Intentionality and computationalism: minds,machines, Searle and Harnad

Abstract

Searle (1980, 1989) has produced a number of arguments purporting to show that computer programs, no matter how intelligently they may act, lack ‘ intentionality’ Recently, Harnad (1989) has accepted Searle' s arguments as having ‘ shaken the foundations of Artificial Intelligence’ (p. 5). To deal with Searle' s arguments, Harnad has introduced the need for ‘ noncomputational devices’ (e.g. transducers) to realize ‘ symbol grounding’ This paper critically examines both Searle' s and Hamad' s arguments and concludes that the foundations of AT remain unchanged by these arguments, that the Turing Test remains adequate as a test of intentionality, and that the philosophical position of computationalism remains perfectly reasonable as a working hypothesis for the task of describing and embodying intentionality in brains and machines.     

How to Psychoanalyze a Robot: Unconscious Cognition and the Evolution of Intentionality1

According to a common philosophical distinction, the `original' intentionality, or `aboutness' possessed by our thoughts, beliefs and desires, is categorically different from the `derived' intentionality manifested in some of our artifacts –- our words, books and pictures, for example. Those making the distinction claim that the intentionality of our artifacts is `parasitic' on the `genuine' intentionality to be found in members of the former class of things. In Kinds of Minds: Toward an Understanding of Consciousness, Daniel Dennett criticizes that claim and the distinction it rests on, and seeks to show that ``metaphysically original intentionality' is illusory by working out the implications he sees in the practical possibility of a certain type of robot, i.e., one that generates `utterances' which are `inscrutable to the robot's designers' so that we, and they, must consult the robot to discover the meaning of its utterances. I argue that the implications Dennett finds are erroneous, regardless of whether such a robot is possible, and therefore that the real existence of metaphysically original intentionality has not been undermined by the possibility of the robot Dennett describes.     

Computing Machinery and Emergence: The Aesthetics and Metaphysics of Video Games

We build on some of Daniel Dennetts ideas about predictive indispensability to characterize properties of video games discernable by people as computationally emergent if, and only if: (1) they can be instantiated by a computing machine, and (2) there is no algorithm for detecting instantiations of them. We then use this conception of emergence to provide support to the aesthetic ideas of Stanley Fish and to illuminate some aspects of the Chomskyan program in cognitive science.     

心灵即计算：哲学，逻辑和实践

论证心灵是可计算的,因而为计算作为一门学科提供更丰富的内涵和实例,使计算不在局限于通常的自然过程而进入到人类心理领域.在哲学上,论述心灵哲学中的物理主义,采用最小立场即以依附(Supervene)来解释心灵现象何以是物理的;在逻辑上,我们首次以Church-Turing-Deutsch原理为基础来使Church-Turing论题与实际的物理系统联系起来,从而使本文的结论与量子计算相适合,也使可计算概念与物理学理论相协调,而这正是由Church-Tur-ing论题所定义的可计算概念所没有的地方.还讨论了认知逻辑在使人类情感、感觉和遗忘和记忆等方面的形式化方面的一些工作,这在知识表达和推理以及分布式计算等领域是一个很重要的方向之一.     

Parameterized Computation and Complexity： A New Approach Dealing with NP-Hardness

The theory of parameterized computation and complexity is a recently developed subarea in theoretical computer science. The theory is aimed at practically solving a large number of computational problems that are theoretically intractable.The theory is based on the observation that many intractable computational problems in practice are associated with a parameter that varies within a small or moderate range. Therefore, by taking the advantages of the small parameters, many theoretically intractable problems can be solved effectively and practically. On the other hand, the theory of parameterized computation and complexity has also offered powerful techniques that enable us to derive strong computational lower bounds for many computational problems, thus explaining why certain theoretically tractable problems cannot be solved effectively and practically. The theory of parameterized computation and complexity has found wide applications in areas such as database systems, programming languages, networks, VLSI design, parallel and distributed computing, computational biology, and robotics. This survey gives an overview on the fundamentals, algorithms, techniques, and applications developed in the research of parameterized computation and complexity. We will also report the most recent advances and excitements, and discuss further research directions in the area.     

The Chinese Room Argument Reconsidered: Essentialism,Indeterminacy, and Strong AI

I argue that John Searle's (1980) influential Chinese room argument (CRA) against computationalism and strong AI survives existing objections, including Block's (1998) internalized systems reply, Fodor's (1991b) deviant causal chain reply, and Hauser's (1997) unconscious content reply. However, a new ``essentialist' reply I construct shows that the CRA as presented by Searle is an unsound argument that relies on a question-begging appeal to intuition. My diagnosis of the CRA relies on an interpretation of computationalism as a scientific theory about the essential nature of intentional content; such theories often yield non-intuitive results in non-standard cases, and so cannot be judged by such intuitions. However, I further argue that the CRA can be transformed into a potentially valid argument against computationalism simply by reinterpreting it as an indeterminacy argument that shows that computationalism cannot explain the ordinary distinction between semantic content and sheer syntactic manipulation, and thus cannot be an adequate account of content. This conclusion admittedly rests on the arguable but plausible assumption that thought content is interestingly determinate. I conclude that the viability of computationalism and strong AI depends on their addressing the indeterminacy objection, but that it is currently unclear how this objection can be successfully addressed.     

CX11: A Chinese Language Supporting Interface for X Window Environment

Chinese language deals with ideographic character input and output.The X windows System (X11R5 or earlier versions) has the mechanism to output Hanzi(chinese ideograph) through 2-byte encoding when the corresponding fonts are included,but it has no corresponding input feature.Because there are as many as 160000 most in use Hanzis,more than one keystroke is needed to input a single hanzi by the traditional English keyboard.This paper proposes a Hanzi input architecture on the X Window System and a Chinese language mechanism that can upgrade English-based commercial X products of supply an application (X clients) programming interface for inputting Hanzi.XC11,our first implementation,is running on SCO ODT.Its design principle and implementation should be a model and can be applied as one of the general approaches to internationalize and localize the X Window System.     

视觉地形分类的词袋框架综述

目的 视觉地形分类是室外移动机器人领域的一个研究热点。基于词袋框架的视觉地形分类方法,聚集和整合地形图像的视觉底层特征,建立底层特征统计分布与高层语义之间的联系,已成为目前视觉地形分类的常用方法和标准范式。本文全面综述视觉地形分类中的词袋框架,系统性总结现有研究工作,同时指出未来的研究方向。方法 词袋框架主要包括4个步骤：特征提取、码本聚类、特征编码、池化与正则化。对各步骤中的不同方法加以总结和比较,建立地形分类数据集,评估不同方法对地形识别效果的影响。结果 对词袋框架各步骤的多种方法进行系统性的分类和总结,利用地形数据集进行评估,发现每个步骤对最后生成的中层特征性能都至关重要。特异性特征设计、词袋框架改进和特征融合研究是未来重要的研究方向。结论 词袋框架缩小低层视觉特征与高层语义之间的语义鸿沟,生成中层语义表达,提高视觉地形分类效果。视觉地形分类的词袋框架方法研究具有重要意义。     

Time Complexity of Evolutionary Algorithms for Combinatorial Optimization： A Decade of Results

Computational time complexity analyzes of evolutionary algorithms (EAs) have been performed since the mid-nineties. The first results were related to very simple algorithms,such as the (1 1)-EA,on toy problems.These efforts produced a deeper understanding of how EAs perform on different kinds of fitness landscapes and general mathematical tools that may be extended to the analysis of more complicated EAs on more realistic problems.In fact,in recent years,it has been possible to analyze the (1 1)-EA on combinatorial optimization problems with practical applications and more realistic population-baeed EAs on structured toy problems. This paper presents a survey of the results obtained in the last decade along these two research lines.The most common mathematical techniques are introduced,the basic ideas behind them are discussed and their elective applications are highlighted.Solved problems that were still open are enumerated as are those still awaiting for a solution.New questions and problems arisen in the meantime are also considered.     

A unified model of knowledge sharing behaviours: theoretical development and empirical test

Research and practice on knowledge management (KM) have shown that information technology alone cannot guarantee that employees will volunteer and share knowledge. While previous studies have linked motivational factors to knowledge sharing (KS), we took a further step to thoroughly examine this theoretically and empirically. We developed a unified model that is comprehensive and yet parsimonious, based on the decomposed theory of planned behaviour (DTPB) with three sets of critical antecedents: psychological, organisational and technological that are theorised to influence KS behaviours. Results of a field survey of knowledge workers support the majority of hypothesised relationships, and explained 41.3% of the variance in the actual KS behaviours and 60.8% of the variance in the intention to share knowledge. These results far exceed the predictive powers achieved by previous studies. Among our significant findings include a strong positive influence of perceived enjoyment in helping others (PEH) and a strong negative influence of perceived loss of knowledge power (PLK). Based on the findings, we discussed the study's implications for research and practice.     

A Class of OFT Controllers for Torque-Saturated Robot Manipulators: Lyapunov Stability and Experimental Evaluation

The trajectory tracking of robot manipulators is addressed in this paper. Two important practical situations are considered: the fact that robot actuators have limited power, and that only position measurements are carried out. Let us notice that a few solutions for the torque-bounded OFT (output feedback tracking) control has been proposed. In this paper we contribute to this subject by presenting a class of OFT controllers for torque-constrained robots. The theory of singularly perturbed systems is crucial in the analysis of the closed-loop system trajectories. As a second contribution of this paper, we present a detailed experimental study of six control schemes, which were tested in a two degrees-of-freedom direct-drive robot, confirming the advantages of the proposed methodology.     

一类模拟生物复眼几何结构的数据处理方法--方向量子化表示的理论

基于对生物复眼几何结构的模拟,提出一类新颖而有效的数据处理方法－方向量子化方法,该方法适宜于处理由高维数据所表示的凸体的菜,上仍乘法有效、适用广泛、半动态维护简便和易于在各种并行计算模型上实现等优点,理论分析和数值模拟表明：这一方法理论基础坚实,计算稳定可靠,具有广阔的应用前景。     

Good Samaritans on social network services: Effects of shared context information on social supports for strangers

Technological developments in smart phones and various sensors have been growing at a rapid pace, which leads people to share their context information with other users and support strangers in social network services (SNS). This allows us to study the effects of shared context information on socially supportive behaviors of individuals (Good Samaritans) in SNS. Our aim of this study is to investigate the pattern of social support amongst strangers in SNS. We aim to find out which types and forms of context information induce high levels of willingness to provide social support among strangers. We focus on four different types of context information (location, activity, emotion, or physical environment), which vary by degree of self-disclosure. We also investigated two forms of context information (subjective vs. objective), which differ depending on the provision of human interpretation.In order to achieve our research goals, we first constructed a causal model between context information and social support mediated by the theory of mind, which consists of simulation theory (empathy) and theory theory (rational reasoning). To verify the model, we conducted two exploratory pre-studies and a controlled main experiment. Our results indicated that types and forms of context information affect social support, simulation theory and theory theory. First, we found that a high level of self-disclosure positively effects social support. Context information in the subjective form induced more social supports compared to the objective form even though the information content itself is the same. Emotional context information presented in the subjective form has the strongest positive effect on social support. Furthermore, a high level of self-disclosure was found to positively affect context form's effect on simulation theory and social supports. In regard to theory theory, we discovered that high levels of self-disclosure have a positive effect.Both practical and theoretical implications of the study results have been presented. Theoretically, a conceptual model of the effects of context information on intention to provide social supports has been proposed and empirically verified. Practically, the interplay between context information types and forms can be utilized to construct social network services efficiently promoting social supports among fellow users. This paper ends with study limitations and implications.     

高校机房软硬件平台建设的探讨与实践

针对高校计算机机房的规划、建设、管理、维护方面进行了探讨与实践,提出了一些参考建议和新观点,阐述了高校机房硬件、软件、作业、安全、管理平台建设的主要内容等。     

A new theory branch for finance market study —Computational experimental finance review and synthesis

This paper provides a detailed synthesis of the computational experimental finance from four parts. （i）its theoretical basis-CAS （Complex Adaptive System） theory, （ii） the approach and method used for financial market study, （iii） research results-a number of valuable literatures review （iv） the existing problems and further research directions of this subject. Based on the challenge to the standard finance theory, the computational experimental finance is an exciting new field because it integrates CAS theory with computer technology and intends to reveal the macroscopic features of finance market from the penetration of the microscopic behaviors of investors by constructing the agent-based artificial financial market model The synthesis has prevalent meaning of guidance for new researchers allowing them to learn systematically more about the computational experimental finance.     

Silfide: A System for Open Access and Distributed Delivery of TEI Encoded Documents

This paper presents some aspects of the Silfide server, a system dedicated to the delivery of linguistic resources on the web. After presenting the main issues behind the design of such a system, we focus on the editorial choices related to the use of the Text Encoding Initiative to represent our textual documents. In particular, we focus on the accommodations we have had to carry with regards to the TEI header and address the trade-off between extensive enrichment and genericity of the primary data when one wants to precisely mark-up a given document content. As a whole, we show how essential the TEI has proven to be for a project such as ours both from a practical and conceptual point of view.     

A rescue robot designed for ease of use: development of exploration system using behavior of bombycid

Rescue operation is one of most effective applications of robots. However, previous rescue systems that use robots have a serious problem that is a shortage of professional operators. In this paper, we develop an exploration system of survivors using carbon dioxide, and to solve the problem we apply searching mechanism of bombycid to our system. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system, experiments have been conducted. This work was presented in part at the 13th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 31–February 2, 2008     

Vector elimination: A technique for the implicitization, inversion, and intersection of planar parametric rational polynomial curves

In this paper vector techniques and elimination methods are combined to help resolve some classical problems in computer aided geometric design. Vector techniques are applied to derive the Bezout resultant for two polynomials in one variable. This resultant is then used to solve the following two geometric problems: Given a planar parametric rational polynomial curve, (a) find the implicit polynomial equation of the curve (implicitization); (b) find the parameter value(s) corresponding to the coordinates of a point known to lie on the curve (inversion). The solutions to these two problems are closed form and, in general, require only the arithmetic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. These closed form solutions lead to a simple, non-iterative, analytic algorithm for computing the intersection points of two planar parametric rational polynomial curves. Extensions of these techniques to planar rational Bezier curves are also discussed.     

A full and efficient machine tractable dictionary for natural language processing: A revised version of the CUVOALD

A lexicon is an essential part of any natural language processing system. The size, content and format of the lexicon is crucial in determining the power and sophistication of a natural language processing system. However, a lexicon which provides comprehensive, consistent and accurate lexical information and which is in a format facilitating fast retrieval is not easily available. This paper reports on a project which aims at the development of such a lexicon. The resulting lexicon is actually the modified and extended version of the machine tractable version of the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. The modification and extension concentrate mainly on the aspects of comprehensiveness, consistency, explicitness, accuracy and the dictionary format. The modified and extended version is considered a desirable source of lexical information for any natural language processing system.Si-Qing Chen received her Ph.D. in computational linguistics (1992) from Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Languages. His research interests include natural language processing, computer-assisted language teaching, and computational lexicography. She is currently furthering her study and research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has published several articles on psycholinguistics, language teaching, philosophy of language, and natural language processing in, amongst other journals, Language Learning and the CALICO Journal.Luomai Xu is an associate professor in the Department of English at Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Languages. He has been working on several projects and published several articles on natural language processing.     

一种计算汉字串之间相关程度的新方法

本文提出了一种能更准确的反映两个汉字串之间相关程度的新概念——黏结度,并给出了其计算方法。该方法把需要计算相关程度的汉字串放在一个大环境中进行讨论,通过加入上下文信息来提高分词的准确度;另外,该方法在引用汉字词频时,增加了对动态词频的考虑,可以自动识别未登陆的专业词汇。文中同时给出了黏结度在分词领域中的应用实例。通过与前人提出的相关信息的方法相比较,这种计算方法能够解决分词中一些难于解决的问题并提高分词的精确度。