It can be easy to take for granted all that our brains do when understanding the world, particularly in the realm of language. While many early philosophers recognized some of this complexity, the computer age brought about attempts to get computers to understand our communication tool – language – and these attempts brought home just …
Basketball hoops were invented by James Naismith Read More »
Consciousness is, and may always be, a slightly thorny subject to discuss. For many people, no physical explanation is suitable, as it never seems to address questions along the lines of “but why does it feel like something to be me? I can think and see things and do things – we need to explain …
Dedicated to Sam Rendall – you and your ideas are greatly missed. What is intelligence? What does it mean to be intelligent? A starting point for a very high level definition might be an ability of an agent to accomplish its goals in its environment. From this definition, we can see three pieces to assessing …
“Open your eyes, Harry.” The noise wakes me up, and I open my eyes. The light from the room floods my eyes, and then I begin to make sense of my bearings, remembering with a jolt where I am. Has the experiment worked? I see Dr. Chet looking at me intently, jotting down notes, with …
Since the time of Socrates, there has existed a sentiment among certain people that the pursuit of philosophy (including the philosophy of science) is a critical part of a worthwhile existence – summed up in Socrates quote, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. This view has its basis in human’s greater ability to understand …
While the question of whether we live in a simulation is a relatively new one, it’s really just a modernized version of a more persistent question throughout humanity’s past – why are there things, and why are we part of those things? In the early days of humanity, there were few tools or methods available …