihara

Speaker:  Yuko Ishihara
Title:  Consciousness: not a “thing” but a “place”.
We Work, 110 E 28th Street NYC, NY.

Abstract:  Modern western thought has given consciousness a special place in the understanding of human beings. According to Descartes, it is the fact that we are "thinking things" that sets us apart from unconscious things like a desk or a pen. While scientists and philosophers today disagree with Descartes on what constitutes the nature of the thinking thing, most people agree on the basic Cartesian assumption: that consciousness is a kind of "thing."
But can we not question this assumption? Putting aside all theories, our direct experience teaches us that consciousness does not primarily appear as a thing. Rather, it appears more as a ground or "place" wherein our experience occurs. Drawing on insights from twentieth-century philosophers like Martin Heidegger and Nishida Kitaro who developed a philosophy of place, let us think together about what it really means to understand consciousness not as a "thing" but as a "place." Perhaps such ideas can open doors towards a better understanding on the nature of consciousness.
    

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[#14]  Kindred Spirits: Meeting Carl Pabo

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[#14] Kindred Spirits: Meeting Carl Pabo

This weekend I flew out to San Francisco, to meet Carl Pabo.  We have only met a few times since we first met 12 years ago, but we are clearly kindred spirits.  We both want to radically change the way our society deals with knowledge, and after a few decades of exploration, we each are in the process of building up an organization that aims at doing just that.  The difference is . . . 

By Piet Hut

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[#13]  Experiencing Theory: The Gate To Understanding

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[#13] Experiencing Theory: The Gate To Understanding

Science is based on theory and experiment.  But to understand theory, we need to experience theory.  Unless we fall into an experience of mathematics, we cannot know what theory means, and we cannot compare theory and experiment.  In experiencing theory, I have encountered three very different levels of insight.

By Piet Hut

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Synopsis of YHOUSE CONSCIOUSNESS CLUB TALK by PIET HUT SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

Synopsis of YHouse Consciousness Club Talk September 13, 2017
Speaker:  Piet Hut
Location:  WeWork 110 E. 28th St. NYC
Title:  The Nature Of Reality

Following introductions of YHouse by Sean Sakamoto and of Piet by Ed Turner, 
      Piet began noting that his topic included everything in the Universe, but he would focus on the Nature of Consciousness and Cognition.  Although he is a scientist he would be influenced by his reading of both Western and Eastern Philosophy, areas he has been deeply involved in for decades.
     Forty or fifty years from now.....

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[#11]  Pioneering Years in AI in Astrophysics

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[#11] Pioneering Years in AI in Astrophysics

This week, exactly thirty years ago, Scientific American published a special issue on advanced computing.  My computer scientist friend, Gerald Sussman, and I received the honor of being asked to write the article on Advanced Computing for Science.  All of science!  That was a daunting task.
By Piet Hut

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[#10]  The Nature of Reality: Matter, Experience, Appearance, Presence

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[#10] The Nature of Reality: Matter, Experience, Appearance, Presence

A few days ago I gave a short talk, followed by a much longer discussion, in the Consciousness Club series at YHouse.  The topic was the nature of reality, with the full title "Matter, Experience, and Reality".  Actually, I wound up talking about two more aspects of reality that we consciously partake in: what I like to call appearance and presence.
By Piet Hut

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[#9]  Mind and Magnetic Monopoles: Matter, Mind and Magic

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[#9] Mind and Magnetic Monopoles: Matter, Mind and Magic

Breakthroughs in science are often triggered by a realization that one or more of our assumptions were wrong.  In the rapid growth of experimental and theoretical insights in neuroscience, which of the underlying assumptions could be candidates for revision, potentially inducing a big shift in understanding?
By Piet Hut

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[#8]  Universal Biology: the Next Frontier in Science

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[#8] Universal Biology: the Next Frontier in Science

I gave a talk at a workshop on the topic of Universal Biology, a little over a week ago, at the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) in Tokyo. The title of my talk was From Universal Biology to Universal Science, in which I argued that the structure of science can be understood as a generalization of a generalization of biology.
By Piet Hut

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[#7]  Is Science Really Empirical?

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[#7] Is Science Really Empirical?

The International Society for Theoretical Psychology holds its main conferences every two years in a different country.   This year the choice was Japan, and last week its members came together in Rikkyo University, one of the most prominent private universities in Tokyo.
By Piet Hut

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[#6]  Open Source Revolutions, in the 17th and 20th Centuries

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[#6] Open Source Revolutions, in the 17th and 20th Centuries

I was an enthusiastic proponent of the Open Source Movement, almost from the day that I encountered the Unix programming environment.  I very quickly realized how powerful it was, to write software that is very modular, and where the modules could be shared freely among anyone on the planet.


By Piet Hut

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