Dear all,
Apart from our regular LIRa talks and the DIEP talk advertised earlier, we would like to bring to your attention the Logic of Conceivability Conference, scheduled for 7th-9th of June. You can find the details of the conference and the registration below.
--------------------------------
The ability to think about non-actual possibilities is crucial for rational decision and action. When deciding what to do in situations of uncertainty or risk, we use our powers of imagination and conception to surveil the ways the world might be for all we know, and ponder the possible consequences of our actions. What is the logic of conceivability? Do thinking and imagining exhibit sufficient structure so to be amenable to precise modeling? Under what conditions does an imaginative episode establish a non-actual scenario as a real possibility? What are the special features of thought, talk and knowledge about mere possibility and conditionality? The aim of this conference, organized by the members of the Logic of Conceivability project, is to facilitate the conversation on these questions by bringing together both senior and rising young researchers from around the world.
Date: June 7th – June 9th, 2021.
Venue: online.
Confirmed Speakers:
Magdalena Balcerak Jackson (University of Miami);
Ruth Byrne (Trinity College Dublin);
Thomas Ferguson
Peter Hawke (Lingnan University);
Karolina Krzyżanowska (ILLC, University of Amsterdam / Arché, University of St. Andrews);
Emiliano Lorini (CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier);
Aybüke Özgün (ILLC, University of Amsterdam);
Graham Priest (CUNY);
Eva Rafetseder (University of Stirling);
Sonia Roca Royes (University of Stirling);
Tom Schoonen (ILLC, University of Amsterdam);
Sonja Smets (ILLC, University of Amsterdam);
Anthi Solaki (ILLC, University of Amsterdam); and
Rineke Verbrugge (ALICE, University of Groningen).
Attendance is free, but registration is required. Please check the conference website for more information: http://projects.illc.uva.nl/conceivability/LoC-Conference/
The LIRa team
Dear all,
Next Thursday, June 3rd, we have two events of interest to the LIRa audience. The first is the DIEP talk of Velimir Ilić, from 11:00 to 12:30. The second is our regular LIRa session with Guillermo Menéndez Turata, from 16:30 to 18:00. You can find the details for both events, as well as their zoom links, below.
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Date and time: Thursday, June 3rd 2021, 11:00-12:30, Amsterdam time.
Speaker: Velimir Ilić (Mathematical Institute of the Serbian Academy
of Sciences and Arts)
Title: An overview and characterization of generalized information
measures
Abstract:
The aim of this talk is to present a comprehensive classification of
the main entropic forms introduced in the last fifty years within
statistical physics and information theory and to review the
fundamental questions about the meaning of information. I will
particularly focus on axiomatic approaches to the characterization of
various generalizations of the Shannon entropy, such as the Rényi,
the Tsallis, the Sharma-Mittal, and the Sharma-Mittal-Taneja
entropies, as well as the more general classes of pseudo-additive
entropies with a well-defined mathematical and information theoretic
structure. Finally, I will point out possible applications of these
measures in communication theory, statistical inference and complex
systems modeling.
Zoom link: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/85608909905
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Speaker: Guillermo Menéndez Turata
Date and Time: Thursday, June 3rd 2021, 16:30-18:00, Amsterdam time.
Venue: online.
Title: Uniform interpolation from cyclic proofs: the case of modal mu-calculus.
Abstract. Uniform interpolation was first established for the modal mu-calculus by D’Agostino and Hollenberg via a combination of semantic and syntactic methods. A natural question is whether a purely syntactical proof of this result, in the style of Pitt’s seminal work on uniform interpolation for intuitionistic logic, can be produced. One possible reason Pitt’s method has not been applied to the modal mu-calculus is that it requires a setting where uniform interpolation can be proved by induction on cut-free derivations in a finitary system. While it is feasible to design cut-free calculi for fixpoint modal logics, they are often infinitary, i.e., derivations may have infinite branches. In this talk we apply Pitt’s technique to the modal mu-calculus and show how to construct uniform interpolants from cyclic derivations in an annotated goal-oriented proof system introduced by Jungteerapanich and Stirling.
Recurring zoom link: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/92907704256?pwd=anY3WkFmQVhLZGhjT2JXMlhjQVl1dz09 (Meeting ID: 929 0770 4256, Passcode: 036024)
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team
Dear all,
Tomorrow, May 27th, we have two events of interest to the LIRa audience. The first is the DIEP talk of Olivier Roy, from 11:00 to 12:30. The second is our regular LIRa session with Francesca Zaffora Blando, from 16:30 to 18:00. You can find the details for both events, as well as their zoom links, below.
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Date and time: Thursday, May 27th 2021, 11:00-12:30, Amsterdam time.
Speaker: Olivier Roy (Bayreuth University)
Title: Deliberation, Coherent Aggregation, and Anchoring
Abstract: In this talk we will present a number of results stemming
from a computational model of collective attitude formation through a
combination of group deliberation and aggregation. In this model the
participants repeatedly exchange and update their preferences over
small sets of alternatives, until they reach a stable preference
profile. When they do so the collective attitude is computed by
pairwise majority voting. The model shows, on the one hand, that
rational preference change can fill an existing gap in known
mechanisms purported to explain how deliberation can help avoiding
incoherent group preferences. On the other hand, the model also
reveals that when the participants are sufficiently biased towards
their own opinion, deliberation can actually create incoherent group
rankings, against the received view. The model suggests furthermore
that rational deliberation can exhibit high levels of path
dependencies or \\\"anchoring\\\", where the group opinion is strongly
dependent on the order in which the participants contribute to the
discussion. We will finish by discussing possible trade-offs between
such positive and negative features of group deliberation.
Zoom link: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/85608909905
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Speaker: Francesca Zaffora Blando
Date and Time: Thursday, May 27th 2021, 16:30-18:00, Amsterdam time.
Venue: online.
Title: Weak merging of opinions for computationally limited agents.
Abstract. A standard objection to subjective Bayesianism is that appealing to subjective probabilities threatens the objectivity of scientific inquiry. A standard Bayesian response to this charge relies on merging-of-opinions theorems: a family of results which establish that, as long as their respective priors are sufficiently compatible, two Bayesian agents with differing initial beliefs are guaranteed to almost surely reach a consensus with increasing evidence. So, objectivity can be recovered in the form of intersubjective agreement. One of the most well-known such results is the Blackwell-Dubins Theorem, which shows that Bayesian conditioning leads to a strong form of merging of opinions, provided that the agents agree on probability zero events to begin with?i.e., provided that their priors are mutually absolutely continuous. Since absolute continuity is a rather strong form of compatibility between priors, it is natural to wonder whether merging of opinions?and what type of merging of opinions?can be achieved with weaker assumptions. In this talk, I will address this question from the perspective of computationally limited Bayesian agents: agents whose priors are computable. I will argue that, for computable Bayesian learners, it is natural to appeal to the theory of algorithmic randomness?a branch of computability theory aimed at characterizing the concept of effective measure-theoretic typicality?to define notions of compatibility between priors. We will see that the proposed notions of compatibility induced by algorithmic randomness naturally correspond to restricted forms of absolute continuity. Then, I will show that some of these notions, while too weak to ensure merging of opinions in the strong sense of Blackwell and Dubins, nonetheless suffice to attain a weaker type of merging, first studied by Kalai and Lehrer, which only requires reaching a consensus over finite-horizon events.
Recurring zoom link: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/92907704256?pwd=anY3WkFmQVhLZGhjT2JXMlhjQVl1dz09 (Meeting ID: 929 0770 4256, Passcode: 036024)
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team
Dear all,
This is to remind you that apart from the events scheduled for this Thursday (DIEP talk by Olivier Roy and regular LIRa seminar by Francesca Zaffora Blando), there will also be a LIRa-related event on Friday, namely the VvL Logic at Large Lecture: And Logic Begat Computer Science. You can find the details below.
***********************************************************************
* VvL Logic at Large Lectures: And Logic Begat Computer Science *
* When: Friday 28 May 2021, 15:30 - 17:45 / 18:45 *
* Where: Online (Zoom, Gather.town) *
***********************************************************************
To mark its relaunch the VvL (Dutch Association for Logic and Philosophy
of Exact Sciences) has the privilege to announce its first outreach
event in 2021. It will take place on *Friday 28 May 2021*. We are very
pleased to announce that Professor Moshe Y. Vardi (Rice University) will
give a public lecture entitled \\\"And Logic Begat Computer Science\\\" (see
the abstract below).
The event will take place online using Zoom.
The talk will be followed by a short session where three commentators
from different areas of logic and computer science will react to the
talk and kick off the discussion which will then transition into a
general Q&A with the audience. We are delighted to announce that the
commentators will be:
- Johan van Benthem (UvA, Stanford, Tsinghua),
- Frank van Harmelen (VU Amsterdam, Wuhan),
- Marieke Huisman (U Twente).
The outreach event will be concluded by a social gathering on the
virtual platform Gather.Town.
Registration is free, but necessary to receive links to Zoom and
Gather.Town. For registration and more information, please visit:
http://www.verenigingvoorlogica.nl/Activiteiten/
Programme:
15:30-15:50 Gathering/Informal discussion
15:50-16:00 An update on VvL and its activities
16:00-17:00 Public Lecture by Moshe Y. Vardi (Rice University): And
Logic Begat Computer Science
17:00-17:45 Questions and discussion with commentators
17:45-18:45 Social Event on Gather.Town
For any questions, please feel free to contact the organisers:
- Nick Bezhanishvili, University of Amsterdam (N.Bezhanishvili(a)uva.nl)
- Davide Grossi, University of Groningen (D.Grossi(a)rug.nl)
- Helle Hvid Hansen, University of Groningen (H.H.Hansen(a)rug.nl)
- Dominik Klein, Utrecht University (D.Klein(a)uu.nl)
- Peter van Ormondt, University of Amsterdam (P.vanOrmondt(a)uva.nl)
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And Logic Begat Computer Science
Moshe Y. Vardi
Rice University
Abstract: During the past fifty years there has been extensive,
continuous, and growing interaction between logic and computer science.
In fact, logic has been called \\\"the calculus of computer science\\\". The
argument is that logic plays a fundamental role in computer science,
similar to that played by calculus in the physical sciences and
traditional engineering disciplines. Indeed, logic plays an important
role in areas of computer science as disparate as architecture (logic
gates), software engineering (specification and verification),
programming languages (semantics, logic programming), databases
(relational algebra and SQL), artificial intelligence (automated theorem
proving), algorithms (complexity and expressiveness), and theory of
computation (general notions of computability). This non-technical talk
will provide an overview of the unusual effectiveness of logic in
computer science by surveying the history of logic in computer science,
going back all the way to Aristotle and Euclid, and showing how logic
actually gave rise to computer science.
***********************************************************************
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team
Dear all,
We will have our next LIRa session on Thursday, May 27th. Our speaker is Francesca Zaffora Blando. You can find the details of the talk below. We will use our recurring zoom link: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/92907704256?pwd=anY3WkFmQVhLZGhjT2JXMlhjQVl1dz09 (Meeting ID: 929 0770 4256, Passcode: 036024)
Speaker: Francesca Zaffora Blando
Date and Time: Thursday, May 27th 2021, 16:30-18:00, Amsterdam time.
Venue: online.
Title: Weak merging of opinions for computationally limited agents.
Abstract. A standard objection to subjective Bayesianism is that appealing to subjective probabilities threatens the objectivity of scientific inquiry. A standard Bayesian response to this charge relies on merging-of-opinions theorems: a family of results which establish that, as long as their respective priors are sufficiently compatible, two Bayesian agents with differing initial beliefs are guaranteed to almost surely reach a consensus with increasing evidence. So, objectivity can be recovered in the form of intersubjective agreement. One of the most well-known such results is the Blackwell-Dubins Theorem, which shows that Bayesian conditioning leads to a strong form of merging of opinions, provided that the agents agree on probability zero events to begin with—i.e., provided that their priors are mutually absolutely continuous. Since absolute continuity is a rather strong form of compatibility between priors, it is natural to wonder whether merging of opinions—and what type of merging of opinions—can be achieved with weaker assumptions. In this talk, I will address this question from the perspective of computationally limited Bayesian agents: agents whose priors are computable. I will argue that, for computable Bayesian learners, it is natural to appeal to the theory of algorithmic randomness—a branch of computability theory aimed at characterizing the concept of effective measure-theoretic typicality—to define notions of compatibility between priors. We will see that the proposed notions of compatibility induced by algorithmic randomness naturally correspond to restricted forms of absolute continuity. Then, I will show that some of these notions, while too weak to ensure merging of opinions in the strong sense of Blackwell and Dubins, nonetheless suffice to attain a weaker type of merging, first studied by Kalai and Lehrer, which only requires reaching a consensus over finite-horizon events.
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team
Dear all,
Apart from the regular LIRa session scheduled for tomorrow (Nina Gierasimczuk) and advertised earlier today, we would like to bring to your attention the following two talks of DIEP (Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena) which might be of interest to the LIRa audience. The talks are by Sven Banisch (tomorrow) and by Olivier Roy (May 27). You can find the details of the talks, as well as the zoom links, below.
Date and time: Thursday, May 20th 2021, 11:00-12:30, Amsterdam time.
Speaker: Sven Banisch (Max Planck Institute, Leipzig)
Title: Social Feedback Theory: Modeling collective opinion phenomena
by learning from the feedback of others
Abstract: Humans are sensitive to social approval and disapproval.
The feedback that others provide on our expressions of opinion is an
important driver for adaptation and change. Social feedback theory
provides a framework for modeling collective opinion processes based
on these principles. The theory departs from previous models by
differentiating an externally expressed opinion from an internal
evaluation of it. Opinion dynamics is conceived as repeated games that
agents play within their social network and to which they adapt by
reward-based learning. Within this setting, game theoretic notions of
equilibrium can be used to characterize structural conditions for
qualitatively different regimes of collective opinion expression. In
this talk, I aim for a broad perspective and discuss two models
addressing emergent phenomena such as polarization and collective
silence.
Zoom link: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/85608909905
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Date and time: Thursday, May 27th 2021, 11:00-12:30, Amsterdam time.
Speaker: Olivier Roy (Bayreuth University)
Title: Deliberation, Coherent Aggregation, and Anchoring
Abstract: In this talk we will present a number of results stemming from a computational model of collective attitude formation through a combination of group deliberation and aggregation. In this model the participants repeatedly exchange and update their preferences over small sets of alternatives, until they reach a stable preference profile. When they do so the collective attitude is computed by pairwise majority voting. The model shows, on the one hand, that rational preference change can fill an existing gap in known mechanisms purported to explain how deliberation can help avoiding incoherent group preferences. On the other hand, the model also reveals that when the participants are sufficiently biased towards their own opinion, deliberation can actually create incoherent group rankings, against the received view. The model suggests furthermore that rational deliberation can exhibit high levels of path dependencies or “anchoring”, where the group opinion is strongly dependent on the order in which the participants contribute to the discussion. We will finish by discussing possible trade-offs between such positive and negative features of group deliberation.
Zoom link: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/85608909905
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team
Dear all,
We will have our next LIRa session tomorrow. We will use our recurring zoom link: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/92907704256?pwd=anY3WkFmQVhLZGhjT2JXMlhjQVl1dz09 (Meeting ID: 929 0770 4256, Passcode: 036024). You can find the details of the talk below.
Speaker: Nina Gierasimczuk
Date and Time: Thursday, May 20th 2021, 16:30-18:00, Amsterdam
time.
Venue: online.
Title: Multi-agent language coordination and cognitive semantics of
quantity terms
Abstract.
Natural languages vary in their quantity expressions, but the
variation seems to be constrained by general properties, so-called
universals. Explanations thereof have been sought among constraints of
human cognition, communication, complexity, and pragmatics. In this
work, we examine whether the perceptual constraints of approximate
number sense (ANS) contribute to the development of two
universals in the semantic domain of quantities:
monotonicity and convexity. Using a state-of-the-art multi-agent
language coordination model (originally applied to colour terms) we
evolve communicatively usable quantity terminologies. We compare
the degrees of convexity and monotonicity of languages evolvingin
populations of agents with and without ANS. The results suggest that
ANS supports the development of monotonicity and, to a lesser extent,
convexity. This is a joint work with Dariusz Kalociński (University
of Warsaw), Franciszek Rakowski (Samsung Research & Development
Institute Poland) and Jakub Uszyński (National Information Processing
Institute, Poland). It was generously supported by N.G.’s National
Science Centre Poland grant no. 2015/19/B/HS1/03292.
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team
Dear all,
We will have our next LIRa session on Thursday, May 20th. Our speaker is Nina Gierasimczuk. You can find the details of the talk below. We will use our recurring zoom link: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/92907704256?pwd=anY3WkFmQVhLZGhjT2JXMlhjQVl1dz09 (Meeting ID: 929 0770 4256, Passcode: 036024)
Speaker: Nina Gierasimczuk
Date and Time: Thursday, May 20th 2021, 16:30-18:00, Amsterdam
time.
Venue: online.
Title: Multi-agent language coordination and cognitive semantics of
quantity terms
Abstract.
Natural languages vary in their quantity expressions, but the
variation seems to be constrained by general properties, so-called
universals. Explanations thereof have been sought among constraints of
human cognition, communication, complexity, and pragmatics. In this
work, we examine whether the perceptual constraints of approximate
number sense (ANS) contribute to the development of two
universals in the semantic domain of quantities:
monotonicity and convexity. Using a state-of-the-art multi-agent
language coordination model (originally applied to colour terms) we
evolve communicatively usable quantity terminologies. We compare
the degrees of convexity and monotonicity of languages evolvingin
populations of agents with and without ANS. The results suggest that
ANS supports the development of monotonicity and, to a lesser extent,
convexity. This is a joint work with Dariusz Kalociński (University
of Warsaw), Franciszek Rakowski (Samsung Research & Development
Institute Poland) and Jakub Uszyński (National Information Processing
Institute, Poland). It was generously supported by N.G.’s National
Science Centre Poland grant no. 2015/19/B/HS1/03292.
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team
Dear all,
This is to remind you that the following two events will take place tomorrow:
First, the PEPTalk on Responsible AI, Machine Ethics, and Logic, featuring Jan Broersen and Marija Slavkovik, and moderated by Aybüke Özgün. It will take place at 12:00 -13:00. The details of the event and the registration can be found here: https://www.uva.nl/en/shared-content/faculteiten/en/faculteit-der-geesteswe…
Second, our regular LIRa session. We will use our recurring zoom link: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/92907704256?pwd=anY3WkFmQVhLZGhjT2JXMlhjQVl1dz09 (Meeting ID: 929 0770 4256, Passcode: 036024). You can find the details of the LIRa talk below.
Speaker: Hein Duijf
Date and Time: Thursday, May 6th 2021, 16:30-18:00, Amsterdam
time.
Venue: online.
Title: Should one be open-minded?
Abstract. I investigate the common intuition that open-mindedness is
virtuous, while its opposite – close-mindedness – is vicious. I
defend a positive claim that open-mindedness sometimes helps us
achieve some basic epistemic goals. However, I also defend a negative
claim that open-mindedness sometimes hinders the achievement of some
basic epistemic goals. Open-mindedness is only epistemically
beneficial if one has decent evaluative skills. These evaluative
skills can be understood in several ways: as the social skill to
determine whether another person is trustworthy or has mutual
interests; or as the evaluative skill to determine whether certain
argument or piece of evidence is truth-conducive. In the absence of
sufficient evaluative skills and for low degrees of open mindedness,
it seems plausible that open-mindedness will not be epistemically
fruitful.
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team
Dear all,
Apart from our regular LIRa session next week (advertised earlier), we would like to bring to your attention the PEPTalk on Responsible AI, Machine Ethics, and Logic, featuring Jan Broersen and Marija Slavkovik. The session will be moderated by Aybüke Özgün. It will take place on 6 May 2021, at 12:00 -13:00. The details of the event and the registration are attached below. You can also consult the link: https://www.uva.nl/en/shared-content/faculteiten/en/faculteit-der-geesteswe…
Description:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is advancing at a rapid pace. Its limitless applications are already an integral part of our daily experiences, (maybe not so) silently structuring our lives and society in crucial domains such as education, healthcare, surveillance, transportation, journalism, and law. As we place more and more safety-critical and consequential social decisions in the hands of artificial systems, we must ensure that these systems behave ethically, and that decisions and actions are taken responsibly. It is therefore increasingly urgent to understand the conceptual underpinnings of the notion of responsibility in AI, and to develop rigorous tools to design artificial systems that behave responsibly and ethically. But, what does it even mean for an artificial system to behave responsibly? Can and should we design machines with moral reasoning capacities? In ensuring responsible and ethical AI, should scalable and efficient, yet opaque, sub-symbolic approaches be replaced by transparent, explainable, yet brittle, symbolic, logic-based techniques?
On 6 May 2021, we will discuss these questions in our PEPT panel with Jan Broersen and Marija Slavkovik, emphasizing the role that can be played by the social sciences, humanities, and AI research in an interdisciplinary approach to the issues outlined above. The conversation will be moderated by Aybüke Özgün.
The speakers
Jan Broersen is a Professor of Logical Methods in Artificial Intelligence at the Department of Philosophy, Utrecht University. He is the principal investigator of the NWO funded research project Empowering Human Intentions through Artificial Intelligence. His main interests are responsible AI, knowledge representation and reasoning, and logic theories of agency.
Marija Slavkovik is an Associate Professor in Artificial Intelligence at the Department of Information Science and Media Studies at the University of Bergen. She is a vice-chair of the Norwegian AI Association and co-leader of the project User Modeling, Personalization and Engagement at the Research Centre for Responsible Media Technology and Innovation. Her research interests include machine ethics, logic reasoning in social networks, computational social choice, and judgement aggregation.
Aybüke Özgün is an Assistant Professor of Responsible and Ethical AI at the University of Amsterdam and the Institute for Logic, Language, and Computation. She completed a joint PhD degree in Logic and Computer Science at the University of Amsterdam and the University of Lorraine.
Registration
To participate, please register via pept(a)uva.nl and you will receive the Zoom link by email.
The LIRa team