Machine awareness is a disputed research topic, in some circles considered a crucial step in realising Artificial General Intelligence. Understanding what that is, under which conditions such feature could arise and how it can be controlled is still a matter of speculation. A more concrete object of theoretical analysis is algorithmic iteration for computational intelligence, intended as the theoretical and practical ability of algorithms to design other algorithms for actions aimed at solving well-specified tasks. We know this ability is already (...) shown by current AIs, and understanding its limits is an essential step in qualifying claims about machine awareness and Super-AI. We propose a formal translation of algorithmic iteration in a fragment of modal logic, formulate principles of transparency and faithfulness across human and machine intelligence, and consider the relevance to theoretical research on -AI as well as the practical import of our results. (shrink)

According to Bem’s self-perception theory, people know their own minds in the same way that they know those of others: they infer their own minds by observing their own behavior and the circumstances in which this behavior takes place. Although Bem’s theory seems anti-introspectionistic, it claims that people infer their minds by observing their own behavior only when internal cues are weak, ambiguous, or un-interpretable. This has led some to argue that Bem does not rule out a priori introspective access (...) to the mind and thus introspection as a research method. This paper will discuss self-perception theory and its influence over recent research and will argue that introspection is not an autonomous research method. This is so because of its radical behavioristic outlook, according to which all methods and data of psychology must be public and not private. Then, the paper will discuss the epistemological implications of this behavioristic attitude on psychology. Finally, it will argue in favor of introspection as an autonomous research method and an independent source of data for psychology. (shrink)

This article considers the function and value of the mythos in Plato's Statesman. As first, I recall the context of the story and its function within the framework of diairetic inquiry about the definition of the real politician. Secondly, I point out that the formulation of the myth is based on a series of traditional stories to which a historical-reconstructive method is applied. I then highlight the ways of reasoning used by the characters in order to reconstruct a rational and (...) plausible account from the mythical tradition. Finally, I try to show that the story, even though it cannot reach the truth of the most stable objects of knowledge, displays a certain degree of plausibility, based on the internal coherence, on the respect of a series of principles admitted as true and, eventually, on its correspondence with the mythical tradition. (shrink)

Action dans l'espace, l'infini, la cognition humaine (link to the English text).

¿Es hoy aún posible pensar la creatividad sin el método, la invención sin la regla? La historia nos enseña que el arte es siempre inevitablemente tanto fantasía como disciplina, tanto creatividad como técnica, tanto genialidad como orden, y allí donde prevalece sólo uno de los dos momentos la creación artística corre siempre el riesgo de degenerar o en un mero delirio creativo sin resultados concretos o en un exasperante formalismo sin inspiración. De las reflexiones barrocas de Baltasar Gracián y de (...) Giambattista Vico nos viene la invitación a concebir la creatividad como ingenio, por lo tanto, a entender la creatividad como la capacidad de captar relaciones inéditas entre las cosas, las ideas o las palabras, o de formular intuiciones imprevisibles e imprevistas para los esquemas de pensamiento habituales o tradicionales, aunque reelaborando y conectando originalmente materiales ya dados. Este diverso modelo de creatividad, un modelo especialmente barroco, trata así de evitar el doble peligro de la exasperación fantástica, por un lado, y de la mortificación creativa, por el otro. Descubrir y profundizar la relación entre creatividad e ingenio, así como fue elaborado por Gracián y por Vico, puede entonces contribuir a arrojar nueva luz sobre la noción misma de creatividad, enriqueciéndola siempre con nuevos y más amplios significados.Palabras clave: creatividad, ingenio, Gracián, Vico. Is it still possible to think about creativity without method, or invention without rule? We can learn from history that art is always, unavoidably, a matter of fantasy as well as of discipline, of creativity as well as of technique, of geniality as well as of order; and that wherever only one of those moments prevails, artistic creation runs the risk of degenerating into mere creative delirium, with no concrete results, or in exasperating formalism, deprived of any inspiration. Baroque reflections of Baltasar Gracian and Giambattista Vico invite us to understand creativity as inventiveness, namely the capacity to grasp unprecedented links between things, ideas or words, or to formulate intuitions that were unpredictable and unpredicted for the traditional schemes of convencional or traditional thought, even if re-elaborated, and connecting well known materials in an original way. It is the aim of this particularly baroque model of creativity to avoid the double danger of fantastic exasperation, on the one hand, and creative mortification, on the other. Discovering and considering the relationship between creativity and inventiveness, as Gracian and Vico devised them, could therefore throw some light on the very notion of creativity, enriching it with new and broader meanings.Keywords: creativity, inventiveness, Gracian, Vico. (shrink)

Partiendo del cuestionamiento del diagnóstico de la situación italiana como "democracia bloqueada", el autor se plantea las respuestas teóricas necesarias para la superación de una "democracia sin cualidad"; cuestiones como la de cómo ha de ser una organización social en la que la obligación hacia el otro y hacia la comunidad conviva con y corrija el derecho de los individuos. ¿Está abierto aún el camino de las reformas? En la práctica ha faltado la solidaridad, entendida como posibilidad de sinergias derivadas (...) de una cooperación creativa en los diversos niveles de intervención y responsabilidad de los actores políticos y sociales, basada en normas y valores compartidos. (shrink)