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CSLI Calendar, 8 March, vol. 5:20
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Subject: CSLI Calendar, 8 March, vol. 5:20
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From: csli@csli.stanford.edu
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Date: Wed 7 Mar 1990 14:25:14
C S L I C A L E N D A R O F P U B L I C E V E N T S
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8 March 1990 Stanford Vol. 5, No. 20
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A weekly publication of the Center for the Study of Language and
Information (CSLI), Ventura Hall, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-4115
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CSLI ACTIVITIES FOR THIS THURSDAY, 8 MARCH 1990
12:00 noon TINLunch
Cordura 100 Reading: Natural Language and Natural Selection
by Steven Pinker and Paul Bloom
Discussion led by Paul Kiparsky
(kiparsky@csli.stanford.edu)
Abstract in last week's Calendar
CSLI ACTIVITIES FOR THURSDAY, 22 MARCH 1990
12:00 noon TINLunch
Cordura 100 Perceiving Sound Patterns in Time
Robert Port
Departments of Linguistics, Computer Science,
and Cognitive Science
Indiana University
(port@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu)
Abstract below
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ANNOUNCEMENT
This is the last Calendar for winter quarter. Although a TINLunch has
been scheduled for 22 March, there will be no Calendar on 15 and 22
March. The next Calendar will be published on 29 March, and regular
Thursday events will resume on 5 April.
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TINLUNCH ON 22 MARCH
Perceiving Sound Patterns in Time
Robert Port
How can we perceive patterns that are distributed over time? The
standard view requires a "time window," in which time is mapped onto
physical distance (as in a sound spectrogram). But it will be argued
that time windows are biologically implausible as a representational
basis for recognition of temporal patterns like words. I will
describe connectionist simulations of auditory perception that are fed
a single spectrum-slice at a time, and are trained to recognize
melody-like patterns. The networks have a recurrent memory module of
multiplicative (or sigma-pi) units. Each target "tune" produces a
stable trajectory in the state space of the module. This dynamic
memory learns temporal patterns without saving the inputs themselves,
but by representing relevant information about history and abstract
space. This representation has many useful properties, including
allowing recognition as early in time as the information in the
stimulus allows, and a tendency to be invariant under changes in rate.
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SEMINAR ON ISSUES IN LOGICAL THEORY
Philosophy 396
Thursday, 8 March, 3:45 p.m.
Cordura 100
Jeff Pelletier on mass expressions.
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SYMBOLIC SYSTEMS FORUM
The Radically Efficient Agent in Context
Susan U. Stucky
Institute for Research on Learning
(stucky.pa@xerox.com)
Thursday, 8 March, 4:15 p.m.
Building 60, Room 61G
If we take mind to be made up of (in part) dynamic internal states
with content, that is, if we take cognitive states to be about things
outside those states, and if we admit that some of these cognitive
states have indexical content, then we arrive at a fundamental
question: what is the relation between the content of language as
externally expressed, and its corresponding internal state?
In this talk, I will put forward a candidate null hypothesis to the
effect that the expressions of language and their corresponding
internal states are equivalently indexical. This hypothesis claims at
once that the contribution of language to natural-language
understanding is perhaps less than we once thought. And it suggests
that the appropriate data for a theory of this sort is the stuff of
ordinary conversation full of the misunderstanding, vagueness, and
ambiguity that seems to pervade it. In the talk, I will argue for the
radical-efficiency hypothesis, lay out the beginnings of an
investigation of its validity, and discuss relevant examples.
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PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIUM
Quantum Mechanics Challenges:
Two Presuppositions of Metaphysics
Paul Teller
University of Illinois at Chicago
Friday, 9 March, 3:15 p.m.
Building 90, Room 91A
No abstract available.
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LINGUISTICS DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIUM
Symposium on Linking in Various Frameworks
Coordinator: K. P. Mohanan
(mohanan@csli.stanford.edu)
Speakers: Joan Bresnan, Paul Kiparsky, and Peter Sells
(bresnan@csli.stanford.edu, kiparsky@csli.stanford.edu,
sells@csli.stanford.edu
Friday, 9 March, 3:30 p.m.
Cordura 100
This is the second meeting of the linking symposium. Paul Kiparsky
will be the main speaker.
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COMMONSENSE AND NONMONOTONIC REASONING SEMINAR
A Circumscriptive Theory for Causal and Evidential Support
Eunok Paek
Stanford University
Monday, 12 March, 2:30 p.m.
Margaret Jacks Hall 252
Reasoning about causality is an interesting application area of formal
nonmonotonic theories. Here we focus our attention on a certain
aspect of causal reasoning, namely causal asymmetry. In order to
provide a qualitative account of causal asymmetry, we present a
justification-based approach that uses circumscription to obtain the
minimality of causes. We define the notion of causal and evidential
support in terms of a justification change with respect to a
circumscriptive theory and show how the definition provides desirable
interactions between causal and evidential support.
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SITUATION SEMANTICS SEMINAR
Questions
Jonathan Ginzburg
(ginzburg@csli.stanford.edu)
Wednesday, 14 March, 4:00 p.m.
Cordura 100
In the last meeting of this quarter, we will discuss issues relating
to interrogative NPs and quantification in questions.
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PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIUM
Sexual Strategies: The Evolution of Human Mating
David Buss
University of Michigan
Wednesday, 14 March, 3:45 p.m.
Building 420, Room 050
No abstract available.
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