We discussed Brian’s background, why he is very motivated to reduce suffering, various (sometimes un-intuitive) forms of suffering, utilitarianism (negative, hedonistic, and novelty [inc whether to intrinsically value novelty]), fun theory, axiological quests that we and/or advanced AI’s might make to learn more about what to value in the future, physics of suffering, emergentism (strong…
Slides [here], See this post by John Wilkins at Evolving Thoughts, the video is a talk John gave at the Philosophy of Science conference in Melbourne 2014. Every so often, somebody will attack the worth, role or relevance of philosophy on the internets, as I have discussed before. Occasionally it will be a scientist, who…
Geoff discusses statistics, confidence intervals, Bayesian approaches, meta-analysis, and problems with the use of ‘P’ values in significance testing. Discussion points: – Describe your background and involvement in statistics. – How have orthodox statistics helped psychology (& science)? How has it harmed the science? – What methods, models and tools do you commonly use in…
At a Melbourne skeptic’s meeting in Australia, theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss was asked whether spiritual experiences could ever be scientifically validated. Lawrence Krauss – Can Spiritual Experience be Scientifically Validated _“The spiritual things — the exotic phenomena people experience — in general violate the things we know to be correct on the basis of experiment,…
On the coat-tails of a the blockbuster film “The Imitation Game” I saw quite a bit of buzz on the internet about Alan Turing, and the Turing Test. The title of the movie refers to the idea of the Turing Test may someday show that machines would ostensibly be (at least in controlled circumstances) indistinguishable…
Arun Konagurthu is a Senior Lecturer at the Clayton School of Computer Science and Information Technology, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University. Between 2011-2013, Arun was additionally a Larkins Fellow at this faculty. Arun leads a small research group that researches mainly in computational biology and bioinformatics. His other research interests include data structures and…
In this presentation, ethicist Julian Savulescu explores whether bioconservative objections to human enhancement can be rooted in “partiality for humanity”—the idea that we have a moral reason to prefer or protect human nature simply because it is our nature [02:29]. Collaborating with Guy Kahane and Jonathan Pugh, Savulescu analyzes and critiques the late-life arguments of…
Rejecting the two extremes of bioconservatism and libertarian transhumanism, Hughes argues for a third way, “democratic transhumanism,” a radical form of techno-progressivism which asserts that the best possible “posthuman future” is achievable only by ensuring that human enhancement technologies are safe, made available to everyone, and respect the right of individuals to control their own…
We have heard many different notions of what the words: science, philosophy and the term ‘philosophy of science’ mean. No doubt if we consult three different dictionaries we will discover three more., and if we consult Wikipedia yet another. I would hope that those of you more predisposed to enquiry than debate ;even those with…
“The Revolutions of Scientific Structure” reveals an empirically measured discovery, by science, about the natural world that is the human scientist. The book’s analysis places science at the cusp of a major developmental transformation caused by science targeting the impossible: the science of consciousness, which was started in the late 1980s by a science practice…