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Functionalism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Winter 2016 Edition)
Functionalism in the philosophy of mind is the doctrine that what makes something a mental state of a particular type does not depend on its internal constitution, but rather on the way it functions, or the role it plays, in the system of which it is a part. This doctrine is rooted in Aristotle’s conception of the soul, and has antecedents in Hobbes’s conception of the mind as a “calculating machine”, but it has become fully articulated (and popularly endorsed) only in the last third of the 20th century. Though the term ‘functionalism’ is used to designate a variety of positions in a variety of other disciplines, including psychology, sociology, economics, and architecture, this entry focuses exclusively on functionalism as a philosophical thesis about the nature of mental states.
The following sections will trace the intellectual antecedents of contemporary functionalism, sketch the different types of functionalist theories, and discuss the most serious objections to them.
Physicists create a strange new quantum state called a fractional fermi sea
Researchers have shown that an unusual class of quantum states known as “fractional Fermi seas” can be deliberately created, according to a new study published in Physical Review Letters. The work was carried out by the Nägerl group together with theoretical physicist Alvise Bastianello of CNRS and Université Paris-Dauphine.
The study demonstrates how a new critical phase of matter can emerge when quantum particles are pushed far from their normal equilibrium conditions. Using ultracold cesium atoms confined to one dimension, the researchers repeatedly altered how strongly the particles interacted with one another. The resulting state goes beyond the behavior predicted by the well-known Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid theory, a cornerstone for understanding one-dimensional quantum systems.
This publication provides the theoretical framework for recent experimental research conducted in the group of Hans-Christoph Nägerl at the Department of Experimental Physics.
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Transhumanism 101 with Natasha Vita-More
In 2012, transhumanism was still being called “the most dangerous idea in the world.”
Fourteen years later, we’re casually debating brain-computer interfaces, radical life extension, and what it even means to stay “human” in an age of AI. The fringe became the headline.
So I went back into the Singularity. FM archive and pulled my conversation with Dr. Natasha Vita-More, often called the first female philosopher of transhumanism. We recorded “Transhumanism 101” to cut through the fear and the ideology and get to the actual ideas.
We covered a lot:
Why Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein still shapes how we react to enhancement technology, two centuries later. Where the panic comes from (Bill Joy, Fukuyama) and why most of it misses the point. The real differences between transhuman, posthuman, and cyborg. And critical thinking as a core tenet, not a footnote, of the whole project.
The line that stuck with me, and that lands even harder today: “Get creative about the future.”
Vagus nerve stimulation may quiet pain through newly mapped brainstem pathway
Physical pain is essential for survival, as it allows animals to detect when they are injured or unwell, seek shelter and address their ailments. Yet when it becomes chronic, pain can also become highly distressing and debilitating.
While there are now several therapeutic strategies for managing chronic pain, an emerging one that has been found to be particularly promising is vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). VNS entails the delivery of mild electrical pulses to the nerve that connects the brain to organs throughout the body.
Past studies suggest that VNS-based therapy can reduce the pain associated with various medical conditions, including chronic headaches, fibromyalgia and joint inflammation. The neural processes by which it can ease pain, however, are still poorly understood.
Watch this spider crawl like an ant to avoid being eaten
Unlike some other spiders that camouflage themselves with drab colors and sticklike appendages, the jumping spider Siler collingwoodi disguises itself by the way it moves. The bright blue and orange arachnid—a pea-size animal native to China and Japan—crawls like an ant, according to a new study.
In a side-by-side comparison, researchers found that S. collingwoodi spiders copied the movements of multiple spikey, aggressive species of ants. The spiders walked at a similar pace, bobbed their abdomens like the ants did, and elevated their first pair of legs when they walked, imitating antennae.
New lidar system maps location, speed and material properties in a single measurement
Researchers have developed a new kind of lidar system that simultaneously measures the location, speed and material properties of objects in a scene. This type of information could be useful for applications such as robotics, autonomous driving and remote sensing.
Lidar uses laser pulses to measure distances and create highly detailed 3D maps of objects and terrain. However, most commercial lidar systems, such as those used in autonomous cars, primarily measure distance.
“Although some emerging lidar technologies can also measure velocity, real-world perception often requires understanding an object’s surface as well,” said Dongyu Du from the University of Toronto in Canada. “Our new system uses a single measurement at each scanned point to capture millimeter-accurate distance, velocity and surface material while using eye-safe laser power.”
