Michele Pasin / Quotes

Facets of a gem with nothing in the centre

it is true that we could talk of multiple selves or multi-faceted selves, but the former is just more truthful than the latter. She illustrates this with the analogy of the self as a gemstone. ‘If you accept the intuitive model, that of a many-faceted gem, a cut diamond rotating and catching different facets of light, the trouble with that is that it implies there is something underneath the faces, that there is a central core that is rotating the faces around. I’m saying something very different. I’m saying that if you take away the faces there is nothing in the centre.’

Saved 23 April 2015

#multiple-selves #self #metaphor

AI is still building wing-flapping machines

However, when studying human thought and artificial intelligence we do not have something like aerodynamics. We do not know the right physical principles and…

Beyond Zero and One (Andrew Smart) #artificial-intelligence #metaphor #brain #science

Computers are like comic-book characters

one of the more counterintuitive parts to this argument is that computers themselves are not really performing computations. Manzotti argues that computers…

Beyond Zero and One (Andrew Smart) #computer #computation #information #metaphor

Ideas for a visualization system; open challenges for digital philosophy

Such a system would facilitate interaction with the encyclopedia for expert and novice users alike. Experts could see the “big picture” of an idea or…

From Encyclopedia To Ontology: Toward Dynamic Representation Of The Discipline Of Philosophy #philosophy #philosophers #metaphor #disciplines #idea

Information is like lift

The concept of information is useful; so is the concept of lift for flight. This does not mean that lift is real. Importantly, we do not include lift in…

Beyond Zero and One (Andrew Smart) #information #computation #metaphor #physics #observer

The Byzantine Generals Problem

The Microsoft scientist Leslie Lamport captured the fundamental problem of achieving reliable consensus in distributed control systems with a beautiful and…

Beyond Zero and One (Andrew Smart) #computer-science #metaphor #communication