13,157 research outputs found
Dialectica Interpretation with Marked Counterexamples
Goedel's functional "Dialectica" interpretation can be used to extract
functional programs from non-constructive proofs in arithmetic by employing two
sorts of higher-order witnessing terms: positive realisers and negative
counterexamples. In the original interpretation decidability of atoms is
required to compute the correct counterexample from a set of candidates. When
combined with recursion, this choice needs to be made for every step in the
extracted program, however, in some special cases the decision on negative
witnesses can be calculated only once. We present a variant of the
interpretation in which the time complexity of extracted programs can be
improved by marking the chosen witness and thus avoiding recomputation. The
achieved effect is similar to using an abortive control operator to interpret
computational content of non-constructive principles.Comment: In Proceedings CL&C 2010, arXiv:1101.520
A New Foundation for the Propensity Interpretation of Fitness
The propensity interpretation of fitness (PIF) is commonly taken to be subject to a set of simple counterexamples. We argue that three of the most important of these are not counterexamples to the PIF itself, but only to the traditional mathematical model of this propensity: fitness as expected number of offspring. They fail to demonstrate that a new mathematical model of the PIF could not succeed where this older model fails. We then propose a new formalization of the PIF that avoids these (and other) counterexamples. By producing a counterexample-free model of the PIF, we call into question one of the primary motivations for adopting the statisticalist interpretation of fitness. In addition, this new model has the benefit of being more closely allied with contemporary mathematical biology than the traditional model of the PIF
Extending Nunchaku to Dependent Type Theory
Nunchaku is a new higher-order counterexample generator based on a sequence
of transformations from polymorphic higher-order logic to first-order logic.
Unlike its predecessor Nitpick for Isabelle, it is designed as a stand-alone
tool, with frontends for various proof assistants. In this short paper, we
present some ideas to extend Nunchaku with partial support for dependent types
and type classes, to make frontends for Coq and other systems based on
dependent type theory more useful.Comment: In Proceedings HaTT 2016, arXiv:1606.0542
The puzzle of the laws of appearance
In this paper I will present a puzzle about visual appearance. There are certain necessary constraints on how things can visually appear. The puzzle is about how to explain them. I have no satisfying solution. My main thesis is simply that the puzzle is a puzzle. I will develop the puzzle as it arises for representationalism about experience because it is currently the most popular theory of experience and I think it is along the right lines. However, everyone faces a form of the puzzle, including the naïve realist. In §1 I explain representationalism about experience. In §§2-3 I develop the puzzle and criticize a response due to Ned Block and Jeff Speaks and another response based on a novel form of representationalism (“sensa representationalism”). In §4 I argue that defenders of “perceptual confidence” (Morrison, Munton, my earlier self) face an instance of the puzzle. In §5 I suggest that everyone faces a form of the puzzle
The Consistency dimension and distribution-dependent learning from queries
We prove a new combinatorial characterization of polynomial
learnability from equivalence queries, and state some of its
consequences relating the learnability of a class with the
learnability via equivalence and membership queries of its
subclasses obtained by restricting the instance space.
Then we propose and study two models of query learning in which there
is a probability distribution on the instance space, both as an
application of the tools developed from the combinatorial
characterization and as models of independent interest.Postprint (published version
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