Philosophy of Computational Social Science

Computational social science is an emerging field at the intersection of statistics, computer science, and the social sciences. This paper addresses the philosophical foundations of this new field. Kant and Peirce provide an understanding of scientific objectivity as intersubjective validity. Modern mathematics, and especially the mathematics of algorithms and statistics, get their objectivity from the intersubjective validity of formal proof. Algorithms implementing statistical inference, or scientific algorithms, are what distinguish computational social science epistemically from other social sciences. This gives computational social science an objective validity that other social sciences do not have. Objections to the scientific realism of this philosophy from the positions of anti-instrumentalism, postmodern interpretivism, and situated epistemology are considered and either incorporated into this philosophy of computational social science or refuted. Speculative predictions for the field of computational social science are offered in conclusion: computational social science will bring about an end of narrative in the social sciences, contract the field of social scientific knowledge into a narrower, more hierarchical field of expertise, and create a democratic crisis that will only be resolved through universal education in computational statistics

Corticostriatal Transmission Is Selectively Enhanced in Striatonigral Neurons with Postnatal Loss of Tsc1.

mTORC1 is a central signaling hub that integrates intra- and extracellular signals to regulate a variety of cellular metabolic processes. Mutations in regulators of mTORC1 lead to neurodevelopmental disorders associated with autism, which is characterized by repetitive, inflexible behaviors. These behaviors may result from alterations in striatal circuits that control motor learning and habit formation. However, the consequences of mTORC1 dysregulation on striatal neuron function are largely unknown. To investigate this, we deleted the mTORC1 negative regulator Tsc1 from identified striatonigral and striatopallidal neurons and examined how cell-autonomous upregulation of mTORC1 activity affects their morphology and physiology. We find that loss of Tsc1 increases the excitability of striatonigral, but not striatopallidal, neurons and selectively enhances corticostriatal synaptic transmission. These findings highlight the critical role of mTORC1 in regulating striatal activity in a cell type- and input-specific manner, with implications for striatonigral pathway dysfunction in neuropsychiatric disease

Designing Fiduciary Artificial Intelligence

A fiduciary is a trusted agent that has the legal duty to act with loyalty and care towards a principal that employs them. When fiduciary organizations interact with users through a digital interface, or otherwise automate their operations with artificial intelligence, they will need to design these AI systems to be compliant with their duties. This article synthesizes recent work in computer science and law to develop a procedure for designing and auditing Fiduciary AI. The designer of a Fiduciary AI should understand the context of the system, identify its principals, and assess the best interests of those principals. Then the designer must be loyal with respect to those interests, and careful in an contextually appropriate way. We connect the steps in this procedure to dimensions of Trustworthy AI, such as privacy and alignment. Fiduciary AI is a promising means to address the incompleteness of data subject's consent when interacting with complex technical systems

L’humanitarisme islamique

Cet article explique comment la recherche de l’auteur sur l’humanitaire islamique dérive d’une analyse de la sémiotique du croissant rouge dans le Mouvement International de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge. Cela le mène à explorer des tensions plus larges dans le domaine des associations caritatives islamiques par rapport au champ général de l’humanitaire, tout en identifiant leurs ressemblances les unes avec les autres. Elles peuvent être considérées aussi comme éléments dans le mouvement plus ample des ONG « confessionnelles ». L’article analyse ensuite le rapport entre d’une part, le droit humanitaire international et les droits de l’Homme, et d’autre part, la tradition islamique juridique. L’ensemble de l’argument de l’article est présenté comme exemple du dialogue anthropologique classique concernant l’universalisme, par contraste avec le relativisme, la doctrine islamique n’étant pas ici interprétée comme exception culturelle, mais comme universalisme alternatif. Cela devrait nous permettre d’envisager plus clairement à la fois la fragilité de l’universalisme occidental, et également le besoin d’explorer ce qu’ont en commun les deux traditions intellectuelles.This article explains how the author’s research on Islamic humanitarianism began from a study of the semiotics of the red crescent as part of the International Red Cross and Red Cross Movement, which led him to explore much broader tensions in the world of Islamic charities as they relate to the general field of humanitarianism, while also identifying the family resemblances between them. Moreover, Islamic charities can be seen as part of a wider movement of ‘confessional’ NGOs. This in turn leads to a brief consideration of the relationship between International Humanitarian Law and human rights law, on the one hand, and Islamic legal tradition on the other. The whole argument is presented as a case study in the classic anthropological dialogue over universalism as opposed to relativism, Islamic doctrine being seen here not as a cultural exception but as an alternative universalism that enables us to see more clearly both the fragility of Western universalism and also the need to explore common intellectual ground

No. 5, The Moss-Wright Park Archaeological Project, Excavation of Site 40SU20, Goodlettsville, Tennessee

https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/govpubs-tn-dept-environment-conservation-archaeology-investigations/1004/thumbnail.jp