Philosophy Wire: Spontaneous!

Autonomous functions for robots, such as spontaneity, are highly sought after. Many control mechanisms for autonomous robots are inspired by the functions of animals, including humans. Roboticists often design robot behaviors using predefined modules and control methodologies, which makes them task-specific, limiting their flexibility. Researchers offer an alternative machine learning-based method for designing spontaneous behaviors by capitalizing on complex temporal patterns, like neural activities of animal brains. They hope to see their design implemented in robotic platforms to improve their autonomous capabilities. [1] Spontaneous. Can intelligence be anything different? Could you ever think of anything new logically? Look at the whirlwinds of leaves. It will rain soon. You know it. You smell it. And yet, when the first drop will drop... You will smile...

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Quantum irrationality

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2016-09-03]: Human intuition seems to help humans beat computers in quantum-inspired games. [1] In a world where everything can be anything, in a cosmos without time, causality or logic, in the quantum world, being irrational is the only way to be rational.

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Philosophy Wire: Beginning, One, Logic, Light. Thoughts.

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2014-05-17]:

Scientists try to recreate the primordial soup of elementary particles which consisted the universe in its initial steps. [1]
We try to recompose the whole from its parts.
We believe things change.
We think time as moving forward.
We believe that SOMETHING existed in the Beginning.
Scientific thought?
Intuition?
Faith?
Or simply... logical?
Simple thoughts.
Shinning through layers of modern dogmatism...
There is no time.
Things do not change.
The whole cannot be divided into parts.
Scientific thought?
Intuition?
Faith?
Or simply... logical?
Simple thoughts.
Shinning through layers of modern dogmatism...

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Non thinking. Lies. Logic.

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2014-05-07]: When it comes to detecting lies, you should trust your instinct, research suggests. We are better at identifying liars when we rely on initial responses rather than thinking about it, say psychologists. [1] Stop thinking if you wish to understand...

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nos aeternos esse...

We are all living into this world.
We are travelling along a road and we can all sense our purpose.

As Spinoza said...

sentimus experimurque, nos aeternos esse
(we feel and we practically see that we are eternal)

Ζούμε σε αυτόν τον κόσμο.
Όλοι ταξιδεύουμε σε ένα δρόμο και όλοι μπορούμε να αισθανθούμε το σκοπό μας.

Όπως είπε και ο Σπινόζα...


sentimus experimurque, nos aeternos esse
(το νοιώθουμε και το βλέπουμε στην πράξη ότι είμαστε αιώνιοι)

Looking at the stars - Κοιτάζοντας τα αστέρια

Looking at the stars.

Feeling something which cannot be described.

An exhilaration?

A kind of nostalgia?

Κοιτάζοντας τα αστέρια.

Αισθανόμενος κάτι που δεν μπορεί να περιγραφεί.

Μια αγαλλίαση;

Μια νοσταλγία;

Philosophy Wire: MIT, camera, lights, silence.

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-12-14]: A team from MIT created a new camera which can take 1 trillion frames per second and is thus able to capture the light as it propagates in space (well, not exactly but this is more or less the point) [source: BBC News]. Modern man wants to see more, to do more, to control more! We often forget that if we close our eyes in silence, we will experience much more than the eyes can offer…

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Science vs. Religion – The intuition arguments…

New post on Harmonia Philosophica - WordPress edition, regarding the philosophy of science and the fundamental role of intuition... Can be found here. Comments are welcomed!

Harmonia Philosophica @ WordPress

Philosophy Wire: Two moons, one moon, no moon…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-08-04]: Scientists argue that they found indications that the Earth once upon a time had two moons, one of which was destroyed after a collision with the moon we now have [source: BBC News]. Perhaps that is why our ancestors were more romantic… Based on the path that our civilization has taken, I guess that after a few years another collision must destroy the “last” Moon we currently have. In that was the only thing to remind us of the planet that inspired poets will be some computer images like the one above… Noone takes a minute to look at the real moon anyway...

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Philosophy Wire: Pigeons, Humans and Trust…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-06-23]: Pigeons can understand which humans to trust and which not to trust for their feeding, according to a new research [source: BBC News]. So pigeons can “know” what almost none of us can do: to know who to trust in todays harsh society. Maybe we can ask them how they do it.

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Philosophy Wire: The silent star, Kepler, Pythagoras and Music

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-04-09]: The Kepler telescope discovered a small system of two stars that orbit around a giant star. The strange thing is that the big star in the center is silent... [source: BBC Science news]. No sound does not seem to be produced by it, unlike all the other stars where (we believe that) sounds are created because of vibrations and explosions inside their body. Kepler as an astronomer was delighted when he discovered the harmony of celestial bodies and when he managed to match their movements with the sounds in the music scale. Pythagoras before him, paid particular attention to the music and its relationship to mathematics and the motion of celestial bodies. Music is one of the few things we like without being able to find some specific, concrete reason to explain it. And maybe that's why music has long been associated with both astronomy and mathematics - another area where intuition and inspiration play an important role. And it is music which keeps reminding us of the weird and subtle feeling we all share that there is unity that somehow binds everything together... A unity so magical as a set of notes just lingering in the open space...

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Philosophy Wire: Bahrain, the destruction of a monument and the power of Symbols

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-03-20]: The government of Bahrain destroyed the Pearl Monument, around which demonstrators gathered during the last days' protests [source: CNN Edition article].

The power of symbols is indeed awsome. No matter if that power stems from the collective unconscious of Jung or from another invisible source we have yet to discover, their importance if far too great for us to handle some times...

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective...

Philosophy Wire: Intuition better than Logic?

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-01-20]: Research published in Science shows that the best chess players make their decisions based on intuition rather than conscious thought [source: http://news.in.gr/science-technology/article/?aid=1231075468]. If this is true, then could it be that “logic” we are so accustomed to is wrong? What does out logic teach us? What does our intuition teach us? How do we know which is more “valid”? Science says the first? You?

PS. See "Religion and Science Unification" for more on the subject...

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