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CSLI Calendar, 05 Oct 1995, vol.11:02
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To: friends
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Subject: CSLI Calendar, 05 Oct 1995, vol.11:02
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From: Tom Burke <burke>
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Date: Wed, 4 Oct 1995 14:32:33 -0700
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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
______________________________________________________________________________
5 October 1995 Stanford Vol. 11, No. 2
______________________________________________________________________________
A weekly publication of the Center for the Study of Language and
Information (CSLI), Stanford University, Ventura Hall, Stanford, CA 94305-4115
____________
CSLI ACTIVITIES DURING 4 -- 13 OCTOBER 1995
WEDNESDAY, 4 OCTOBER
3:15 - Philosophy of Computation Seminar
Ventura Hall, Room 17
The State of the (Theoretic) Art
Brian Cantwell Smith, Xerox PARC and Stanford Philosophy
Abstract below
THURSDAY, 5 OCTOBER
10:00 - STASS Seminar
Cordura Hall, Room 100
The Reflexive/Incremental Approach to Information, Cognition,
Language, and Action: Information Content, Part 1
John Perry and David Israel
Stanford Philosophy and SRI International
Abstract below
4:15 - SSP Forum
Building 60, Room 61-F
Project Reports
1995 Symbolic Systems/CSLI Summer Interns
Abstract below
FRIDAY, 6 OCTOBER
12:00 - Logic Lunch
Building 380, Room 383-N
A Completeness Proof for Propositional S4 in Cantor Space
Grigori Mints, Stanford Philosophy
Abstract below
12:30 - HCI Seminar
Skilling Auditorium, SITN Channel E1
Enabling and Constraining Effects of New Technologies
Jonathan Grudin, UC Irvine Computer Science
Abstract below
3:15 - Philosophy Colloquium
Encina Hall, Room 423
Two Faces of Responsibility
Gary Watson, UC Irvine Philosophy
TUESDAY, 10 OCTOBER
4:15 - Logic Seminar
Building 380, Room 381-T
Cut-elimination for Higher Order Logic with an Axiom of Choice
Grigori Mints, Stanford Philosophy
Abstract below
WEDNESDAY, 11 OCTOBER
3:15 - Philosophy of Computation Seminar
Ventura Hall, Room 17
The Mind/Body Problem for Machines
Brian Cantwell Smith, Xerox PARC and Stanford Philosophy
Abstract below
THURSDAY, 12 OCTOBER
10:00 - STASS Seminar
Cordura Hall, Room 100
The Reflexive/Incremental Approach to Information, Cognition,
Language, and Action: Information Content, Part 2
John Perry and David Israel
Stanford Philosophy and SRI International
Abstract below
12:00 - CSLI CogLunch
Cordura Hall, Room 100
The Evolution of Consciousness
Owen Flanagan, Duke Philosophy, Psychology, and Neurobiology
Abstract below
4:15 - SSP Forum
Building 60, Room 61-F
"Preparing" for Tomorrow's Workplace
Dennis Matthies, Stanford Center for Teaching and Learning
Abstract below
FRIDAY, 13 OCTOBER
12:30 - HCI Seminar
Skilling Auditorium, SITN Channel E1
Sketching Information
Takeshi Sunaga, Tama Art University, Tokyo
3:30 - Linguistics Colloquium
Building 460, Room 146
Title to be announced
Manfred Krifka, UT Austin Linguistics and CASBS
____________
The CSLI Calendar appears on Wednesday of each week throughout the academic
year. Announcements, abstracts, and other information to appear in the
Calendar can be submitted by e-mail to <incalendar@csli.stanford.edu>.
Further information about CSLI and past issues of the CSLI Calendar
are available on the Internet at URL <http://www-csli.stanford.edu/>.
The Calendar is also posted each week to the <csli.bboard> newsgroup.
____________
PHILOSOPHY OF COMPUTATION SEMINAR
on Wednesday, 4 October
3:15 p.m., Ventura Hall, Room 17
The State of the (Theoretic) Art
Brian Cantwell Smith
Xerox PARC and Stanford Philosophy
[bcsmith@parc.xerox.com]
The reading for today's seminar is Volume I Chapter 2 of _The Middle
Distance_. A course description can be found at [http://shr.stanford.edu/
BCSmith/phil395a.html].
____________
STASS SEMINAR
on Thursday, 5 October
10:00 a.m., Cordura Hall, Room 100
The Reflexive/Incremental Approach to Information, Cognition,
Language, and Action: Information Content
John Perry and David Israel
Stanford Philosophy and SRI International
[john@csli.stanford.edu,israel@ai.sri.com]
During the Fall Quarter STASS seminar at CSLI, David Israel and John Perry
will be giving six presentations on their recent paper on what they call the
reflexive/incremental approach to information, cognition, language, and
action.
This second meeting of the Quarter will be the first of two sessions on
Information Content. As background, see Israel and Perry, "What is
Information?" In _Information, Language and Cognition_, edited by Philip
Hanson, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1990: 1-19. Also
available on WWW via [http://www-csli.stanford.edu/users/john/phil.html].
____________
SYMBOLIC SYSTEMS FORUM
on Thursday, 5 October
4:15 p.m., Building 380, Room 383-N
Project Reports
1995 Symbolic Systems/CSLI Summer Interns
The Symbolic Systems Forum returns for 1995-96 beginning with our annual
roundup of SSP/CSLI summer interns, who will describe how they spent their ten
weeks with local (and not so local) researchers. This year's interns were:
Matt MacMahon (Junior) who worked with Barbara Tversky (Psychology),
Amit Aggarwal (Senior) who also worked with Barbara Tversky,
Edwin Ong (Junior) who worked with Stanley Peters (Linguistics),
Lester Dorman (Senior) who worked with John Etchemendy (Philosophy),
Jon Lindsay (Coterm) who worked with Phil Cohen and Sharon
Oviatt (Oregon Graduate Institute),
Kelley Robinson (Senior) who worked with Paul Skokowski (Livermore),
Max Klee (Junior) who worked with Herb Clark (Psychology) and
Tom Wasow (Linguistics and Philosophy),
Thomas Willeke (Junior) who worked with Ivan Sag (Linguistics) and
Dan Flickinger (CSLI).
Come join us for our first forum of the new academic year. For students, this
week's forum will also serve as the first meeting for SSP 10. Students taking
the forum for a unit of credit this quarter will have the option of attending
either forum talks or the video presentations in the new Symbolic Systems Film
Series, which will begin next week. Details about the Film Series will be
sent to the forum mailing list within the next two days, and details about
getting credit for SSP 10 will be discussed at this Thursday's forum.
____________
LOGIC LUNCH
on Friday, 6 October
12:00 noon, Building 380, Room 383-N
A Completeness Proof for Propositional S4 in Cantor Space
Grigori Mints
Stanford Philosophy
[mints@csli.stanford.edu]
A new short proof is given for the theorem by J. McKinsey and A. Tarski: modal
system S4 is complete for the topological interpretation in Cantor space.
Order topology on a Kripke model or a finite Lindenbaum algebra results in a
non-Hausdorff space. Original proof (reproduced also in the book by Rasiowa
and Sikorski) producing a model in Euclidean or Cantor space is rather
complicated. The proof presented here combines constructions used by McKinsey
and Tarski for S4 with much simpler constructions due to Beth, Dyson and
Kreisel, and Kripke for the intuitionistic logic.
____________
SEMINAR ON HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION
on Friday, 6 October
12:30 p.m., Skilling Auditorium
Enabling and Constraining Effects of New Technologies
Jonathan Grudin
UC Irvine
[grudin@ics.uci.edu]
Computers have not yet receded ubiquitously into our environment. We still
confront them, but our perception of what they are is shifting. Container and
computer metaphors or conceptual models are giving way to those based on
windows and visibility. What we see through these windows is of course
filtered,but the conceptual model of transparency is being adopted and the
metaphor has uses that are explored in this talk.
In thinking about technologies such as the WWW, we usually stress the wealth
of opportunities that access and visibility bring. What is enabled is not
always positive (e.g., monitoring is seen in different lights), but on the
whole we see technologies such as WWW, like earlier cases such as print, as
unleashing creative and expansive capabilities. Which they certainly do. At
the same time, again like print, these new technologies also introduce
powerful constraining, conservative influences, many of which are consequences
of increased visibility. Although I am very positive toward these new
technologies, I think that we can only hope to anticipate the nature of their
use by considering the interaction of these liberating and their constraining
forces.
I will illustrate these points with examples from print and other earlier
technologies, before speculating as to effects of new technologies. One
element in this is how we, as designers and users, will reconcile the
increased visibility of work and other activities with what we have learned
>From ethnographers and others about the mismatch between the reality and our
conceptions of activity.
JONATHAN GRUDIN joined UCI in 1991 following two years at Aarhus University
(Denmark). Previously he worked three years at MCC in Austin, Texas, studying
software development practice in large organizations, with emphasis on
computer-supported cooperative work. He also worked five years at Wang
Laboratories as a developer. He received a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology in
1981 from UC San Diego working with Donald Norman.
____________
PHILOSOPHY COLLOQUIUM
on Friday, 6 October
3:15 p.m., Encina Hall, Room 423
Two Faces of Responsibility
Gary Watson
UC Irvine Philosophy
____________
LOGIC SEMINAR
on Tuesday, 10 October
4:15 p.m., Building 380, Room 381-T
Cut-elimination for Simple Type Theory with an Axiom of Choice
Grigori Mints
Stanford Philosophy
[mints@csli.stanford.edu]
We present a cut-elimination proof for simple type theory with an axiom of
choice modeled after Takahashi's proof of cut-elimination for simple type
theory with extensionality. The same proof works when types are restricted,
for example for second-order classical logic with an axiom of choice.
____________
PHILOSOPHY OF COMPUTATION SEMINAR
on Wednesday, 11 October
3:15 p.m., Ventura Hall, Room 17
The Mind/Body Problem for Machines
Brian Cantwell Smith
Xerox PARC and Stanford Philosophy
[bcsmith@parc.xerox.com]
The reading for today's seminar is Volume I Chapter 3 of _The Middle
Distance_. A course description can be found at [http://shr.stanford.edu/
BCSmith/phil395a.html]
____________
STASS SEMINAR
on Thursday, 12 October
10:00 a.m., Cordura Hall, Room 100
The Reflexive/Incremental Approach to Information, Cognition,
Language, and Action: Information Content, Part 2
John Perry and David Israel
Stanford Philosophy and SRI
[john@csli.stanford.edu,israel@ai.sri.com]
The third meeting of the Autumn STASS series will be the second of two
sessions on Information Content. As background, see Israel and Perry,
"Information and Architecture." In _Situation Theory and Its Applications,
vol. 2_, edited by Jon Barwise, Jean Mark Gawron, Gordon Plotkin, and Syun
Tutiya, 147--60. Stanford University: CSLI Publications. Also available on
WWW via [http://www-csli.stanford.edu/users/john/phil.html].
____________
CSLI COGLUNCH
on Thursday, 12 October
12:00 noon, Cordura Hall, Room 100
The Evolution of Consciousness
Owen Flanagan
Duke Philosophy, Psychology, and Neurobiology
[ojf@acpub.duke.edu]
Although all conscious mental states are neural states, neuroscience is not
equipped to answer all the scientific questions we want answered.
Evolutionary biology is needed to answer questions about why we have
experiences at all, whether all conscious mental state types are adaptations;
and cultural and psychological anthropology are needed to answer questions
about conscious mental state types, e.g., certain emotions, that seem to occur
only in certain cultures. Pain, dreams, lust, and certain unusual emotions
are used to exemplify the thesis.
A description and schedule for the CogLunch series on consciousness can be
found at [http://www-csli.stanford.edu/csli/9495reps/coglunch.html].
____________
SYMBOLIC SYSTEMS FORUM
on Thursday, 12 October
4:15 p.m., Building 380, Room 383-N
"Preparing" for Tomorrow's Workplace
Dennis Matthies
Stanford Center for Teaching and Learning
[matthies@jessica.stanford.edu]
Suppose you are going to experience a half-dozen different careers. (That's
careers, not jobs.) Suppose your average stay on a job is going to be only
three or four years. Suppose that the form of work you will be doing ten or
so years from now doesn't even exist yet. Suppose. Suppose.
The "career"--that upward trajectory along a single, chrome-plated, fully
guaranteed flight path--is gone forever. How can undergraduates best equip
themselves for a wild ride in the new economy? Is a traditional liberal
education now obsolete? Does "preparation" for tomorrow's workplace even make
sense? Should we just close our eyes and plunge into it?
DENNIS MATTHIES, through the Center for Teaching and Learning and over SITN,
teaches courses like these: Think on Your Feet, Self-Coaching, Precision
Questioning, Mental Ecology, and Handling Information Overload. His current
clients include companies such as Microsoft, National Semiconductor, and the
public relations firm Wilson McHenry. As an undergraduate at M.I.T., Dennis
majored in physics; as a graduate student at Stanford he studied philosophy.
For the past several years Dennis has been trying to understand the nature of
"learning-intensive" work, as it develops in Silicon Valley.
____________
SEMINAR ON HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION
on Friday, 13 October
12:30 p.m., Skilling Auditorium
Sketching Information
Takeshi Sunaga
Tama Art University, Tokyo
[sunaga@cdr.stanford.edu]
____________
LINGUISTICS COLLOQUIUM
on Friday, 13 October
3:15 p.m., Building 460, Room 146
Title to be announced
Manfred Krifka
UT Austin Linguistics and CASBS
[krifka@casbs.stanford.edu]
____________
SEMANTICS SEMINAR
on Monday, 16 October
2:00 p.m., Cordura Hall, Room 100
Partitive Case and Aspect
Paul Kiparsky
Stanford Linguistics
[kiparsky@csli.stanford.edu]
The Finnish partitive is a structural case which marks objects of atelic
predicates, and indefinite bare plurals and mass nouns regardless of telicity.
It shares both its aspectual and NP-related function with the verbal category
of imperfective aspeies these functions and elucidates the parallelism with
aspect. I also show that Krifka's (1992) analysis, which derives the
parallelism for a special class of verbs (essentially, verbs of consumption
and creation) is correct for a related Finno-Ugric language, and represents a
historically anterior stage.
____________
Events Elsewhere On Campus:
DECISION ANALYSIS COLLOQUIUM
on Thursday, 5 October
5:30 p.m., Thornton Annex, Room 110
The Transferable Belief Model and Decision Making Under Uncertainty
Philippe Smets
IRIDIA, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Contact: [varner@leland.stanford.edu]
The Transferable Belief Model (TBM) is a non-probabilistic model for
representing quantified beliefs. It is developed independently of any
probabilistic underlying model. Its axiomatic justification will be presented.
It is based on rationality requirements that concern conditioning and changing
the frame on which beliefs are defined. The derived mathematical model is
based on belief functions.
The major criticism against any non-probabilistic model of belief is usually
built around optimal decision making, in particular around the construction of
Dutch Books. We show how decision is obtained within the TBM through the
construction of the pignistic transformation, which solves the problem of
synchronic Dutch Books. We explain its rationality, and show how diachronic
Dutch Books are avoided even though beliefs are not updated by the Bayesian
rule.
____________