Y4: Language Models and Virtual Worlds

This is a seminar in the philosophy of technology, with special emphasis on questions and claims about the nature of virtual (computer generated) entities and the capacities of large language models. As the Course Guide indicates in more detail, discussions range from topics in metaphysics and epistemology to philosophy of mind and philosophy of language. Three recurring themes are the possibility of external-world knowledge, the nature of consciousness, and the nature of linguistic representation. 

HANDOUTS

Week 1: Reality+, concepts and claims

Week 2: The simulation argument

Week 3: Sims and such or: virtual realism—really?

Week 4: Radical skepticism and simulation realism

Week 5: Modeling substance dualism 

Week 6: GOFAI

Week 7: Theories of meaning and language models

Week 8: Externalism and language models

Week 9: Folk psychology and language models

Week 10: Linguistic nativism and language models

ASSESSMENTS

Midterm Marking Guidelines