Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence (UB)
PHI598/498 Special Topics Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence (Crash Course)
- Registration: Philosophy
Cross-listed with Computer Science and Engineering: Special Topics CSE 510/410 LEC SMIT
- Registration: Computer Science
Schedule: Weekend of October 2-3, 2021
Faculty: Barry Smith and Jobst Landgrebe
Venue: 280 Park Hall, UB North Campus
- 1 CREDIT HOUR CRASH COURSE
The course will begin on day 1 with an introduction to how AI works. AI works well in those domains where we can create models based on physical laws or simple rules. But the complexity of the relations involved in many other types of domains prevents successful AI modeling. It is for this reason that we face difficulties when we try to build self-driving cars or to predict the behavior of financial markets. On day 2 we will use what we have learned on day 1 to address the opportunities and limits of AI in modelling and emulating
- • human consciousness and self-consciousness
- • human language understanding and conversations (including the Turing test and the Chinese room argument)
- • social behaviour and ethics
- • transhumanism, life extension, digital immortality
We will show that AI will not bring cures for (most) deadly diseases, it will not replace human police with intelligent robots, and – except along certain narrow tracks, including game-playing and image recognition – it will not reach a level of intelligence that surpasses that of human beings.
The course is designed to be of interest to both philosophy and computer science and engineering students at both graduate and advanced undergraduate levels
Pre-requisites: This course is designed to be of interest to both philosophy and computer science and engineering students at both graduate and advanced undergraduate levels
Grading: Grades will be assigned on the basis of class attendance and an essay on a topic to be selected by the student from the topics treated in the class.
Jobst Landgrebe is a scientist and entrepreneur with a background in mathematics, neuroscience, neuroinformatics, and philosophy. Landgrebe is also the founder of Cognotekt, a German AI company which has since 2013 provided working systems used by companies in areas such as insurance claims management, real-estate management, and medical billing.
Barry Smith is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy with cross-appointments in the UB Departments of Biomedical Informatics, Computer Science and Engineering, and Neurology.
