[1] From: Anne Foerst <annef@ai.mit.edu> (88)
Subject: Call for Papers please distribute!!
[2] From: "David L. Gants" <dgants@parallel.park.uga.edu> (63)
Subject: Alliance for Computers in English Needs Your Help
[3] From: "David L. Gants" <dgants@parallel.park.uga.edu> (78)
Subject: Call for Papers: Probabilistic Logic and Randomised
Computation
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 11:15:30 -0500 (EST)
From: Anne Foerst <annef@ai.mit.edu>
Subject: Call for Papers please distribute!!
IDENTITY, FORMATION, DIGNITY -
The Impacts of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science
upon Jewish and Christian Understandings of Personhood
April 30 May 2, 1998
The Boston Theological Institute (BTI)
MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Center for Faith and Science Exchange (FASE)
Sir John Templeton Foundation
CALL FOR PAPERS:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cognitive science are
challenging our basic understanding of personhood, as formed
in part from ancient Greek, Jewish, and Christian sources of
revelation and wisdom. The mechanistic and functionalist
assumptions which guide AI and cognitive science research
already influence current perceptions of humankind.
Scientific progress in understanding human intelligence and its
emotional and bodily basis, and engineering advances in building
intelligent machines enforce penetrating questions about the
nature of human identity and its relationship to religious faith
and its assumptions. Our thinking about personhood shapes
patterns of education and character formation as well as the way
in which human dignity is conceived and practiced or violated -
in contemporary society.
We seek to draw AI and cognitive science into dialogue with
theology on these issues. The doctrine of trinity and that of the
two natures of Christ helped to frame conceptions of personhood
and dignity: the trinity draws us to a notion of dynamic unity
transcending rationality; that of the two persons of Christ
emphasizes the importance of embodiment for a relationship with
the divine. Most religions would agree that humankind exists in a
sphere which includes the body and emotional reactions in the
context of nature, human community, and a sacred narrative. For
the last decade, AI and cognitive science have been struggling
with the questions of the importance of embodiment, emotions, and
cultural settings for intelligent systems. These research results
can inform theological reasoning about the meaning of personhood;
AI and cognitive science, on the other hand, can learn from the
Jewish concept of humans being created in the image of God.
We want to establish a dialogue of mutual enrichment in which
scholars in both fields build relationships to become able to
rely on the expertise and experience of the other.
For this purpose we would like to invite papers for a public
conference in Spring at MIT. Please send papers by March 1, 1998
either electronically to Dr. Anne Foerst <annef@ai.mit.edu> or
via posted mail or fax to The Boston Theological Institute,
"Identity, Formation and Dignity", 210 Herrick RD, Newton
Center, MA 02159, fax (617) 527-1073.
Possible topics are:
-philosophical aspects of the concept of the identity of the
person;
-formation of personhood in a biological system;
-implications of mechanistic or idealistic assumptions for
human dignity;
-the development of current historical and cultural concepts of
the person;
-theories of character formation in light of mechanistic or
idealistic assumptions about humankind;
-functional explanations for religion;
-biological, sociological, or mechanistic explanations for
rejection of science and/or religion;
-analysis of assumptions in science and/or religion from a
philosophy of science perspective;
-differences in the Jewish and Christian perception of the
person;
-differences between scientific and theological understandings
of personhood and dignity;
-body-mind and body-mind-soul relations;
-perspectives on human nature from medical, psychological,
psycho-analytical perspectives;
-different understandings of intelligence within AI and/or the
cognitive sciences;
-techniques for dialogue between AI, the cognitive sciences and
theology;
-epistemological explanations of the origins of the
difficulties emerging in a dialogue between theology and AI;
-patterns of interactions which emerge for participants in this
dialogue.
-- Dr.theol. Anne Foerst Postdoctoral FellowMassachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Laboratory 545 Technology SQ, NE 43 812 Cambridge, MA 02139 +1 / 617 / 253-7891
Harvard Divinity School Center for the Studies of Values in Public Life 56 Francis Ave Cambridge, MA 02138
http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/annef/ ------End of forwarded message -------
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Nov 1997 11:40:23 -0500 (EST) From: "David L. Gants" <dgants@parallel.park.uga.edu> Subject: Alliance for Computers in English Needs Your Help
>> From: "JOHN F. BARBER" <JFBARBER@ALPHA.NSULA.EDU>
Colleagues,
Apologies in advance to those who receive more than one copy of this message. Please forward to lists or individuals you think may be interested.
The NCTE Assembly on Computers in English (ACE) needs your help. At each convention we provide a booth on the exhibits floor where we share ideas about using computers and computer technology to facilitate the teaching and learning of English, demonstrate software, distribute computers/networking and English-related brochures and/or handouts, display posters and announcements, and provide a highly visible spot for persons of cool demeanor to see and be seen.
If you are attending the 1998 NCTE Convention in Detroit later this month we invite you to help us out.
If you have developed computer software related to the teaching and learning of English and would like to demonstrate it in front of thousands of potential customers we invite you to join us.
If you would like to demonstrate what you are doing with computers in your English classrooms to thousands of teachers yearning to be set free we invite you to join us.
We would like to provide demonstrations on the hour and half hour. We plan to have a few IBM and Mac computers at the booth and you will be welcome to use them to demonstrate your work.
If you are a shy person and uncomfortable with public demonstrations to clamoring teachers hungry for new ideas we invite you to display a poster describing your work. This is a separate activity from the poster session during the ACE meeting Saturday evening, though there could be some overlap. We invite you to volunteer to participate in both---or display your ACE poster session poster at the ACE Software Center before and after the ACE meeting.
Even if you have nothing to demonstrate we invite you to help us staff the ACE Software Center. We hope to have people at the booth during all operational hours. No matter what your experience with computers (and even if you are not of cool demeanor) we hope you will help us out by volunteering as much time as you can spare to help us make the ACE Software Center a success. We guarantee that time spent there will be more rewarding than a tour of any auto plant in Detroit. Significant contacts and contracts have been made at the ACE Software Center in the past. It could happen to you this year!
The Ace Software Center will be open during the regular Exhibit Floor hours: Friday, Nov. 21-- 12 noon-6:00 pm Saturday, Nov. 22-- 12 noon-5:00 pm Sunday, Nov. 23-- 10:00 am-5:00 pm
If you have brochures or handouts that you would like to distribute at the ACE Software Center please send them (NOT COD!) so that they arrive *NO LATER* than November 20, 1997 at this address: ACE Software Center Booth 207A NCTE Convention c/o Convention and Show Services, Inc. 12700 Royal Grand Redford, Michigan 48239
Your brochures and handouts will receive wide distribution among the English teachers attending NCTE.
As you know, computer technology and the teaching of English has not been highly valued at NCTE conventions in the past. ACE is working to change this but we can't do it alone. We truly need your help to promote a viable presence within NCTE during the upcoming convention. Please help us out and volunteer some time and effort at the ACE Software Center this year. Contact us at the addresses below. Tell us what you would like to do and when. We will reward you with the highly coveted ACE Award of Highest Merit for Good Buddy Volunteerism, which we can tell you from personal experience will change your life forever. Thanks for considering ACE; hope to see you at the NCTE convention!
John Barber jfbarber@alpha.nsula.edu Dene Grigar dene@eaze.net Michael Day mday@silver.sdsmt.edu
--[3]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Nov 1997 11:43:21 -0500 (EST) From: "David L. Gants" <dgants@parallel.park.uga.edu> Subject: Call for Papers: Probabilistic Logic and Randomised Computation
From: Alessandra Di Pierro <adp@cs.city.ac.uk>
ESSLLI-98 Workshop on PROBABILISTIC LOGIC AND RANDOMISED COMPUTATION August 17 - 21, 1998
A workshop held as part of the 10th European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information (ESSLLI-98) August 17 - 28, 1998, Saarbrueken, Germany
** FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS **
ORGANISERS: Alessandra Di Pierro and Herbert Wiklicky (London)
Web site: http://www.cs.city.ac.uk/~adp/esslli98.html
BACKGROUND: Probabilistic concepts recently gained widespread interest in logic and computer science, for example in the investigation of randomised algorithms and probabilistic proof systems.
Whereas probability and randomisation have always played an important role in complexity theory (from average case analysis to probabilistic complexity classes) the investigation of these notions in semantics was much more limited and only in the last years renewed interest seems to develop.
This workshop aims at bringing together researchers from areas like philosophy, logics, semantics and the theory of algorithms whose research is related to aspects of probability, stochastic processes, randomised algorithms etc., in order to foster links and facilitate cross-fertilisation of ideas among them.
The workshop topics include:
o philosophical foundations of probability o probabilistic logics o probabilistic proof systems o probabilistic proof checking o probabilistic knowledge representation o probabilistic games o randomised automata o randomised algorithms o semantics of probabilistic languages o probabilistic non-determinism o probabilistic reasoning o fuzzy and belief systems o inexact matching o constraints and probability o Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods o practical applications o randomised optimisation (e.g. simulated annealing, genetic algorithms) o (stochastic) approximation algorithms (for NP problems)
WORKSHOP FORMAT: The workshop will be held as part of ESSLLI'98. There will be five sessions of 90 minutes each, one on each day of the first week of the school (August 17-22, 1998). The workshop will consist in the presentation of submitted papers and discussion sessions. Notes containing the papers accepted for presentation will be made available in electronic form. Opportunities for publishing revised versions of the papers will be explored. The workshop will be open to attendance by all school registrants.
SUBMISSION: All researchers in the area, but especially Ph.D. students and young researchers, are encourage to submit a paper. Papers should be submitted in the form of an extended abstract of NO MORE THAN 4000 words (8-10 pages) in length, and must include the e-mail address of all authors and a 200-300 word abstract. Deadline is February 15, 1998.
To submit a paper, please send a postscript file to <adp@cs.city.ac.uk> or <herbert@cs.city.ac.uk> OR send three (3) hard copies of your paper to one of the organisers (below).
Alessandra Di Pierro adp@cs.city.ac.uk http://www.cs.city.ac.uk/~adp Herbert Wiklicky herbert@cs.city.ac.uk http://www.cs.city.ac.uk/~herbert
Department of Computer Science School of Informatics City University Northampton Square London EC1V 0HB United Kingdom
Electronic submission is STRONGLY encouraged.
REGISTRATION: Workshop contributors will be required to register for ESSLLI-98, but they will be elligible for a reduced registration fee.
IMPORTANT DATES: Feb 15, 98: Deadline for submissions Apr 15, 98: Notification of acceptance May 15, 98: Deadline for final copy Aug 17, 98: Start of workshop
FURTHER INFORMATION: To obtain further information about ESSLLI-98 please visit the ESSLLI-98 home page at http://www.coli.uni-sb.de/esslli
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