48,998 research outputs found
A Systems Theory Perspective
Aktualisierung: Am 12. Oktober 2018 wurde die digitale Version des Buchbeitrags um den fehlenden Teil (Seiten 53-66) ergänzt
Coupled superconductors and beyond
This paper describes the events leading to the discovery of coupled
superconductors, the author's move in the 1970s to a perspective where mind
plays a role comparable to matter, and the remarkable hostility sometimes
encountered by those who venture into unconventional areas.Comment: Invited paper for special issue of Low Temperature Physics/Fizika
Nizkikh Temperatur devoted to "Quantum Coherent Effects in Superconductors
and New Materials". 6pp. v5: open-access published versio
Logic Programming and Machine Ethics
Transparency is a key requirement for ethical machines. Verified ethical
behavior is not enough to establish justified trust in autonomous intelligent
agents: it needs to be supported by the ability to explain decisions. Logic
Programming (LP) has a great potential for developing such perspective ethical
systems, as in fact logic rules are easily comprehensible by humans.
Furthermore, LP is able to model causality, which is crucial for ethical
decision making.Comment: In Proceedings ICLP 2020, arXiv:2009.09158. Invited paper for the
ICLP2020 Panel on "Machine Ethics". arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1909.0825
A universe of processes and some of its guises
Our starting point is a particular `canvas' aimed to `draw' theories of
physics, which has symmetric monoidal categories as its mathematical backbone.
In this paper we consider the conceptual foundations for this canvas, and how
these can then be converted into mathematical structure. With very little
structural effort (i.e. in very abstract terms) and in a very short time span
the categorical quantum mechanics (CQM) research program has reproduced a
surprisingly large fragment of quantum theory. It also provides new insights
both in quantum foundations and in quantum information, and has even resulted
in automated reasoning software called `quantomatic' which exploits the
deductive power of CQM. In this paper we complement the available material by
not requiring prior knowledge of category theory, and by pointing at
connections to previous and current developments in the foundations of physics.
This research program is also in close synergy with developments elsewhere, for
example in representation theory, quantum algebra, knot theory, topological
quantum field theory and several other areas.Comment: Invited chapter in: "Deep Beauty: Understanding the Quantum World
through Mathematical Innovation", H. Halvorson, ed., Cambridge University
Press, forthcoming. (as usual, many pictures
Do Employers Use Unemployment as a Sorting Criterion When Hiring? Evidence from a Field Experiment
In this paper, we use unique data from a field experiment in the Swedish labor market to investigate how past and contemporary unemployment affect a young worker's probability of being invited to a job interview. In contrast to studies using registry/survey data, we have complete control over the information available to the employers and there is no scope for unobserved heterogeneity. We find no evidence that recruiting employers use information about past unemployment to sort workers, but some evidence that they use contemporary unemployment to sort workers. The fact that employers do not seem to use past unemployment as a sorting criterion suggests that the scarring effects of unemployment may not be as severe as has been indicated by previous studies.scarring, unemployment, field experiment
Tracing evolutionary links between species
The idea that all life on earth traces back to a common beginning dates back
at least to Charles Darwin's {\em Origin of Species}. Ever since, biologists
have tried to piece together parts of this `tree of life' based on what we can
observe today: fossils, and the evolutionary signal that is present in the
genomes and phenotypes of different organisms. Mathematics has played a key
role in helping transform genetic data into phylogenetic (evolutionary) trees
and networks. Here, I will explain some of the central concepts and basic
results in phylogenetics, which benefit from several branches of mathematics,
including combinatorics, probability and algebra.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures (Invited review paper (draft version) for AMM
Spurious, Emergent Laws in Number Worlds
We study some aspects of the emergence of logos from chaos on a basal model
of the universe using methods and techniques from algorithmic information and
Ramsey theories. Thereby an intrinsic and unusual mixture of meaningful and
spurious, emerging laws surfaces. The spurious, emergent laws abound, they can
be found almost everywhere. In accord with the ancient Greek theogony one could
say that logos, the Gods and the laws of the universe, originate from "the
void," or from chaos, a picture which supports the unresolvable/irreducible
lawless hypothesis. The analysis presented in this paper suggests that the
"laws" discovered in science correspond merely to syntactical correlations, are
local and not universal.Comment: 24 pages, invited contribution to "Contemporary Natural Philosophy
and Philosophies - Part 2" - Special Issue of the journal Philosophie
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