1st Workshop

1st Nagoya Meta-Philosophy Workshop 2.0

Date: 15:00 to 17:45pm, Aug 7, 2023; 2023年8月7日(月) 15:30~17:45pm

Venue: Liberal Arts and Sciences Main Building SIS2, 4th Floor; 名古屋大学 東山キャンパス 全学教育棟中棟4階SIS2教室

Program:

15:00 to 16:15pm (including Q & A) 

"The Alchemy of AI" (Slides)

Russell Meyer (Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASIP); 中国科学院 哲学研究所)

Abstruct: The creation of artificial general intelligence – AI capable of genuine, human-like cognition – is a long-term goal of AI research, and the development of artificial minds more capable than human ones is often considered an inevitability. A twin goal is that of enhancing human cognition: once we can build artificial minds, we will likely possess the knowledge enabling us to decode and improve human ones. This alchemical transformation – the creation of general artificial intelligence out of AI models, an act which in turn will grant us the power to enhance human cognition – is often considered an inevitable outcome of increasing mastery of AI. But is this really where AI technology is heading? Our best approaches to the biology of cognition do not assume nor demonstrate a continuity between the workings of AI models and the cognitive capacities of organisms like ourselves. In this talk, I will argue that AI models can provide valuable insights into the problem-solving capacities of organisms, but will remain an indirect, step-by-step contributor to cognitive science, rather than a universal solvent to all its mysteries.

16:30 to 17:45pm (including Q & A) 

"C-theory of Time: Possibility of Time without Direction" (Slides)

Naoyuki Kajimoto (Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASIP); 中国科学院 哲学研究所)

Abstruct: In philosophy of time, there are two major positions; A-theory and B-theory. Although they disagree with various issues, both assume that time must have objective direction. Recently some philosophers such as Price (1996) and Farr (2021) challenge this assumption and propose C-theory, according to which there is no objective temporal direction. The aim of this talk is to explain and motivate C-theory. First, I explain what C-theory is by clarifying the difference between B-theory and C-theory and what it means for time to have a direction. Second, I motivate C-theory by presenting some argument against B-theory.