Kevin Mitchell
@WiringTheBrain
Neurogeneticist interested in genes, brains, and minds. Author of INNATE (2018), FREE AGENTS (2023). https://t.co/PdgAxi6myV
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http://wiringthebrain.blogspot.com 28-06-2011 19:15:48
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Kevin Mitchell What then is the basis for positing an integrated self that operates above/beyond the level of neural circuits implementing computations (this is indirectly I think the basis for Pereboom's claim that agent causal libertarianism is incoherent/empircally redundant)?
Had a chance to catch up with Hofstadter's ๐ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ฝ.
If you want to think about how low-level entities (cells, neurons, parts in general) lead to higher-level properties, this is great fun. Repetitive at times, and on a loop (on purpose) but worth it.
Alicia Juarrero's ๐๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด, important contribution that follows on her earlier work on causation in complex systems: Understanding systems (brains/behavior/etc) in terms of interactional, extended, and context-dependent interdependencies.
Semantic Information as existential information (i.e. information necessary for a system to maintain its existence).
Important piece on the road to defining intelligence existentially too. ( I.e. How efficiently the sysem can use semantic information )
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsโฆ
Kevin Mitchell Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.s You could enhance your point that Newtonian mechanics works well to predict 'the orbits of planets' (p.158), by citing: 'New Proof Finds the โUltimate Instabilityโ in a Solar System Model'---It actually does *not* work well. quantamagazine.org/new-math-showsโฆ #FreeWill #Philosophy
What we need to do is narrow down the search space: come up with a few decent options and evaluate them for the best one. That is exactly what #learning enables us to do. | Kevin J. Mitchell Kevin Mitchell TIME time.com/6549514/brain-โฆ #brain #neuroscience
Kevin Mitchell Yohan J. John I guess I am just keen that neuroscience is shielded from the unrealistic burden that fills the philosophical vacuum in which we sometimes find ourselves.
Luiz Pessoa Philip Ball Kevin Mitchell The trick is to give the 'middle' level enough degrees of freedom to capture the variables corresponding to interventions of interest.
So it is good to have even a vague placeholder for neurotransmitter effects even in a rate model.
Luiz Pessoa Philip Ball Kevin Mitchell The very slow components, often forming some kind of environment or context, can be treated as constants. The very fast components can often be treated as stochastic noise, or just 'integrated out'.
Warren Mansell ๐๐ฟ๐ผ ๐ Kevin Mitchell TIME Charles Wang Tom Froese, Embodied Cognitive Science Unit (ECSU) Prof. Lee Cronin Michael Wong Michael Levin Mic Black Carnegie Earth & Planets Laboratory Sam Sinai Sari Imari This is an example of why 'Universal Selection Theory' does not hold water IMO.
Natural (evolutionary) selection is not the same as agent-originated selection.
Agents have intrinsic #knowledge and reasons for making selections according to their own #rules
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