10,646 research outputs found
Troubles with Functionalism
No full text1 online resource (PDF, page 261-325)Block, Ned. (1978). Troubles with Functionalism. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/185298
How Not To Find the Neural Correlate of Consciousness
No full textBlock Ned. How Not To Find the Neural Correlate of Consciousness. In: Intellectica. Revue de l'Association pour la Recherche Cognitive, n°31, 2000/2. Recherches sur la conscience en sciences cognitives. pp. 125-136
On the block train : rethinking block technologies on the YuXinOu express
No full textA special kind of freight train connects China to Europe: the YuXinOu express. Contrasting blockchain technologies with the YuXinOu block train, this article examines how the concept and technolegal operation of the block intersects with the geopolitics of China’s Belt and Road Initiative
Virtual Symposium on Virtual Mind
No full textWhen certain formal symbol systems (e.g., computer programs) are implemented as dynamic physical symbol
systems (e.g., when they are run on a computer) their activity can be interpreted at higher levels (e.g., binary code can be
interpreted as LISP, LISP code can be interpreted as English, and English can be interpreted as a meaningful conversation).
These higher levels of interpretability are called "virtual" systems. If such a virtual system is interpretable as if it had a mind, is
such a "virtual mind" real? This is the question addressed in this "virtual" symposium, originally conducted electronically among
four cognitive scientists: Donald Perlis, a computer scientist, argues that according to the computationalist thesis, virtual minds are
real and hence Searle's Chinese Room Argument fails, because if Searle memorized and executed a program that could pass the
Turing Test in Chinese he would have a second, virtual, Chinese-understanding mind of which he was unaware (as in multiple
personality). Stevan Harnad, a psychologist, argues that Searle's Argument is valid, virtual minds are just hermeneutic
overinterpretations, and symbols must be grounded in the real world of objects, not just the virtual world of interpretations.
Computer scientist Patrick Hayes argues that Searle's Argument fails, but because Searle does not really implement the program:
A real implementation must not be homuncular but mindless and mechanical, like a computer. Only then can it give rise to a mind
at the virtual level. Philosopher Ned Block suggests that there is no reason a mindful implementation would not be a real one
The Sounds of Whitman: A Composer\u27s View
No full textAnalyzes various musical settings of Whitman\u27s poetry, including works by Ned Rorem, Vincent Persichetti, Roger Sessions, and Block herself
Semantics, Conceptual Role
No full textAccording to Conceptual Role Semantics ("CRS"), the meaning of a representation is the role of that representation in the cognitive life of the agent, e.g. in perception, thought and decision-making. It is an extension of the well known "use" theory of meaning, according to which the meaning of a word is its use in communication and more generally, in social interaction. CRS supplements external use by including the role of a symbol inside a computer or a brain. The uses appealed to are not just actual, but also counterfactual: not only what effects a thought does have, but what effects it would have had if stimuli or other states had differed. The view has arisen separately in philosophy (where it is sometimes called "inferential," or "functional" role semantics) and in cognitive science (where it is sometimes called "procedural semantics"). The source of the view is Wittgenstein (1953) and Sellars, but the source in contemporary philosophy is a series of papers by Harman (see his 1987) and Field (1977). Other proponents in philosophy have included Block, Horwich, Loar, McGinn and Peacocke (1992). In cognitive science, they include Woods (1981) and Miller and Johnson-Laird (1976). (See references in Block, 1987.
Power electronics: a first course
No full textAuthor Ned Mohan has been a leader in EES education and research for decades. His three-book series on Power Electronics focuses on three essential topics in the power sequence based on applications relevant to this age of sustainable energy such as wind turbines and hybrid electric vehicles. The three topics include power electronics, power systems and electric machines. Key features in the first Edition build on Mohan's successful MNPERE texts; his systems approach which puts dry technical detail in the context of applications; and substantial pedagogical support including PPT's, video clips, animations, clicker questions and a lab manual. It follows a top-down systems-level approach to power electronics to highlight interrelationships between these sub-fields. It's intended to cover fundamental and practical design. This book also follows a building-block approach to power electronics that allows an in-depth discussion of several important topics that are usually left. Topics are carefully sequenced to maintain continuity and interest
Philosophical Perspectives, 21, Philosophy of Mind, 2007 WITTGENSTEIN AND QUALIA 1
No full text(Wittgenstein, 1968) endorsed one kind of inverted spectrum hypothesis and rejected another. This paper argues that the kind of inverted spectrum hypothesis that Wittgenstein endorsed (the “innocuous ” inverted spectrum hypothesis) is the thin end of the wedge that precludes a Wittgensteinian critique of the kind of inverted spectrum hypothesis he rejected (the “dangerous ” kind). The danger of the dangerous kind is that it provides an argument for qualia, where qualia are (for the purposes of this paper) contents of experiential states which cannot be fully captured in natural language. I will pinpoint the difference between the innocuous and dangerous scenarios that matters for the argument for qualia, give arguments in favor of the coherence and possibility of the dangerous scenario, and try to show that some standard arguments against inverted spectra are ineffective against the version of the dangerous scenario I will be advocating. The leading idea of the paper is that an argument for qualia based on spectrum inversion does not require that the inversion be behaviorally indistinguishable. At one crucial point, I will rely on a less controversial version of an argument I gave in Block (1999). Wittgenstein’s views provide a convenient starting point for a paper that is much more about qualia than about Wittgenstein. 1
A survey of blockholders and corporate control
No full textThe author surveys the empirical literature on large-percentage shareholders in public corporations, focusing on four key issues: the prevalence of blockholders; the motivation for block ownership; the effect of blockholders on executive compensation, leverage, the incidence of takeovers, and a wide range of corporate decisions; and the effect of blockholders on firm value. A central finding of this study is that there is little reason for policymakers or small investors to fear large-percentage shareholders in general, especially when the blockholders are active in firm management.Stockholders ; Corporate governance
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