ISHPSB-L Archives

Intl Soc for the Hist Phil and Soc St of Biol

ISHPSB-L@LISTS.UMN.EDU

Options: Use Forum View

Use Monospaced Font
Show HTML Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Lucie Laplane <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lucie Laplane <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 5 Oct 2024 10:35:58 +0200
Content-Type:
multipart/alternative
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (4 kB) , text/html (18 kB)
Dear all,

A few talk

Best wishes,
Lucie

*Tuesday and 5 min. video - Carl Hoefer - Generic causation in complex,
mind-dependent systems*

The Center for Philosophy of Science invites you to join us for our Lunch
Time Talk.  Attend in person, Room 1117 on the 11th floor of the Cathedral
of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh or visit our live stream on
YouTube at *https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg
<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg>*.



*LTT: **Carl Hoefer*

Visiting Senior Fellow Carl Hoefer discusses his work here at the Center:
https://youtu.be/Fk-c1tKMjhs
<https://youtu.be/Fk-c1tKMjhs?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3UcoDtgVe-uhjSEPMYz7LSgBlkO_iVWoag-iLh5I3f9xZj57P15jiJQyM_aem_CYUdO13MOv98o8OX5KVhDg>



Tuesday, October 8 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EDT



*Title: Generic causation in complex, mind-dependent systems *



*Abstract: *Often, in medicine and social sciences, we are interested
finding generic causal facts: facts of the form *X causes Y*, where X and Y
are event types rather than specific individual (“token”) events. In these
sciences, often we are interested because X is something that is at least
partially under our control: e.g., an educational policy that can be
implemented, or a public health intervention that can be made.

The evidence-based medicine and evidence-based policy movements urge that
we base medical and socio-political decisions on high-quality evidence
that, ideally, strongly supports statements of this form, *X causes (or X
prevents) Y*.  It is a presupposition of these movements, and the forms of
research they wish to rely on (including RCTs) that such facts about
generic causation *exist*; our job is just to uncover them. But might this
presupposition be mistaken, in some areas of human endeavor and inquiry?

In recent years I have become convinced that this presupposition is indeed
mistaken, in at least some contexts that share these characteristics:
complexity, strong dependence on initial conditions, and dependence on
human behavior.  Using examples from the recent covid19 pandemic, I will
illustrate the possibility that certain generic causal facts may fail to
exist: it is neither correct to assert that *X causes Y, *nor correct to
assert *X does not cause Y*. The discussion will bring together ideas from
several of my earlier works on causation and on objective chance.



This talk will also be available live streamed on: Zoom
https://pitt.zoom.us/s/94175053924 and



YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg




ALS - Friday,10/11 - Colin Klein - Transformers, Representational
Structure, and the Language of Thought

The Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh
invites you to join us for our 65th Annual Lecture Series Talk. Attend in
person in room 1008 in the Cathedral of Learning (10th Floor)  or visit our
live stream on YouTube at
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.



*Colin Klein*

Australian National University



Friday, October 11th  @ 3:30 pm - 6:00 pm EDT



*Title: Transformers, Representational Structure, and the Language of
Thought*

*Abstract:*

Transformers are an extraordinarily powerful computational architecture,
applicable across a range of domains. They are, notably,  the computational
foundation of contemporary Large Language Models (LLMs).  LLMs’ facility
with language have led many to draw analogies between LLMs and human
cognitive processing. Drawing out the consequences of what seems like an
innocuous step—the need for positional encoding of the input to LLMs—I
argue that transformers are broad precisely because they have so little
built-in representational structure. This naturally raises questions about
the need for structured representations and what (if any) advantage they
might have over mere representation of structure. I develop this in
particular in the context of the contemporary revival of the Language of
Thought hypothesis.

*A reception with light refreshments will follow the Talk in The Center on
the 11th floor from 5-6pm.*



*Can’t make it in-person? This talk will available online through the
following:*

Zoom at https://pitt.zoom.us/s/98186620578

YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.


ATOM RSS1 RSS2