The ultimate tactics of self-referential systems

Mathematics is usually regarded as a kind of language. The essential behavior of physical phenomena can be expressed by mathematical laws, providing descriptions and predictions. In the present essay I argue that, although mathematics can be seen, in a first approach, as a language, it goes beyond this concept. I conjecture that mathematics presents two extreme features, denoted here by {\sl irreducibility} and {\sl insaturation}, representing delimiters for self-referentiality. These features are then related to physical laws by realizing that nature is a self-referential system obeying bounds similar to those respected by mathematics. Self-referential systems can only be autonomous entities by a kind of metabolism that provides and sustains such an autonomy. A rational mind, able of consciousness, is a manifestation of the self-referentiality of the Universe. Hence mathematics is here proposed to go beyond language by actually representing the most fundamental existence condition for self-referentiality. This idea is synthesized in the form of a principle, namely, that {\sl mathematics is the ultimate tactics of self-referential systems to mimic themselves}. That is, well beyond an effective language to express the physical world, mathematics uncovers a deep manifestation of the autonomous nature of the Universe, wherein the human brain is but an instance.Comment: 9 pages. This essay received the 4th. Prize in the 2015 FQXi essay contest: "Trick or Truth: the Mysterious Connection Between Physics and Mathematics

Conspiracy theories as part of history: The role of societal crisis situations

In the present contribution we examine the link between societal crisis situations and belief in conspiracy theories. Contrary to common assumptions, belief in conspiracy theories has been prevalent throughout human history. We first illustrate historical incidents suggesting that societal crisis situations—defined as impactful and rapid societal change that calls established power structures, norms of conduct, or even the existence of specific people or groups, into question —have stimulated belief in conspiracy theories. We then review the psychological literature to explain why this is the case. Evidence suggests that the aversive feelings that people experience when in crisis—fear, uncertainty, the feeling of being out of control—stimulate a motivation to make sense of the situation, increasing the likelihood of perceiving conspiracies in social situations. We then explain that after being formed, conspiracy theories can become historical narratives that may spread through cultural transmission. We conclude that conspiracy theories originate particularly in crisis situations, and may form the basis for how people subsequently remember and mentally represent a historical event

Nucleon Structure and Parity-Violating Electron Scattering

We review the area of strange quark contributions to nucleon structure. In particular, we focus on current models of strange quark vector currents in the nucleon and the associated parity-violating elastic electron scattering experiments from which vector- and axial-vector currents are extractedComment: 40 pages including 7 figures; review article to be published in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Quantum Hall states for α=1/3\alpha = 1/3 in optical lattices

We examine the quantum Hall (QH) states of the optical lattices with square geometry using Bose-Hubbard model (BHM) in presence of artificial gauge field. In particular, we focus on the QH states for the flux value of $\alpha = 1/3$. For this, we use cluster Gutzwiller mean-field (CGMF) theory with cluster sizes of $3\times 2$ and $3\times 3$. We obtain QH states at fillings $\nu = 1/2, 1, 3/2, 2, 5/2$ with the cluster size $3\times 2$ and $\nu = 1/3, 2/3, 1, 4/3, 5/3, 2, 7/3, 8/3$ with $3\times 3$ cluster. Our results show that the geometry of the QH states are sensitive to the cluster sizes. For all the values of $\nu$, the competing superfluid (SF) state is the ground state and QH state is the metastable state.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. This is a pre-submission version of the manuscript. The published version is available online in "Quantum Collisions and Confinement of Atomic and Molecular Species, and Photons, Springer Proceedings in Physics 230, pp 211--221 (2019)". The final authenticated version is available online at : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9969-5_2

Considering agency and data granularity in the design of visualization tools

The Ecuadorian Government supports Gonzalo Gabriel Méndez through a SENESCYT scholarship.Previous research has identified trade-offs when it comes to designing visualization tools. While constructive “bottom-up” tools promote a hands-on, user-driven design process that enables a deep understanding and control of the visual mapping, automated tools are more efficient and allow people to rapidly explore complex alternative designs, often at the cost of transparency. We investigate how to design visualization tools that support a user-driven, transparent design process while enabling efficiency and automation, through a series of design workshops that looked at how both visualization experts and novices approach this problem. Participants produced a variety of solutions that range from example-based approaches expanding constructive visualization to solutions in which the visualization tool infers solutions on behalf of the designer, e.g., based on data attributes. On a higher level, these findings highlight agency and granularity as dimensions that can guide the design of visualization tools in this space.Postprin

Analogy-Making as a Core Primitive in the Software Engineering Toolbox

An analogy is an identification of structural similarities and correspondences between two objects. Computational models of analogy making have been studied extensively in the field of cognitive science to better understand high-level human cognition. For instance, Melanie Mitchell and Douglas Hofstadter sought to better understand high-level perception by developing the Copycat algorithm for completing analogies between letter sequences. In this paper, we argue that analogy making should be seen as a core primitive in software engineering. We motivate this argument by showing how complex software engineering problems such as program understanding and source-code transformation learning can be reduced to an instance of the analogy-making problem. We demonstrate this idea using Sifter, a new analogy-making algorithm suitable for software engineering applications that adapts and extends ideas from Copycat. In particular, Sifter reduces analogy-making to searching for a sequence of update rule applications. Sifter uses a novel representation for mathematical structures capable of effectively representing the wide variety of information embedded in software. We conclude by listing major areas of future work for Sifter and analogy-making in software engineering.Comment: Conference paper at SPLASH 'Onward!' 2020. Code is available at https://github.com/95616ARG/sifte

Making sense of theory construction: Metaphor and disciplined imagination

This article draws upon Karl Weick’s insights into the nature of theorizing, and extends and refines his conception of theory construction as ‘disciplined imagination’. An essential ingredient in Weick’s ‘disciplined imagination’ involves his assertion that thought trials and theoretical representations typically involve a transfer from one epistemic sphere to another through the creative use of metaphor. The article follows up on this point and draws out how metaphor works, how processes of metaphorical imagination partake in theory construction, and how insightful metaphors and the theoretical representations that result from them can be selected. The paper also includes a discussion of metaphors-in-use (organizational improvisation as jazz and organizational behavior as collective mind) which Weick proposed in his own writings. The whole purpose of this exercise is to theoretically augment and ground the concept of ‘disciplined imagination’, and in particular to refine the nature of thought trials and selection within it. In doing so, we also aim to provide pointers for the use of metaphorical imagination in the process of theory construction

Belief in Conspiracy Theories: Basic Principles of an Emerging Research Domain

In this introduction to the EJSP Special Issue on conspiracy theories as a social psychological phenomenon, we describe how this emerging research domain has developed over the past decade and distill four basic principles that characterize belief in conspiracy theories. Specifically, conspiracy theories are consequential as they have a real impact on people's health, relationships, and safety; they are universal in that belief in them is widespread across times, cultures, and social settings; they are emotional given that negative emotions and not rational deliberations cause conspiracy beliefs; and they are social as conspiracy beliefs are closely associated with psychological motivations underlying intergroup conflict. We then discuss future research and possible policy interventions in this growing area of enquiry