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Symposium for the AISB Convention 2026
Thursday 2nd of July 2026
Location: Pevensey 1A6
University of Sussex
Overview
Overview
This symposium addresses fundamental questions about the nature, applications, and limits of computation, with a focus on their relevance to the study of cognition and intelligent behaviour in living and artificial systems. Whilst computational parlance continues to dominate the disciplines addressing these phenomena since the computing revolution of the 20th century, recent progress in the abilities of computational systems calls for a reassessment of some long-standing assumptions within both our practical and theoretical approach to computation.
FOCSY ascribes to AISB’s identity as a venue where AI and cognitive science meet, by providing a structured forum for debate about the nature of computation, computational explanation, and the role of mechanisms and representations in modelling and evaluating intelligent systems. Also, within the contemporary context, the symposium aims to bridge traditionally separate communities, creating an opportunity for eclectic dialogue about some less-well explored areas in computational research, such as computational phenomenology.
Invited Speakers
Invited Speakers
Dr. Nathaniel Virgo
Dr. Nathaniel Virgo
Talk title:
"A framework for computation, meaning and the duality
between intrinsic and extrinsic goals."
Dr. Kathryn Nave
Dr. Kathryn Nave
Talk title:
"The principle of excessive variety and
the non-mechanical character of organic activity."
Prof. Ron Chrisley
Prof. Ron Chrisley
Talk title:
"Even if humans can answer questions Turing machines cannot,
that doesn’t mean that digital computational consciousness is impossible."
Schedule
Schedule
First session (11:00 - 13:00)
11:00 - Nathaniel Virgo:
A framework for computation, meaning and the duality between intrinsic and extrinsic goals
11:40 - Michael Woodley:
Mathematical and physical perspectives on the nature of computation
12:00 - Oriol Roca-Martin:
An Overlooked Challenge for the "Emergent Multi-Scale Causality'' Framework for Modelling Complex Systems. A Brief Philosophical Note
12:20 - Dean Petters & Achim Jung:
Computational Expressivity is the key to resolving Searle’s Chinese Room argument
12:40 - Simon Bowes:
Concrete computations and virtual machines: In defence of a computational functionalism
Second session (14:00 - 15:30)
14:00 - Ron Chrisley:
Even if humans can answer questions Turing machines cannot, that doesn’t mean that digital computational consciousness is impossible
14:30 - Steve Battle:
Artificial Autopoiesis
14:50 - Alina Gutoreva, Zhaniya Omar, Nurdaulet Bektemisov & Dilnaz Nurlankyzy
What Computation Explains, and What It Does Not about Daily Cognitive Activity?
15:10 - Roundtable
Third session (16:00 - 17:30)
16:00 - Kathryn Nave:
The principle of excessive variety and the non-mechanical character of organic activity
16:40 - Avel Güenin-Carlut
Computation Autonomy and Contextuality: Comparing the organization of information in mechanical and biological systems
17:00 - Roundtable
Main topics of the symposium
Main topics of the symposium
The symposium will be a one-day session of talks, Q&A’s, and panel discussions, structured around two themes: Foundations and Applications
1- Foundations:
Foundational debates concerning the nature of computational processes, the status of formal and physical models, and the relationship between abstraction and implementation - have been reopened by both theoretical developments and increasingly powerful real-world systems. Against this backdrop, the symposium’s foundations strand invites critical reflection on the conceptual terrain of computation, motivating the following guiding questions:
What makes a process computational?
Are classic distinctions between syntax and semantics, or implementational, algorithmic, and computational levels of description sound?
Is computation subjective or objective, abstract or concrete, mathematical or physical?
What are the limits of computation? Is undecidability restricted to a mathematical realm?
Is cognition a computational process? If so, what makes certain computational processes cognitive, and others not?
2- Applications:
The applications strand of the symposium will re-examine the role of computational concepts and tools across various research contexts relating to intelligence and the mind. To further discussion of this topic, we seek contributors to address the below questions:
What is gained, and is anything lost, by treating cognition, life, and other processes computationally?
Is there something fundamentally non-computable in Life?
What are the distinctive strengths and limitations of computational explanations —generally, and in specific fields?
What is the explanatory role of representations and algorithmic models in the cognitive sciences?
What are the prospects for and obstacles to the development of a “computational phenomenology”?
Call for contributions
Call for contributions
Submission deadline has now passed.
Venue
Venue
UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RH, UK.
Organizers and Contact
Organizers and Contact
Adam Rostowski (a.rostowski@sussex.ac.uk), Department of Informatics, University of Sussex
Ben White (b.white@sussex.ac.uk), Department of Informatics, University of Sussex.
Fernando Rodriguez-Vergara (f.rodriguez-vergara@sussex.ac.uk), Sussex Neuroscience, University of Sussex
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