The final exam is scheduled for Dec. 21. Plan your travel accordingly.
Much of this exam will be based on lectures. Web notes will cover only a small part of lecture material.
The exam will be cumulative, in that the discussion of Churchland will build upon issues in Graham.
Essay topics are now available.
Kurweil: We are approaching a singularity in technological progress due to superhuman intelligence.
1. Explanation requires specifying mechanisms that produce changes.
2. Multiple levels of explanation are useful, e.g. social, cognitive, neural, molecular.
3. Mechanisms at one level decompose into mechanisms at lower level.
4. But explanation does not just occur at the lowest level:
Complexity of phenomena prevents full reduction.
Higher levels may have causal impact on lower levels.
Explanation may skip levels, e.g. stress:
Social interactions cause molecular changes, e.g. cortisol.
5. No mind-brain identity: whole body.
1. The self is a mind with a body attached.
2. The self has free will.
3. The self has infallible knowledge of itself.
4. Animals are not selves.
1. The self is both physical (body) and social (relational).
2. The self is free if not controlled by others.
3. Knowledge of self requires inference.
4. Some animals have self-representations.
1. The self is not a thing or single representation.
2. The self is a loosely connected set of representational capacities.
3. The multiple capacities of the self are shown in mental illnesses:
4. Emulation: brains use sensory and motor imagery to work out solutions before dealing with the world.
5. Inner models: sensory systems that represent the body.
6. Mirror neurons.
The self in relation to others.
High-level conceptual representations of self, e.g. personality.
Powerpoint presentation: Hot Thought.
Computational Epistemology Laboratory.
This page updated Nov. 14, 2005