At Home in the Universe. According to the modified joke, Kauffman's method is to begin any scientific investigation with the statement "Consider an NK Boolean network." Indeed, throughout At Home in the Universe just about every real-world problem gets translated into a toy-world problem involving NK Boolean networks. As with Carnap's formal languages, NK Boolean networks have the advantage of complete logical precision. But they also suffer the disadvantage of losing touch with reality. And it is this disadvantage which ultimately (...) proves the undoing of Kauffman's project. (shrink)

The Homeostatic Property Cluster (HPC) account of natural kinds has become popular since it was proposed by Richard Boyd in the late 1980s. Although it is often taken as a defining natural kinds as such, it is easy enough to see that something's being a natural kind is neither necessary nor sufficient for its being an HPC. This paper argues that it is better not to understand HPCs as defining what it is to be a natural kind but instead as (...) providing the ontological realization of (some) natural kinds. (shrink)

T‐bet and Eomes are two related transcription factors (TFs) that regulate the differentiation of cytotoxic lymphocytes such as Natural Killer (NK) cells and CD8 T cells. Recent genome‐wide analyses suggest they have complementary roles in instructing the transcriptional program of NK cells, although their DNA binding sites appear to be very similar. In this essay, we discuss the mechanisms that could specify their action, addressing their expression profile, the cofactors they interact with, as well as their roles in the epigenetic (...) regulation of chromatin accessibility. Based on the recent literature on these TFs, we propose different models to describe how they regulate gene expression in NK cells at steady state, or in the context of activation or exhaustion. We also discuss recent findings in the field of CD8 T cell differentiation and residency, where Eomes and T‐bet appear to be major regulators, and the parallels that can be drawn between mechanisms of NK and CD8 T cell differentiation and trafficking. (shrink)

Discussion of the cognitive division of labor has usually made very little contact with relevant materials from other disciplines, including theoretical biology, management science, and design theory. This article draws on these materials to consider some unavoidable conundrums faced by any attempt to present a particular way of dividing tasks among a labor team as the uniquely rational way of doing this, given the interdependence of the underlying evaluative standards by which the products of a system of division of labor (...) will be judged. Divisions of labor will typically cut across these interdependencies in ways which leave the outcomes of a process of labor hostage to path dependencies and suboptimalities. Some attempts to avoid these results are shown to be unsuccessful. All these difficulties are compounded by the fact that, in many cases, the division of labor has to be constructed over a ground of values that is itself being constructed simultaneously with the products which they are invoked to assess. Key Words: risk spreading • interdependency • NK fitness landscapes • complexity • epistasis • Kuhn • modularity • path dependency. (shrink)

LK is much more difficult than NK, and to make matters worse, Gentzen's intention is still unclear when it comes to that system (LK). -/- The second and third volumes of the series titled What is LK? conduct the detailed survey of each inference-figure in a toe-to-toe way, as it were, which most mathematicians looked through. -/- The present volume, Vol.3, looks deeper into those operational inference-figures which concerns propositional logic.

LK is much more difficult than NK, and to make matters worse, Gentzen's intention is still unclear when it comes to that system (LK). -/- After long surveys conducted from Vol.1 to Vol.4, all of which shares the common title What is LK?, this fifth volume finally handles the solved problems in the realm of propositional logic in LK.

Philosophers disagree over whether dispositions can be intrinsically finked or masked. Choi suggests that there are no clear, relevant differences between cases where intrinsic finks would be absurd and those where they seem plausible, and as a result rejects them wholesale. Here, I highlight two features of dispositional properties which, when considered together, provide a plausible explanation for when dispositions can be subject to intrinsic finks and when not.

… the supreme end, the happiness of all mankind (Kr VA851/NKS 665).The law concerning punishment is a Categorical Imperative; and woe to him who rummages around in the winding paths of a theory of happiness, looking for some advantage to be gained by releasing the criminal from punishment or by reducing the amount of it (Rl.A196/B226, 6:331; Ladd, 100).

The papers where Gerhard Gentzen introduced natural deduction and sequent calculi suggest that his conception of logic differs substantially from the now dominant views introduced by Hilbert, Gödel, Tarski, and others. Specifically, (1) the definitive features of natural deduction calculi allowed Gentzen to assert that his classical system nk is complete based purely on the sort of evidence that Hilbert called ?experimental?, and (2) the structure of the sequent calculi li and lk allowed Gentzen to conceptualize completeness as a question (...) about the relationships among a system's individual rules (as opposed to the relationship between a system as a whole and its ?semantics?). Gentzen's conception of logic is compelling in its own right. It is also of historical interest, because it allows for a better understanding of the invention of natural deduction and sequent calculi. (shrink)

We need to distinguish two sorts of natural kinds, scientific and common NKs, because the notion of NK, which has to satisfy demands at three different levels—ontological, semantic and epistemological—, is subject to two incompatible sets of constraints. In order to prove this, I focus on the much-discussed case of jade. In the first part of the paper, I show that the current accounts are unsatisfactory because they are inconsistent. In the process, I explain why LaPorte’s analysis of “jade” as (...) a vernacular NK-term with an open-texture meaning does not offer a way out. Using a reductio ad absurdum argument, I conclude that according to the main tenets of NK-term theories, today’s “jade” has to be an NK-term, and jade thereby an NK. In the second part of the paper, I argue for this conclusion in a positive manner. First, I present a series of thought experiments demonstrating that today’s “jade” has the specific features of an NK-term. Then, I show that the kind that we presently call “jade” exhibits the typical ontological and epistemological features of an NK. More generally, I expound on why common NKs are more than mere classes, and why categories such as “jade” are useful in many inferences and explanations. (shrink)

A minimal formula is a formula which is minimal in provable formulas with respect to the substitution relation. This paper shows the following: (1) A β-normal proof of a minimal formula of depth 2 is unique in NJ. (2) There exists a minimal formula of depth 3 whose βη-normal proof is not unique in NJ. (3) There exists a minimal formula of depth 3 whose βη-normal proof is not unique in NK.

Let k ≥ 2 and f:Nk Æ [1,k] and n ≥ 1 be such that there is no x1 < ... < xk+1 £ n such that f(x1,...,xk) = f(x1,...,xk+1). Then we want to find g:Nk+1 Æ [1,3] such that there is no x1 < ... < xk+2 £ n such that g(x1,...,xk+1) = g(x2,...,xk+2). This reducees adjacent Ramsey in k dimensions with k colors to adjacent Ramsey in k+1 dimensions with 3 colors.

This is a presentation about joint work between Hector Zenil and Jean-Paul Delahaye. Zenil presents Experimental Algorithmic Theory as Algorithmic Information Theory and NKS, put together in a mixer. Algorithmic Complexity Theory defines the algorithmic complexity k(s) as the length of the shortest program that produces s. But since finding this short program is in general an undecidable question, the only way to approach k(s) is to use compression algorithms. He shows how to use the Compress function in Mathematica to (...) give an idea about the compressibility of various sequences. However, the idea of applying a compression algorithm breaks down for very short sequences. This is true not only for the Compress function, but also for any other compression algorithm. Zenil's approach is to construct a metric of algorithmic complexity for short sequences from scratch. He defines the algorithmic probability as the probability that an arbitrary program produces a sequence. The basic idea is to run a whole class of computational devices such as Turing Machines or Cellular Automata, and compute the distributions of the sequences they generate. Zenil presents a comparison of frequency distributions of sequences generated by 2-state 3-color Turing Machines and 2-color radius 1 Cellular Automata. He also compared these distributions to distributions found in data from the real world, and found that not only there is correlation across different systems, but also that the distributions are rather stable, and the difference between the distributions in abstract systems and real-world data can be attributed to noise. In his paper Zenil elaborates on the nature of the noise he has encountered. Zenil conjectures that the correlation distances between different systems decreases with a larger number of steps, and converge in the infinite limit case. (shrink)

The identity of a natural kind can be construed in terms of its causal profile. This conception is more appropriate to science than two alternatives. The identity of a natural kind is not determined by one causal role because one natural kind can have many causal roles and several functions and because some functions are shared by different kinds. Furthermore, the microstructuralist thesis is wrong: The identity of certain natural kinds is not determined by their microstructure. It is true that (...) if A and B have the same microstructural composition then a sample of a chemical substance A is of the same chemical substance as a sample of B. However, the reverse does not hold. It is not the case that if a sample of a chemical substance A is of the same chemical substance as a sample of B then A and B have the same microstructural composition. This is because a macroscopic NK can be “multiconstituted” by different microstructures. (shrink)

The paper studies a simply typed term system Mω providing a primitive recursive concept of parallelism in the sense of Plotkin. The system aims at defining and computing partial continuous functionals. Some connections between denotational and operational semantics → for Mω are investigated. It is shown that → is correct with respect to the denotational semantics. Conversely, → is complete in the sense that if a program denotes some number k, then it is reducible to the numeral nk. Restricting to (...) the primitive recursive kernel Rω of Mω, it is shown that → is strongly normalising with uniquely determined normal forms. The twist is the design of fixed point style conversion rules for constants accounting for parallelly bounded parallel search such that correctness and strong normalisation hold. Thereupon, minor alternations to → bring about that every reduction sequence for a program of Rω terminates either in a numeral nk if the program denotes k, or in the term 0 if the program denotes the “undefined” object. Thus, Rω can be considered a primitive recursive version of Plotkin's PA+·. (shrink)

A joint modelling of objective worlds and subjective perceptions within two-dimensional semantics eliminates the margin for error principle and solves the epistemic sorites paradox. Two objective knowledge modalities can be defined in two-dimensional frames accounting for subjective perceptions: “necessary knowledge” (NK) and “possible knowledge” (PK), the latter being better suited to the interpretation of knowledge utterances. Two-dimensional semantics can in some cases be reduced to one-dimensional ones, by defining accessibility relations between objective worlds that reflect subjective perceptions: NK and PK (...) are respectively equivalent to ${\square \square }$ and ${\lozenge \square }$ in some one-dimensional frame, and to ${\square }$ and another modality in some other. (shrink)

A kolozsvári filozófus az elmúlt három esztendőben született tanulmányait egybe szerkesztve készítette új könyvét. Célja mintegy in statu nascendi bemutatni a politikai filozófiát, hogyan reflektálnak a kortárs politikai filozófiák a társadalmat érő politikai kihívásokra. Címéhez híven valóban egyfajta bevezetés Korunk politikai filozófiájába, mégpedig olyan csomóponti és tagadhatatlanul ma is aktuális, eleven témák kapcsán, mint az emberi jogok doktrínája, nemzeti szuverenitás vs. Európai integráció, multikulturalizmus és a bevándorlás problémája. A szerző legfőbb eszmei iránytűje ezúttal is Hannah Arendt, rá hivatkozva vallja, hogy (...) a politikában maximum arra törekedhetünk, hogy véleményünk reprezentatív legyen. A teljes igazság platóni ideájának megragadása helyett a filozófus feladat, hogy a szókratészi kételyt tanítsa, a politikai filozófia értelme pedig annak megmutatása, hogy ahogyan mi magunk a politikáról gondolkodunk, minden, csak nem evidens. A nyolc tanulmány bibliográfiával és névmutatóval kiegészített gyűjteménye elsősorban a szakemberekhez szól, de a saját politikai meggyőződéseik megkérdőjelezésére nyitott művelt nagyközönségnek is ajánlható. (shrink)

During the fall of 2001 (October 22–25), The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA) and the Agricultural University of Norway arranged a consensus conference on the protection of the environment against ionising radiation. The motive for the conference was the need to study the ethical and philosophical basis for protection of nature in its own right. The conference was funded by Nordic Nuclear Safety Research (NKS), in cooperation with the International Union of Radioecology (IUR). The National Committee for Research Ethics in (...) Science and Technology (NENT) was hired as facilitators for the consensus process. This paper will give a brief outline of the aims and method of the conference, distinguishing these from other kinds of consensus conferences. The paper ends with some general reflections on the appropriateness of seeking consensus on ethics-related issues among experts. (shrink)