Last time, I argued that there are substantive open questions about whether the theoretical constructs of formal linguistics play any role in the psychological processes underlying language use. Let’s now address those questions. When people talk about “the psychological reality of syntax”, there are (at least) two importantly different types …
You may (or may not) have noticed that Pete Mandik and Richard Brown (me) have started a podcast, called SpaceTimeMind, where we talk about tax law updates for 2014, uh, I mean, er, we talk about space and time and mind! The first episode is up now (and has been …
My colleague Bob Gordon is the originator of the simulation theory, one of the two main theories of folk psychology (the other being the theory theory). Aside from being an influential theory in philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience, in recent years the simulation theory has had a large impact on social robotics.Bob …
Corey Maley sent me “a link to a webcast of a debate between David Gelerntner and Ray Kurzweil on machine consciousness. Perhaps a bit more interesting is a talk by Jack Copeland on Turing’s contribution to codebreaking and to the development of AI (which starts at about the 1 hour 45 minute mark).”
new web page dedicated to the philosophy of neuroscience
Oron Shagrir informed me that three of the lectures from the recent Workshop on the Origins and Nature of Computation that took place in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv have been posted online, courtesy of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.Martin Davis, “The Church-Turing Thesis: Consensus and Opposition“Saul Kripke, “From Church’s Thesis to …
I’ve recently completed a short scientific biography of Allen Newell, for the forthcoming new volumes of Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Newell (d. 1992) is one of the giants of computer science and cognitive science. His work still amply repays its study. He was a champion of so called classical, or symbolic, …
