The Philosophy of Computer Science (2013)
plato.stanford.edu
The Philosophy of Computer Science (2013)
1–10 of 36 posts
Re: The Philosophy of Computer Science (2013)
#2I'm considering several undergrad degree programs in computer science through university philosophy departments. Has anyone had a similar experience who could share their feedback? I've really enjoyed reading the basic philosophy I've covered so far and things like decision and game theory also fascinate me. I think it could also be a good track to AI research, though probably not the modern machine learning style?
Also considering combining one of these majors with a more traditional CS or EECS degree.
Re: The Philosophy of Computer Science (2013)
#3I'm considering several undergrad degree programs in computer science through university philosophy departments. Has anyone had a similar experience who could share their feedback? I've really enjoyed reading the basic philosophy I've covered so far and things like decision and game theory also fascinate me. I think it could also be a good track to AI research, though probably not the modern machine learning style? A…
Major in the most practical stuff, minor in the interesting stuff.
I'd say CS/EECS major, Philsophy and Math minors with focuses in AI for everything.
You have the option after that for doing AI in a master's or PHD program.
Re: The Philosophy of Computer Science (2013)
#4I'm considering several undergrad degree programs in computer science through university philosophy departments. Has anyone had a similar experience who could share their feedback? I've really enjoyed reading the basic philosophy I've covered so far and things like decision and game theory also fascinate me. I think it could also be a good track to AI research, though probably not the modern machine learning style? A…
I have an undergraduate degree in engineering, a PhD in physics and some post-graduate education in philosophy, and have worked closely with philosophers on real problems in epistemology and metaphysics, mostly around identity theory.
On the basis of that experience, I would recommend focusing on a traditional CS or EECS degree, and take philosophy on the side.
By taking a traditional degree you will provide yourself with a deep, broad foundation from which to evaluate various philosophical mutterings, and will be well-positioned to realize just how imbecilic most of them are.
There is a mathematician's joke that be successful in math you need a pencil, a paper, and a garbage can, while to be successful in philosophy you only need a pencil and paper (philosophers publish their mistakes, and sometimes build careers on them.)
Philosophy does have uses. It encourages a certain kind of rigour in thinking, but the content of the subject is mostly philosopher's imaginations, and three hundred years of science has taught us that the human imagination is almost completely useless for understanding reality. What we can or cannot imagine is utterly unrelated to what actually is.
AJ Ayer, for example, could not imagine the kind of empirical test of metaphysical propositions that Bell showed we could actually perform. A willful ignorance of the poverty of imagination as a tool for understanding reality was the basis for the entire Positivist program, which was, unsurprisingly, a failure.
So stick with the core subject and extend your reach to philosophy. You'll be far better served that way, and when you do philosophize it will have a far higher chance of being insightful and useful rather than obvious nonsense to anyone actually in the field you are philosophizing about.
Re: The Philosophy of Computer Science (2013)
#5I'm considering several undergrad degree programs in computer science through university philosophy departments. Has anyone had a similar experience who could share their feedback? I've really enjoyed reading the basic philosophy I've covered so far and things like decision and game theory also fascinate me. I think it could also be a good track to AI research, though probably not the modern machine learning style? A…
I have an undergraduate degree in engineering, a PhD in physics and some post-graduate education in philosophy, and have worked closely with philosophers on real problems in epistemology and metaphysics, mostly around identity theory. On the basis of that experience, I would recommend focusing on a traditional CS or EECS degree, and take philosophy on the side. By taking a traditional degree you will provide yourself…
What is the difference between EECS vs Computer Engineering? I want to major in engineering while also gaining experience in Computer Science.
Re: The Philosophy of Computer Science (2013)
#6"Who is the most original and the most versatile intellect that the Americas have so far produced? The answer "Charles S. Peirce" is uncontested, because any second would be so far behind as not to be worth nominating. Mathematician, astronomer, chemist, geodesist, surveyor, cartographer, metrologist, spectroscopist, engineer, inventor; psychologist, philologist, lexicographer, historian of science, mathematical economist, lifelong student of medicine; book reviewer, dramatist, actor, short story writer; phenomenologist, semiotician, logician, rhetorician and metaphysician.
He was, for a few examples, the first modern experimental psychologist in the Americas, the first metrologist to use a wave-length of light as a unit of measure, the inventor of the quincuncial projection of the sphere, the first known conceiver of the design and theory of an electric switching-circuit computer, and the founder of "the economy of research." He is the only system-building philosopher in the Americas who has been both competent and productive in logic, in mathematics, and in a wide range of sciences. If he has had any equals in that respect in the entire history of philosophy, they do not number more than two."
--Max H. Fisch in Sebeok, The Play of Musement
Re: The Philosophy of Computer Science (2013)
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have an undergraduate degree in engineering, a PhD in physics and some post-graduate education in philosophy, and have worked closely with philosophers on real problems in epistemology and metaphysics, mostly around identity theory. On the basis of that experience, I would recommend focusing on a traditional CS or EECS degree, and take philosophy on the side. By taking a traditional degree you will provide yourself…
What is the difference between EECS vs Computer Engineering? I want to major in engineering while also gaining experience in Computer Science.
It differs between degree programs, and the way the faculty is organized. Sometimes you have seperate EE and CS faculties, and sometimes you have a EECS faculty.
Re: The Philosophy of Computer Science (2013)
#8I'm considering several undergrad degree programs in computer science through university philosophy departments. Has anyone had a similar experience who could share their feedback? I've really enjoyed reading the basic philosophy I've covered so far and things like decision and game theory also fascinate me. I think it could also be a good track to AI research, though probably not the modern machine learning style? A…
If you're interested in philosophy, I'd recommend a math or CS degree with an emphasis on PL theory/logic.
If you're into game theory, consider CS and Statistics.
Re: The Philosophy of Computer Science (2013)
#9I'm considering several undergrad degree programs in computer science through university philosophy departments. Has anyone had a similar experience who could share their feedback? I've really enjoyed reading the basic philosophy I've covered so far and things like decision and game theory also fascinate me. I think it could also be a good track to AI research, though probably not the modern machine learning style? A…
Take a look at Heinz von Foerster.
Biological Computer Lab: http://bcl.ece.illinois.edu/
Ethics: http://web.stanford.edu/group/SHR/4-2/text/foerster.html
Re: The Philosophy of Computer Science (2013)
#10I'm considering several undergrad degree programs in computer science through university philosophy departments. Has anyone had a similar experience who could share their feedback? I've really enjoyed reading the basic philosophy I've covered so far and things like decision and game theory also fascinate me. I think it could also be a good track to AI research, though probably not the modern machine learning style? A…
I have an undergraduate degree in engineering, a PhD in physics and some post-graduate education in philosophy, and have worked closely with philosophers on real problems in epistemology and metaphysics, mostly around identity theory. On the basis of that experience, I would recommend focusing on a traditional CS or EECS degree, and take philosophy on the side. By taking a traditional degree you will provide yourself…
> "three hundred years of science has taught us that the human imagination is almost completely useless for understanding reality"
Sometimes, reality is changed by the human imagination, e.g. by generating a new hypothesis to be tested by science.
Questions vs Answers: http://kiriakakis.net/comics/mused/a-day-at-the-park