Cosmism was originated in Russia more than a hundred years ago. That was an esoteric futuristic philosophy about post-humanity, technological immortality, resurrection and cosmic expansion. Early cosmists proposed the idea of decompaction (lightweighting) of the human body, that eventually wouldn’t need an atmosphere and would be powered directly by solar energy. They call it “radiant humanity” – a perfect society of highly moral and super-conscious beings merging and colonizing the whole Universe.
Modern Cosmism brings to the original doctrine the ontological foundation, a scientific structure and a deeper comprehension of possible technology aims to create in the future a new synthetic reality where the concepts of truth, consciousness, freedom and happiness will be deeply revised.
The conference will review the critical question about a meeting with advanced extraterrestrial civilizations and suggest few hypothesis about their “eerie silence”. We will touch some related problems in cosmology, and astrophysics such as the shape and future of the Universe, black hole information paradox, multidimensional space, dark energy and interpretation of quantum mechanics. Are they a separate arrow of time? Are there exceptions to the principle of causality?
Like no other area of philosophy and technology before, Modern Cosmism raises fundamental questions about the post human nature and how it will be connected to the reality. Is the structure of reality included the consciousness? Is a non biological hardware can support the consciousness? How we can define Cosmic Evolution and what is the role of intelligent life?
The conference will address important philosophical issues that arise with the future design of artificial consciousness, mind uploading and cyber-immortality. How will our concepts of subjectivity, perception, and morality change, if we will live in virtual reality of mega-consciousness environment where individuals can experience multiple presence, personality and have no gender. Will we be able to create super intelligent agents with consciousness and feelings? What are the limits of artificial capacities or functional simulations we should create? Could we enhance our own humanity by genetically redesign our nature?
Our keynote and plenary speakers are well-known international protagonists of Cosmism, Transhumanism and interdisciplinary researchers. Their lectures will discuss the most important current issues of Modern Cosmism from the point of view of philosophy, technology, ethics, robotics, psychology, and anthropology.
Ben Goertzel Ph.D. is the author of “Cosmists Manifesto”. He is Chief Scientist of financial prediction firm Aidyia Holdings; Chairman of AI software company Novamente LLC, which is a privately held software company, and bioinformatics company Biomind LLC, which is a company that provides advanced AI for bioinformatic data analysis (especially microarray and SNP data); Chairman of the Artificial General Intelligence Society and the OpenCog Foundation; Vice Chairman of futurist nonprofit Humanity+; Scientific Advisor of biopharma firm Genescient Corp.; Advisor to the Singularity University; Research Professor in the Fujian Key Lab for Brain-Like Intelligent Systems at Xiamen University, China; and general Chair of the Artificial General Intelligence conference series.
Giulio Prisco is former senior manager in the European Space Agency, Prisco is a physicist and computer scientist. He served as a member on the board of directors of World Transhumanist Association, of which he was temporarily executive director, and continues to serve as a member on the board of directors of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and of the Associazione Italiana Transumanisti. He is also a founding member of the Order of Cosmic Engineers, and the Turing Church, fledgling organizations which claim that the benefits of a technological singularity, which would come from accelerating change, should or would be viable alternatives to the promises of major religious groups.
James J. Hughes Ph.D. served as the executive director of the World Transhumanist Association (which has since changed its name to Humanity+) from 2004 to 2006, and currently serves as the executive director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, which he founded with Nick Bostrom. He also produces the syndicated weekly public affairs radio talk show program Changesurfer Radio and contributed to the Cyborg Democracy blog. Hughes’ book Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future was published by Westview Press in November 2004
Nickolas Pappas, Professor,The Graduate Center, CUNY, will give a talk entitled: “A Little Move toward Greek Philosophy: Reassessing the Statesman Myth”
Abstract:
The myth told in Plato’s Statesman separates the present from an “age of Cronus,” sometimes thought of as a golden age in which political order as we know it was unnecessary. And yet this golden age may not have been a time of happiness, if its inhabitants did not practice philosophy. The subtle, even evanescent difference between our time and that time re-imagines the founding of philosophical institutions, which turn out to be almost indistinguishable from political ones.
This event is sponsored by The New School for Social Research.
Rebecca Goldstein has written a zillion books of philosophy and philosophical fiction, including The Mind-Body Problem, Betraying Spinoza, and most recently Plato at the Googleplex. She is a recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” grant, for work that “describe[s] with wit, compassion and originality the interaction of mind and heart.” President Obama recently awarded her the National Humanities Medal “for bringing philosophy into conversation with culture.” And now, her greatest honor: on February 17th at 7:00 P.M., Rebecca Goldstein is coming to Brooklyn Public Philosophers.
Here’s the abstract:
“Why Did the Greeks Invent Philosophy?”
The philosopher Karl Jaspers pointed out that all the religious traditions that still survive originated in roughly the same period, 800 to 200 B.C.E., and that this was the period that also saw the birth of Greek philosophy, as well as Greek tragedy. From the Far East of China and India and Persia and westward all around the Mediterranean, including north to the Judean Hills and into Europe by way of the ancient Greeks, there was an explosion of normative thinking–thinking about how we ought to live our lives. The Greeks offered the only secular responses to the existential challenge, despite their culture’s saturation with religious ritual. And yet it would be a mistake to think of them as a society of philosophers; after all, they sentenced Socrates to death on the charge of impiety and corrupting the youth. What have we, in many ways so startlingly similar to the ancient Greeks, to learn from their responses to the question of what makes for a life worth living?
As usual, we meet at the central branch of the Brooklyn Public Library (10 Grand Army Plaza), in the Info Commons Lab.
Brooklyn Public Philosophers Spring Lineup:
1/27 – Armen Marsoobian
(Southern Connecticut State)
{genocide + reconciliation}
2/17 – Rebecca Goldstein
(NYU)
{plato in the modern world}
3/30 – Parviz Morewedge
(SUNY Old Westbury)
{intellectual islam}
4/27 – Lydia Goehr
(Columbia)
{music in context}
5/18 – Ian Olasov
(CUNY)
{moral talk in everyday life}
The Simon H. Rifkind Center for the Humanities and Arts
Presents:
Cinzia Arruzza
New School for Social Research
Sara Brill
Fairfield University
Andrea Capra
State University of Milan
Burt Hopkins
Seattle University
Elizabeth Jelinek
Christopher Newport University
Michael Naas
DePaul University
Noburu Notomi
Yokohama National University
Nicholas Rynearson
Brooklyn College, CUNY
Marylou Sena
Seattle University
Thomas Thorp
Saint Xavier University
Organisers:
Nickolas Pappas
CUNY Graduate Center
Poster: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqJK3SK3JjZbTBQY0d3ZnIxWUU/view?usp=sharing
Crafting Ancient Identities: Mythological and Philosophical Approaches to the Self and Society in Antiquity
Tenth Annual Graduate Conference in Classics
Friday, March 31, 2017
The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Keynote Speaker: Professor Kathryn Morgan, UCLA
In Greek and Roman antiquity, mythology and philosophy helped individuals understand their world and define their place in society. From the supernatural exploits in Homer to the etiological accounts of Ovid, mythology humanized natural phenomena and preserved cultural history. Philosophy, meanwhile, reflects an effort to systematize knowledge and answer questions about our place in the world. Both mythological narratives and philosophic thought participated in the crafting of ancient identities, whether as individuals, communities, or nations. The Romans, for example, turned to mythology to identify themselves as the descendants of Aeneas, just as the Athenian philosophers attempted to define what it meant to be a citizen.
The PhD/MA Program in Classics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York invites graduate students in Classics or related fields to submit abstracts of papers that explore how mythology and philosophy contribute to the development of identity in the Greco-Roman world.
Possible paper topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Etiological myths
- Autochthony and migration stories
- Philosophic schools and communities
- Philosophical poetry and the Presocratics
- Reception and transformation of myth in antiquity
- Hero cults and religious communities
- The role of myth in philosophical discourse
Please send an anonymous abstract of approximately 300 words as an email attachment to cunyclassicsconference@gmail.com by January 16, 2017. Please include, in the body of the email, your name, university affiliation, and the title of the presentation. Speakers will have 15 minutes to present. Selected applicants will be notified in early February. Submissions and questions will be received by conference co-organizers Federico Di Pasqua and Thomas Moody.
A one-day workshop at Fordham University, NYC, intended to provide academic and networking opportunities for early career women working in Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy.
The workshop aims to achieve three goals: (1) to provide an opportunity for early career women working in the area to present their work and receive feedback, (2) to help foster networking opportunities with medieval philosophers working in the NYC area, and (3) to help increase the visibility of research in the area and women’s contributions to it.
Keynote speakers: Marilyn McCord Adams and Therese Scarpelli Cory.
Date: 22 April 2017
Location: Fordham University, 150 W 62nd St, New York, NY 10023
Organizers: Giorgio Pini, Zita V. Toth, Shane Wilkins.
Even though ancient philosophy and rhetoric have many overlapping interests (education, persuasion, politics, etc.), their relationship has long been a contentious subject, especially among ancient philosophers. Contemporary scholarship on the topic is equally divided: philosophers tend to approach the topic primarily through the works of Plato and Aristotle and regard rhetoric (and rhetorical compositions) as a second-rate notion/discipline which has little interest in shedding light on philosophically relevant questions about human nature and society, whereas classicists research oratorical compositions to get a better understanding of Greek prose style, historical details and context, but often shy away from philosophical questions that the texts might hint at. This workshop aims to bring together scholars working on ancient rhetoric and argumentative techniques on the one hand, and scholars working on ancient philosophy, on the other in order to open up a space for a constructive engagement with philosophy/rhetoric, one which might enrich our understanding of ancient texts as well as the context in which they were produced.
Confirmed speakers: Jamie Dow (Leeds), Richard Hunter (Cambridge), Joel Mann (St Norbert), Jessica Moss (NYU), Usha Nathan (Columbia), James Porter (Berkeley), Edward Schiappa (MIT), Nancy Worman (Barnard). All papers will be followed by a response and general discussion.
Attending the workshop is free, but in order to have an idea of numbers it would be greatly appreciated if those interested in participating in the event would email the organizers, Laura Viidebaum and Toomas Lott.
This Workshop is generously sponsored by the Department of Philosophy (NYU), Department of Classics (NYU) and NYU Center for Ancient Studies.
The full program can be viewed here.
The workshop will bring together philosophers working in ancient epistemology with those working in contemporary epistemology to discuss issues relevant to the debates in both fields.
It was assumed until recently that the distinction between doxa and epistêmê, key players in ancient epistemology, maps directly onto the contemporary distinction between knowledge and belief. Recent interpreters of Plato and Aristotle have challenged this assumption. Some argue that epistêmê is closer to understanding than to knowledge because (for example) it requires explanation rather than justification, cannot be transmitted by testimony, is hard to come by, and can only be had of a restricted range of objects. Others argue that doxa is narrower than belief, perhaps closer to opinion, because (for example) doxa is excluded by epistêmê while belief is entailed by knowledge, doxa is imprecise and unclear while these are not essential features of belief, and doxa too has a restricted range of objects.
Contemporary epistemology tackles issues that are related to the debates above. Is knowledge to be distinguished from understanding and if so, which one should be seen as the proper goal of inquiry? Does understanding have value over and above the value of knowledge? Much like Plato and Aristotle, epistemologists aim to elucidate the conceptual relations between knowledge, understanding, justification, explanation, epistemic authority, and testimony. In addition, contemporary epistemologists sometimes produce fictional genealogies of epistemic concepts to arrive at an improved understanding of our epistemic practices. If epistêmê and doxa are distinct from knowledge and belief in a way indicated above, then it seems appropriate to raise the question whether the actual history of epistemic concepts can help to improve these fictional genealogies.
The presentations are followed by a response and a general discussion.Papers by speakers who specialize in Ancient epistemology will be assigned to commentators who specialize in contemporary epistemology and vice versa.
Presenters: Gail Fine (Cornell), Richard Foley (NYU), Jane Friedman (NYU), Allison Hills (Oxford), Robert Pasnau (Colorado), Whitney Schwab (Baltimore/NYU), Katja Vogt (Columbia), Ralph Wedgwood (USC).
Respondents: John Bengson (Harvard), Hugh Benson (Oklahoma), Paul Boghossian (NYU), Toomas Lott (NYU/Tartu), Jessica Moss (NYU), James Pryor (NYU), Michael Strevens (NYU).
Organisers:
September 7, 2017, 7:00pm EST
email tl1972 at nyu
The 35th annual meeting of
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy (SAGP)
October 21 – 22, 2017
Fordham University, Lincoln Center, New York
113 West 60th Street, New York, NY 10023
Corner of Columbus (9th) Avenue and West 60th Street
Sponsored by Fordham University
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy (SAGP)
Conference Organizers
Tony Preus (apreus@binghamton.edu), Binghamton University
Daryl Tress (tress@fordham.edu), Fordham University
Registration for the Conference
There are some aspects of this conference that have changed from the way it has been done in the past:
· No Friday Plenary Session.
· No Food. Those who have been attending will remember that food is available in the snack bar just off the Atrium where we have held the Friday Evening sessions several times. In addition, there are several restaurants and a Starbucks close by.
· No Registration Fee as such. In order to cover the minimum expenses of putting on the program – badges, printed programs, paying some students to help with registration – we require that everyone who participates or attends be a member of SAGP for 2017/18. We’ll try to cover everything out of SAGP dues, and that will work only if we’re serious about all attendees being current dues-paying members of the Society. Membership forms and information about current membership status available from apreus@binghamton.edu.
· Fordham University security requires all visitors to the Lincoln Center Campus to register for the conference and receive a guest badge. Members of the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy who are on the program will have a badge waiting for them when they arrive (we hope). Other current members who expect to attend, but are not on the program, should alert Preus (apreus@binghamton.edu) of their intention, in order to assure that a badge will be prepared for them. Current members who plan to attend are encouraged to volunteer to chair a session: a DRAFT program is included below to assist in planning for that!
· We hope to make it possible for persons who are not current members to join the Society for 2017/18 at the registration desk and get a badge, at least on Saturday morning.
Conference Location
All conference events take place at Fordham University, Lincoln Center campus, 60th St. & Columbus Ave, New York. This is on the western side of Manhattan, about two blocks from Columbus Circle and the southwestern border of Central Park. The closest subway stop for Fordham is the 59 Street/Columbus Circle stop, which is serviced by the blue lines (the A and C trains), the red line (the #1 train) and the orange line (the B and D trains).
Accommodations
The hotel closest to Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus is the Hudson Hotel (www.hudsonhotel.com), which provides a business rate (pending availability) if you identify yourself as affiliated with Fordham University.
Lodging can be found on a number of search vehicles like www.expedia.com, www.nyc.com/hotels/, hotels.com, or, www.nycgo.com/hotels (which is the site to which the Mayor’s office links). A number of sites allow you to search by regions within Manhattan. The three regions closest to Fordham are Central Park West (north of the campus), Clinton (“Hell’s Kitchen,” west and south of the campus), and Midtown West (south of the campus). Some sites allow you to search by landmarks: the closest one to Fordham is the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (across the street from Fordham). The Lincoln Center area is one of the more expensive places to stay in the city, but around Bryant Park and the Empire State building (three stops from Columbus Circle on the red line), lodging is more reasonably priced.
Other useful links:
· Fordham University, Lincoln Center Information Page (http://www.fordham.edu/info/21454/lincoln_center_campus)
· Subway map (http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm)
· Bus map (www.mta.info/nyct/maps/busman.pdf)
Randomized acts play a marginal role in traditional Bayesian decision theory, essentially only one of tie-breaking. Meanwhile, rationales for randomized decisions have been offered in a number of areas, including game theory, experimental design, and machine learning. A common and plausible way of accommodating some (but not all) of these ideas from a Bayesian perspective is by appeal to a decision maker’s bounded computational resources. Making this suggestion both precise and compelling is surprisingly difficult. We propose a distinction between interesting and uninteresting cases where randomization can help a decision maker, with the eventual aim of achieving a unified story about the rational role of randomization. The interesting cases, we claim, all arise from constraints on memory.
UNIVERSITY SEMINAR ON LOGIC, PROBABILITY, AND GAMES
On the Rational Role of Randomization
Thomas Icard (Stanford)