REACHING-FOR-MIND: AISB-95 WKSHOP/FINAL-CALL
Paul Mc Kevitt
P.McKevitt at dcs.shef.ac.uk
Fri Feb 3 08:12:43 EST 1995
<<FINAL CALL FOR PAPERS>> <<FINAL CALL FOR PAPERS>> <<FINAL CALL FOR PAPERS>>
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REACHING FOR MIND REACHING FOR MIND REACHING FOR MIND REACHING FOR MIND REACHING FOR MIND REACHING FOR MIND REACHING FOR MIND REACHING FOR MIND REACHING FOR MIND
Advance Announcement
FINAL CALL FOR PAPERS AND PARTICIPATION
AISB-95 Workshop on
REACHING FOR MIND:
FOUNDATIONS OF COGNITIVE SCIENCE
April 3rd/4th 1995
at the
The Tenth Biennial Conference on AI and Cognitive Science (AISB-95)
(Theme: Hybrid Problems, Hybrid Solutions)
Halifax Hall
University of Sheffield
Sheffield, England
(Monday 3rd -- Friday 7th April 1995)
Society for the Study of
Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour (SSAISB)
Chair:
Sean O Nuallain
Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland &
National Research Council, Ottawa, Canada
Co-Chair:
Paul Mc Kevitt
Department of Computer Science
University of Sheffield, England
WORKSHOP COMMITTEE:
John Barnden (New Mexico State University, NM, USA)
Istvan Berkeley (University of Alberta, Canada)
Mike Brady (Oxford, England)
Harry Bunt (ITK, Tilburg, The Netherlands)
Peter Carruthers (University of Sheffield, England)
Daniel Dennett (Tufts University, USA)
Eric Dietrich (SUNY Binghamton, NY, USA)
Jerry Feldman (ICSI, UC Berkeley, USA)
John Frisby (University of Sheffield, England)
Stevan Harnad (University of Southampton, England)
James Martin (University of Colorado at Boulder, CO, USA)
John Macnamara (McGill University, Canada)
Mike McTear (Universities of Ulster and Koblenz, Germany)
Ryuichi Oka (RWC P, Tsukuba, Japan)
Jordan Pollack (Ohio State University, OH, USA)
Zenon Pylyshyn (Rutgers University, USA)
Ronan Reilly (University College, Dublin, Ireland)
Roger Schank (ILS, Northwestern, USA)
NNoel Sharkey (University of Sheffield, England)
Walther v.Hahn (University of Hamburg, Germany)
Yorick Wilks (University of Sheffield, England)
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
The assumption underlying this workshop is that Cognitive Science (CS)
is in crisis. The crisis manifests itself, as exemplified by the
recent Buffalo summer institute, in a complete lack of consensus among
even the biggest names in the field on whether CS has or indeed should
have a clearly identifiable focus of study; the issue of identifying
this focus is a separate and more difficult one. Though academic
programs in CS have in general settled into a pattern compatible with
classical computationalist CS (Pylyshyn 1984, Von Eckardt 1993),
including the relegation from focal consideration of consciousness,
affect and social factors, two fronts have been opened on this
classical position.
The first front is well-publicised and highly visible. Both Searle
(1992) and Edelman (1992) refuse to grant any special status to
information-processing in explanation of mental process. In contrast,
they argue, we should focus on Neuroscience on the one hand and
Consciousness on the other. The other front is ultimately the more
compelling one. It consists of those researchers from inside CS who
are currently working on consciousness, affect and social factors and
do not see any incompatibility between this research and their vision
of CS, which is that of a Science of Mind (see Dennett 1993, O
Nuallain (in press) and Mc Kevitt and Partridge 1991, Mc Kevitt and
Guo 1994).
References
Dennett, D. (1993) Review of John Searle's "The Rediscovery of the
Mind". The Journal of Philosophy 1993, pp 193-205
Edelman, G.(1992) Bright Air, Brilliant Fire. Basic Books
Mc Kevitt, P. and D. Partridge (1991) Problem description and
hypothesis testing in Artificial Intelligence In ``Artificial
Intelligence and Cognitive Science '90'', Springer-Verlag British
Computer Society Workshop Series, McTear, Michael and Norman Creaney
(Eds.), 26-47, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag. Also, in
Proceedings of the Third Irish Conference on Artificial Intelligence
and Cognitive Science (AI/CS-90), University of Ulster at Jordanstown,
Northern Ireland, EU, September and as Technical Report 224,
Department of Computer Science, University of Exeter, GB- EX4 4PT,
Exeter, England, EU, September, 1991.
Mc Kevitt, P. and Guo, Cheng-ming (1995) From Chinese rooms to Irish
rooms: new words on visions for language. Artificial Intelligence
Review Vol. 8. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer-Academic Publishers.
(unabridged version) First published: International Workshop on
Directions of Lexical Research, August, 1994, Beijing, China.
O Nuallain, S (in press) The Search for Mind: a new foundation for
CS. Norwood: Ablex
Pylyshyn, Z.(1984) Computation and Cognition. MIT Press
Searle, J (1992) The rediscovery of the mind. MIT Press.
Von Eckardt, B. (1993) What is Cognitive Science? MIT Press
WORKSHOP TOPICS:
The tension which riddles current CS can therefore be stated thus: CS,
which gained its initial capital by adopting the computational
metaphor, is being constrained by this metaphor as it attempts to
become an encompassing Science of Mind. Papers are invited for this
workshop which:
* Address the central tension
* Propose an overall framework for CS (as attempted, inter alia,
by O Nuallain (in press))
* Explicate the relations between the disciplines which comprise CS.
* Relate educational experiences in the field
* Describe research outside the framework of classical
computationalist CS in the context of an alternative framework
* Promote a single logico-mathematical formalism as a theory of
Mind (as attempted by Harmony theory)
* Disagree with the premise of the workshop
Other relevant topics include:
* Classical vs. neuroscience representations
* Consciousness vs. Non-consciousness
* Dictated vs. emergent behaviour
* A life/Computational intelligence/Genetic algorithms/Connectionism
* Holism and the move towards Zen integration
The workshop will focus on three themes:
* What is the domain of Cognitive Science ?
* Classic computationalism and its limitations
* Neuroscience and Consciousness
WORKSHOP FORMAT:
Our intention is to have as much discussion as possible during the
workshop and to stress panel sessions and discussion rather than
having formal paper presentations. The workshop will consist of
half-hour presentations, with 15 minutes for discussion at the end of
each presentation and other discussion sessions. A plenary session at
the end will attempt to resolve the themes emerging from the different
sessions.
ATTENDANCE:
We hope to have an attendance between 25-50 people at the workshop.
Given the urgency of the topic, we expect it to be of interest not
only to scientists in the AI/Cognitive Science (CS) area, but also to
those in other of the sciences of mind who are curious about CS. We
envisage researchers from Edinburgh, Leeds, York, Sheffield and Sussex
attending from within England and many overseas visitors as the
Conference Programme is looking very international.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
Papers of not more than 8 pages should be submitted by electronic mail
(preferably uuencoded compressed postscript) to Sean O Nuallain at the
E-mail address(es) given below. If you cannot submit your paper by
E-mail please submit three copies by snail mail.
*******Submission Deadline: February 13th 1995
*******Notification Date: February 25th 1995
*******Camera ready Copy: March 10th 1995
PUBLICATION:
Workshop notes/preprints will be published. If there is sufficient
interest we will publish a book on the workshop possibly with the
American Artificial Intelligence Association (AAAI) Press.
WORKSHOP CHAIR:
Sean O Nuallain
((Before Dec 23:))
Knowledge Systems Lab,
Institute for Information Technology,
National Research Council,
Montreal Road, Ottawa
Canada K1A OR6
Phone: 1-613-990-0113
E-mail: sean at ai.iit.nrc.ca
FaX: 1-613-95271521
((After Dec 23:))
Dublin City University,
IRL- Dublin 9, Dublin
Ireland, EU
WWW: http://www.compapp.dcu.ie
Ftp: ftp.vax1.dcu.ie
E-mail: onuallains at dcu.ie
FaX: 353-1-7045442
Phone: 353-1-7045237
AISB-95 WORKSHOPS AND TUTORIALS CHAIR:
Dr. Robert Gaizauskas
Department of Computer Science
University of Sheffield
211 Portobello Street
Regent Court
Sheffield S1 4DP
U.K.
E-mail: robertg at dcs.shef.ac.uk
WWW: http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/
WWW: http://www.shef.ac.uk/
Ftp: ftp.dcs.shef.ac.uk
FaX: +44 (0) 114 278-0972
Phone: +44 (0) 114 282-5572
AISB-95 CONFERENCE/LOCAL ORGANISATION CHAIR:
Paul Mc Kevitt
Department of Computer Science
Regent Court
211 Portobello Street
University of Sheffield
GB- S1 4DP, Sheffield
England, UK, EU.
E-mail: p.mckevitt at dcs.shef.ac.uk
WWW: http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/
WWW: http://www.shef.ac.uk/
Ftp: ftp.dcs.shef.ac.uk
FaX: +44 (0) 114-278-0972
Phone: +44 (0) 114-282-5572 (Office)
282-5596 (Lab.)
282-5590 (Secretary)
AISB-95 REGISTRATION:
Alison White
AISB Executive Office
Cognitive and Computing Sciences (COGS)
University of Sussex
Falmer, Brighton
England, UK, BN1 9QH
Email: alisonw at cogs.susx.ac.uk
WWW: http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/aisb
Ftp: ftp.cogs.susx.ac.uk/pub/aisb
Tel: +44 (0) 1273 678448
Fax: +44 (0) 1273 671320
AISB-95 ENQUIRIES:
Gill Wells,
Administrative Assistant, AISB-95,
Department of Computer Science,
Regent Court,
211 Portobello Street,
University of Sheffield,
GB- S1 4DP, Sheffield,
UK, EU.
Email: g.wells at dcs.shef.ac.uk
Fax: +44 (0) 114-278-0972
Phone: +44 (0) 114-282-5590
Email: aisb95 at dcs.shef.ac.uk (for auto responses)
WWW: http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/aisb95 [Sheffield Computer Science]
Ftp: ftp.dcs.shef.ac.uk (cd aisb95)
WWW: http://www.shef.ac.uk/ [Sheffield Computing Services]
Ftp: ftp.shef.ac.uk (cd aisb95)
WWW: http://ijcai.org/) [IJCAI-95, MONTREAL]
WWW: http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/aisb [AISB SOCIETY SUSSEX]
Ftp: ftp.cogs.susx.ac.uk/pub/aisb
VENUE:
The venue for registration and all conference events is:
Halifax Hall of Residence,
Endcliffe Vale Road,
GB- S10 5DF, Sheffield,
UK, EU.
FaX: +44 (0) 114-266-3898
Tel: +44 (0) 114-266-3506 (24 hour porter)
Tel: +44 (0) 114-266-4196 (manager)
SHEFFIELD:
Sheffield is one of the friendliest cities in Britain and is situated
well having the best and closest surrounding countryside of any major
city in the UK. The Peak District National Park is only minutes
away. It is a good city for walkers, runners, and climbers. It has
two theatres, the Crucible and Lyceum. The Lyceum, a beautiful
Victorian theatre, has recently been renovated. Also, the city has
three 10 screen cinemas. There is a library theatre which shows more
artistic films. The city has a large number of museums many of which
demonstrate Sheffield's industrial past, and there are a number of
Galleries in the City, including the Mapping Gallery and Ruskin. A
number of important ancient houses are close to Sheffield such as
Chatsworth House. The Peak District National Park is a beautiful site
for visiting and rambling upon. There are large shopping areas in the
City and by 1995 Sheffield will be served by a 'supertram' system: the
line to the Meadowhall shopping and leisure complex is already open.
The University of Sheffield's Halls of Residence are situated on the
western side of the city in a leafy residential area described by John
Betjeman as ``the prettiest suburb in England''. Halifax Hall is
centred on a local Steel Baron's house, dating back to 1830 and set in
extensive grounds. It was acquired by the University in 1830 and
converted into a Hall of Residence for women with the addition of a
new wing.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AT SHEFFIELD:
Sheffield Computer Science Department has a strong programme in
Cognitive Systems and has a large reseach group (AINN) studying
Artificial Intelligence and Neural Networks. It is strongly connected
to the University's Institute for Language, Speech and Hearing
(ILASH). ILASH has its own machines and support staff, and academic
staff attached to it from nine departments. Sheffield Psychology
Department has the Artificial Intelligence Vision Research Unit
(AIVRU) which was founded in 1984 to coordinate a large
industry/university Alvey research consortium working on the
development of computer vision systems for autonomous vehicles and
robot workstations. Sheffield Philosophy Department has the Hang Seng
Centre for Cognitive Studies, founded in 1992, which runs a
workshop/conference series on a two-year cycle on topics of
interdisciplinary interest. (1992-4: 'Theory of mind'; 1994- 6:
'Language and thought'.) The Department of Automatic Control and
Systems Engineering is conducting research into Neural Networks for
Medical and other applications.
AI and Cognitive Science researchers at Sheffield include Guy Brown,
Peter Carruthers, Malcolm Crawford, Joe Downs, Phil Green, John
Frisby, Robert Gaizauskas, Rob Harrison, Mark Hepple, Zhe Ma, John
Mayhew, Jim McGregor, Paul Mc Kevitt, Bob Minors, Rod Nicolson, Tony
Prescott, Peter Scott, Steve Renals, Noel Sharkey, and Yorick Wilks.
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