April 19, 2004

Stories, Ideas and Announcements

I am back from my hiatus with some stories to tell, ideas to share and announcements to make. The APA Pacific Division meeting, trips to the dentist and debates with my father-in-law will be related at another time. Idea-wise, I am kicking around a few speculations about computers and organizational invariants, a way to salvage possible-worlds talk, reflections on games and complex systems, and an inquiry into the psychology of deception, perception and magic. We will see how many of these evolve far enough to crawl from my desktop to become a post here. Finally, some announcements:

  • After much consideration, I will be launching (within a month or two) a scholarly web log for Computational Philosophy. Therein, the definition of CP will be explored, as well as its applications, implications and failings. I am aware of the pitfalls involved in online academic ventures, but I am confident that this can be done well (e.g. Language Log). A clear, formal statement of the log's aims and policies is forthcoming. If you are interested, let me know.


  • I (among many others) have been recruited by P.Z. Myers to contribute to, and occasionally host, Tangled Bank. It's name is taken from a metaphor of Darwin's:
    It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent upon each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us. These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with Reproduction; Inheritance which is almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the indirect and direct action of the conditions of life and from use and disuse: a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less-improved forms.
    Tangled bank will be a "best-of" blog for posts related to biology and medicine broadly construed. This is quite distant from my area of expertise, insofar as I can claim one, but still dear to my heart. The details are here.


  • My "Computational Stance" proposal has been accepted by the student track of the 2004 North American Computing and Philosophy Conference at CMU. Now I need a philosophical exercise regimen to make my arguments and examples more muscular, and give the subject-matter more definition.

    I will be moving while attending and this will likely be the first impression I make on my new professors… Why the hell did I do this to myself?

    • Posted by John at April 19, 2004 11:56 AM
    Comments

    um, so where will you be moving *to* whilst juggling all this? you know yet?

    Posted by: whit at April 19, 2004 09:55 PM

    Well, I am pretty much committed to CMU, so it's looking like Pittsburgh will be home for a while. San Diego has not yet reported their results (to me at least).

    Posted by: John at April 20, 2004 10:22 AM