5 research outputs found
Neo-Naturalism, Conciliatory Explanations, and Spatiotemporal Surprises
Some materialists believe that physics is rich enough to bridge Levine's Explanatory Gap1, while others believe that it is not. Here I promote an intermediate position holding that physics is rich enough to explain why this gap seems more intractable than similar inter-theoretic explanatory gaps, without providing a full-blown âphysicalâ explanation of consciousness. At a minimum, such an approach needs to explore the prospects of empirical discoveries that can diminish the power of anti-physicalist arguments like Chalmers's âconceivability argumentâ2 and Jackson's âknowledge argument.â While this is not an easy task, recent advances in the physics of spacetime and information convince us that these prospects are not poor. The empirical bent of this approach suggests framing it as a naturalist theory of mind seeking to situate or make room for consciousness within our great naturalist system, but the reliance of this approach on recent (re)conceptions of time and information pulls the carpet out from under essential concepts like concreteness and causation, thus demanding a radically reconfigured naturalism, or neo-naturalism. The question that will frame this discussion is, âWhat could possibly count as an empirical fact that can help naturalize consciousness?
Introduction to JCS singularity edition.
This is the editors introduction to the double 2012 JCS edition on the Singularity
introduction to singularity edition of JCS
This special interactive interdisciplinary issue of JCS on the singularity and the future relationship of humanity and AI is the first of two
issues centered on David Chalmersâ 2010 JCS article âThe Singularity, a Philosophical Analysisâ. These issues include more than 20 solicited commentaries to
which Chalmers responds. To quote Chalmers:
"One might think that the singularity would be of great interest to Academic philosophers, cognitive scientists, and artificial intelligence researchers. In practice, this has not been the case. Good was an eminent
academic, but his article was largely unappreciated at the time. The subsequent discussion of the singularity has largely taken place in non-academic circles, including Internet forums, popular media and books, and
workshops organized by the independent Singularity Institute. Perhaps
the highly speculative flavour of the singularity idea has been responsible for academic resistance to it. I think this resistance is a shame, as the
singularity idea is clearly an important one. The argument for a singularity is one that we should take seriously. And the questions surrounding the singularity are of enormous practical and philosophical
concern".
It is fair to say that Chalmers is the first to provide a detailed comprehensive philosophical analysis of the idea of the singularity that
brings into focus not only questions about the nature of intelligence
and the prospects for an intelligence explosion but also important
philosophical questions about consciousness, identity and the relationship between facts and values