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2Learning how to learn by self-tuning reinforcementSynthese 203 (6): 1-17. 2024.Humans and many animals are capable of learning and learning how to learn better. We are concerned here with one way that reinforcement learners might learn how to learn better. In an experiment described by Harlow in (Psychol Rev 56:51–65, 1949) a group of rhesus monkeys learn a new way of learning in the context of a specific type of problem. We will consider how such agents might coevolve a new learning dynamics and new attendant saliences. To this end, we propose a self-tuning dynamics that …Read more
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14Everettian Mechanics with Hyperfinitely Many WorldsErkenntnis 89 (4): 1367-1386. 2024.The present paper shows how one might model Everettian quantum mechanics using hyperfinitely many worlds. A hyperfinite model allows one to consider idealized measurements of observables with continuous-valued spectra where different outcomes are associated with possibly infinitesimal probabilities. One can also prove hyperfinite formulations of Everett’s limiting relative-frequency and randomness properties, theorems he considered central to his formulation of quantum mechanics. Finally, this m…Read more
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18Situated Observation and the Quantum Measurement ProblemIn Angelo Bassi, Sheldon Goldstein, Roderich Tumulka & Nino Zanghi (eds.), Physics and the Nature of Reality: Essays in Memory of Detlef Dürr, Springer. pp. 355-367. 2024.A situated observer is an observer as modeled within the world characterized by one’s physical theory. A physical theory arguably only makes empirical predictions if it makes predictions for the records of a situated observer. In this spirit, one has a satisfactory solution to the measurement problem only if one has a formulation of quantum mechanics that makes the right empirical predictions for the records of a situated observer. Bohmian mechanics addresses the measurement problem by explainin…Read more
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49Humean learning (how to learn)Philosophical Studies 1-17. forthcoming.David Hume’s skeptical solution to the problem of induction was grounded in his belief that we learn by means of custom. We consider here how a form of reinforcement learning like custom may allow an agent to learn how to learn in other ways as well. Specifically, an agent may learn by simple reinforcement to adopt new forms of learning that work better than simple reinforcement in the context of specific tasks. We will consider how such a bootstrapping process may lead to a system that includes…Read more
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33A Nonstandard Formulation of Bohmian MechanicsBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science. forthcoming.
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24The Quantum Mechanics of Minds and WorldsOxford University Press UK. 1999.Jeffrey Barrett presents the most comprehensive study yet of a problem that has puzzled physicists and philosophers since the 1930s. Quantum mechanics is in one sense the most successful physical theory ever, accurately predicting the behaviour of the basic constituents of matter. But it has an apparent ambiguity or inconsistency at its heart; Barrett gives a careful, clear, and challenging evaluation of attempts to deal with this problem.
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222Why the Infinite Decision Puzzle is PuzzlingTheory and Decision 52 (2): 139-147. 2002.Pulier (2000, Theory and Decision 49: 291) and Machina (2000, Theory and Decision 49: 293) seek to dissolve the BarrettâArntzenius infinite decision puzzle (1999, Theory and Decision 46: 101). The proposed dissolutions, however, are based on misunderstandings concerning how the puzzle works and the nature of supertasks more generally. We will describe the puzzle in a simplified form, address the recent misunderstandings, and describe possible morals for decision theory
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41Oracles, Aesthetics, and Bayesian ConsensusPhilosophy of Science 63 (Supplement): 273-280. 1996.In order for Bayesian inquiry to count as objective, one might argue that it must lead to a consensus among those who use it and share evidence, but presumably this is not enough. It has been proposed that one should also require that the consensus be reached from very different initial opinions by conditioning only on basic experimental evidence, evidence free from subjective, social, or psychological influence. I will argue here, however, that this notion of objectivity in Bayesian inquiry is …Read more
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28Language games and the emergence of discourseSynthese 200 (2): 1-15. 2022.Wittgenstein used the notion of a language game to illustrate how language is interwoven with action. Here we consider how successful linguistic discourse of the sort he described might emerge in the context of a self-assembling evolutionary game. More specifically, we consider how discourse and coordinated action might self-assemble in the context of two generalized signaling games. The first game shows how prospective language users might learn to initiate meaningful discourse. The second show…Read more
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159Everett’s pure wave mechanics and the notion of worldsEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Science 1 (2): 277-302. 2011.Everett (1957a, b, 1973) relative-state formulation of quantum mechanics has often been taken to involve a metaphysical commitment to the existence of many splitting worlds each containing physical copies of observers and the objects they observe. While there was earlier talk of splitting worlds in connection with Everett, this is largely due to DeWitt’s (Phys Today 23:30–35, 1970) popular presentation of the theory. While the thought of splitting worlds or parallel universes has captured the po…Read more
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23Everettian Mechanics with Hyperfinitely Many WorldsErkenntnis 89 (4): 1-20. 2022.The present paper shows how one might model Everettian quantum mechanics using hyperfinitely many worlds. A hyperfinite model allows one to consider idealized measurements of observables with continuous-valued spectra where different outcomes are associated with possibly infinitesimal probabilities. One can also prove hyperfinite formulations of Everett’s limiting relative-frequency and randomness properties, theorems he considered central to his formulation of quantum mechanics. Finally, this m…Read more
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184An Infinite Decision PuzzleTheory and Decision 46 (1): 101-103. 1999.We tell a story where an agent who chooses in such a way as to make the greatest possible profit on each of an infinite series of transactions ends up worse off than an agent who chooses in such a way as to make the least possible profit on each transaction. That is, contrary to what one might suppose, it is not necessarily rational always to choose the option that yields the greatest possible profit on each transaction.
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14The efficacy of human learning in Lewis signalling gamesBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science. forthcoming.
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6Situated observation in Bohmian mechanicsStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 88 (C): 345-357. 2021.
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15Epistemology and the Structure of LanguageErkenntnis 87 (2): 953-967. 2020.We are concerned here with how structural properties of language may come to reflect features of the world in which it evolves. As a concrete example, we will consider how a simple term language might evolve to support the principle of indifference over state descriptions in that language. The point is not that one is justified in applying the principle of indifference to state descriptions in natural language. Instead, it is that one should expect a language that has evolved in the context of f…Read more
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25Scientific Inquiry and the Evolution of LanguageIn Wenceslao J. Gonzalez (ed.), Language and Scientific Research, Springer Verlag. pp. 121-147. 2021.Empirical inquiry involves the coevolution of predictive theory and descriptive language. Here we consider how one might model this coevolution using the tools of evolutionary game theory. We will see how subsequently evolved languages might exhibit semantic drift, invention, and discard. These evolutionary models also illustrate how subsequently evolved languages might be incommensurable yet nevertheless provide faithful descriptions of nature. Finally, we will consider how a model for the coev…Read more
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12The Evolution of Truth and BeliefIn Wenceslao J. Gonzalez (ed.), Language and Scientific Research, Springer Verlag. pp. 171-198. 2021.Here we use generalized signaling games to model how one’s beliefs might coevolve with the language one uses to characterize those beliefs. We will start by considering how one might individuate pragmatic notions of truth and how such notions might coevolve with a descriptive language. We will then consider how agents might evolve a language that allows them to characterize their beliefs and degrees of belief. Finally, we will consider evolutionary conditions under which a principle of indiffere…Read more
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47Self-Assembling Games and the Evolution of SalienceBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 74 (1): 75-89. 2023.This article considers how a generalized signalling game may self-assemble as the saliences of the agents evolve by reinforcement on those sources of information that in fact lead to successful action. On the present account, generalized signalling games self-assemble even as the agents co-evolve meaningful representations and successful dispositions for using those representations. We will see how reinforcement on successful information sources also provides a mechanism whereby simpler games mi…Read more
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18How signaling conventions are establishedSynthese 199 (1-2): 4367-4391. 2021.We consider how human subjects establish signaling conventions in the context of Lewis-Skyrms signaling games. These experiments involve games where there are precisely the right number of signal types to represent the states of nature, games where there are more signal types than states, and games where there are fewer signal types than states. The aim is to determine the conditions under which subjects are able to establish signaling conventions in such games and to identify a learning dynamic…Read more
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68A Note on the Physical Possibility of Transfinite ComputationBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 61 (4): 867-874. 2010.In this note, we consider constraints on the physical possibility of transfinite Turing machines that arise from how one models the continuous structure of space and time in one's best physical theories. We conclude by suggesting a version of Church's thesis appropriate as an upper bound for physical computation given how space and time are modeled on our current physical theories
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34On the Evolution of Compositional LanguagePhilosophy of Science 87 (5): 910-920. 2020.We present here a hierarchical model for the evolution of compositional language. The model has the structure of a two-sender/one-receiver Lewis signaling game augmented with executive agents who m...
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67Quantum Randomness and UnderdeterminationPhilosophy of Science 87 (3): 391-408. 2020.We consider the nature of quantum randomness and how one might have empirical evidence for it. We will see why, depending on one’s computational resources, it may be impossible to determine whether...
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68Epistemology and the Structure of LanguageErkenntnis 87 (2): 953-967. 2020.We are concerned here with how structural properties of language may come to reflect features of the world in which it evolves. As a concrete example, we will consider how a simple term language might evolve to support the principle of indifference over state descriptions in that language. The point is not that one is justified in applying the principle of indifference to state descriptions in natural language. Instead, it is that one should expect a language that has evolved in the context of f…Read more
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43The Conceptual Foundations of Quantum MechanicsOxford University Press. 2019.This book provides an introduction to the conceptual foundations of quantum mechanics, from classical mechanics and a discussion of the quantum phenomena that undermine our classical intuitions about how the physical world works, to the quantum measurement problem and alternatives to the standard von Neumann-Dirac formulation.
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35Daniel J. Velleman. How to prove it. A structured approach. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, and Oakleigh, Victoria, 1994, x + 309 pp (review)Journal of Symbolic Logic 60 (4): 1329-1330. 1995.
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544Self-Assembling NetworksBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 70 (1): 1-25. 2019.We consider how an epistemic network might self-assemble from the ritualization of the individual decisions of simple heterogeneous agents. In such evolved social networks, inquirers may be significantly more successful than they could be investigating nature on their own. The evolved network may also dramatically lower the epistemic risk faced by even the most talented inquirers. We consider networks that self-assemble in the context of both perfect and imperfect communication and compare the b…Read more
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123Propositional content in signalsStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 74 (C): 34-39. 2019.Propositional content arises from the practice of signaling with information transfer when a signaling process settles into some sort of a pattern, and eventually what we call meaning or propositional content crystallizes out. We give an evolutionary account of this process.
Irvine, California, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Epistemology |
Philosophy of Physical Science |
General Philosophy of Science |
Areas of Interest
Logic and Philosophy of Logic |
Philosophy of Mathematics |