Disagreement and Philosophical Progress

In “Belief in the Face of Controversy,” Hilary Kornblith argues for a radical form of epistemic modesty: given that there has been no demonstrable cumulativeprogress in the history of philosophy – as there has been in formal logic, math, and science – Kornblith concludes that philosophers do not have the epistemic credibility to be trusted as authorities on the questions they attempt to answer. After reconstructing Kornblith's position, I will suggest that it requires us to adopt a different conception of philosophy's epistemic value. First, I will argue that ‘progress’ has a different meaning in logic, science and philosophy, and that to judge one of these disciplines by the standards appropriate to one of the others obscures the unique epistemic functions of all. Second, I will argue that philosophy is epistemically unique in that it is a non-relativistic but historically determined excavation of foundations. Finally, drawing on Frank Herbert's Dune, I will suggest that Kornblith leaves us with a choice between two epistemic ideals: the hyper-logical ‘Mentat,’ or the historically informed ‘pre-born.

Higher-dimensional realizability for intensional type theory

We develop realizability models of intensional type theory, based on groupoids, wherein realizers themselves carry higher-dimensional structure. In the spirit of realizability this is intended to formalise a higher-dimensional (topological, homotopical) BHK interpretation whereby evidence for an identification is a path. The parameter over which we build realizability models is a "realizer category". These are equipped with an interval qua internal co-groupoid, which facilitates a notion of homotopy in the ambient category, as well as a fundamental groupoid construction on it. In groupoidal realizability, objects of a base groupoid are realized by points in the fundamental groupoid of some object from the realizer category, and the isomorphisms from the base groupoid are realized by paths in that fundamental groupoid. We first explain why a naive formulation of groupoidal assemblies is not fit for modelling type theory; this motivates studying partitioned groupoidal assemblies. The main result of the thesis is that, when the realizer category is finitely complete in a suitable sense, the ensuing category of partitioned groupoidal assemblies is a path category with weak dependent products, hence a model of a version of intensional (1-truncated) type theory with dependent products and without function extensionality. When the underlying realizer category is "untyped", there exists an impredicative universe of 1-types, given by the modest fibrations

Fashion-able. Hacktivism and engaged fashion design

This thesis consists of a series of extensive projects which aim to explore a new designer role for fashion. It is a role that experiments with how fashion can be reverse engineered, hacked, tuned and shared among many participants as a form of social activism. This social design practice can be called the hacktivism of fashion. It is an engaged and collective process of enablement, creative resistance and DIY practice, where a community share methods and experiences on how to expand action spaces and develop new forms of craftsmanship. In this practice, the designer engages participants to reform fashion from a phenomenon of dictations and anxiety to a collective experience of empowerment, in other words, to make them become fashion-able. As its point of departure, the research takes the practice of hands-on exploration in the DIY upcycling of clothes through “open source” fashion “cookbooks”. By means of hands-on processes, the projects endeavour to create a complementary understanding of the modes of production within the field of fashion design. The artistic research projects have ranged from DIY-kits released at an international fashion week, fashion experiments in galleries, collaborative “hacking” at a shoe factory, engaged design at a rehabilitation centre as well as combined efforts with established fashion brands. Using parallels from hacking, heresy, fan fiction, small change and professional-amateurs, the thesis builds a non-linear framework by which the reader can draw diagonal interpretations through the artistic research projects presented. By means of this alternative reading new understandings may emerge that can expand the action spaces available for fashion design. This approach is not about subverting fashion as much as hacking and tuning it, and making its sub-routines run in new ways, or in other words, bending the current while still keeping the power on

The Chawton House Experience - Augmenting the Grounds of a Historic Manor House

Museum research is a burgeoning area of research where ubiquitous computing has already made an impact in enhancing user experiences. The goal of the Chawton House project is to extend this work by introducing ubicomp not to a museum as such, but a historic English manor house and its grounds. This presents a number of novel challenges relating to the kinds of visitors, the nature of visits, the specific character of the estate, the creation of a persistent and evolving system, and the process of developing it together with Chawton House staff

On the design of an implementation of kinetic minimum spanning trees

En aquest projecte dissenyem una possible implementació dels arbres cinètics d'expansió mínims proposats teòricament per Agarwal et al. a 'Parametric and kinetic minimum spanning trees'. El problema que es vol resoldre amb aquesta proposta és el de mantenir un arbre d'expansió mínim d'un graf amb pesos que canvia al llarg del temps. Els possibles canvis del graf són causats per canvis als pesos de les arestes -els quals són funció d'un paràmetre t que representa el temps- a més de permetre addicions i supressions d'arestes i actualitzacions de la funció de càlcul del pes de les arestes.In this project, we design a possible implementation of kinetic minimum spanning trees proposed theoretically by Agarwal et al. in 'Parametric and kinetic minimum spanning trees'. The problem we try to solve with this proposal is to maintain a minimum spanning tree of an edge-weighted graph that changes through time. The possible changes in the graph come from changes in the edge weights -which are functions of a parameter t which represents time- in addition to permitting additions and deletions of vertices and edges and updates to the edge weight calculation function

High-Level Object Oriented Genetic Programming in Logistic Warehouse Optimization

Disertační práce je zaměřena na optimalizaci průběhu pracovních operací v logistických skladech a distribučních centrech. Hlavním cílem je optimalizovat procesy plánování, rozvrhování a odbavování. Jelikož jde o problém patřící do třídy složitosti NP-težký, je výpočetně velmi náročné nalézt optimální řešení. Motivací pro řešení této práce je vyplnění pomyslné mezery mezi metodami zkoumanými na vědecké a akademické půdě a metodami používanými v produkčních komerčních prostředích. Jádro optimalizačního algoritmu je založeno na základě genetického programování řízeného bezkontextovou gramatikou. Hlavním přínosem této práce je a) navrhnout nový optimalizační algoritmus, který respektuje následující optimalizační podmínky: celkový čas zpracování, využití zdrojů, a zahlcení skladových uliček, které může nastat během zpracování úkolů, b) analyzovat historická data z provozu skladu a vyvinout sadu testovacích příkladů, které mohou sloužit jako referenční výsledky pro další výzkum, a dále c) pokusit se předčit stanovené referenční výsledky dosažené kvalifikovaným a trénovaným operačním manažerem jednoho z největších skladů ve střední Evropě.This work is focused on the work-flow optimization in logistic warehouses and distribution centers. The main aim is to optimize process planning, scheduling, and dispatching. The problem is quite accented in recent years. The problem is of NP hard class of problems and where is very computationally demanding to find an optimal solution. The main motivation for solving this problem is to fill the gap between the new optimization methods developed by researchers in academic world and the methods used in business world. The core of the optimization algorithm is built on the genetic programming driven by the context-free grammar. The main contribution of the thesis is a) to propose a new optimization algorithm which respects the makespan, the utilization, and the congestions of aisles which may occur, b) to analyze historical operational data from warehouse and to develop the set of benchmarks which could serve as the reference baseline results for further research, and c) to try outperform the baseline results set by the skilled and trained operational manager of the one of the biggest warehouses in the middle Europe.

Proceedings of the Resolve Workshop 2006

The aim of the RESOLVE Workshop 2006 was to bring together researchers and educators interested in: Refining formal approaches to software engineering, especially component-based systems, and introducing them into the classroom. The workshop served as a forum for participants to present and discuss recent advances, trends, and concerns in these areas, as well as formulate a common understanding of emerging research issues and possible solution paths

Sacred Trash and Personhood: Living in Daily Waste-Management Infrastructures in the Eastern Himalayas

Different interpretations of what constitutes “trash” can reveal complex interactions between Tibetans and Han Chinese in the Eastern Himalayas. This article adopts the term “trash talk” to illuminate how the Tibetan practice of depositing garments as offerings to sacred mountains has become a center of Tibetan-Han debates about ethnic identity, morality, and personhood. Establishing the contours of waste-management infrastructure in a Tibetan area of Yunnan, China, that has been developed for tourism, this article examines the Tibetan term dreg pa དྲེག་པ (pollution), a morally laden notion of impurity. The author highlights how Tibetans seek to avoid dreg pa and achieve a reciprocal balance with “mountain-persons” (mountains as sacred beings) by making offerings of personal garments. The Han Chinese waste-management sector’s perception of these garment offerings as litter creates a dispute between Tibetans and Han as to what is sacred and what is trash. Drawing on field research, the author argues that the offered garments should be seen not as trash but as people—active entities that mediate the reciprocal relationship between humans and the environment. Further analysis of the experience of two Tibetan informants reveals how the issue of used garments and dreg pa can even form a basis for personal transformation and the reinvention of personhood. These linkages among the local notion of dreg pa, uncertainties surrounding used garments, and personhood suggest that waste-management policies must take local notions of waste into consideration in order to be both efficient and culturally sensitive, especially in the current troubled trash politics of mass tourism and global environmentalism. Keywords: waste management, personhood, sacred trash, trash talk, Tibet, China, Yunnan, ritual offerings, touris