Complexity-Probability-Posthumanism: Symposium
Saturday, December 17th, 9 am PDT
Webinar Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85290652039
Reza Negarestani
The Time of a Scandal: Induction, Memory and Experience
Famously labelled by C.D. Broad as the glory of science and the scandal of philosophy, induction has been notorious for its philosophical greed, a putative problem that akin to a delta is both fertile for intellectual growth and prone to cyclic flooding by a sea of skepticism. The aim of this presentation is to argue that while for the philosophy and methodology of science, the problem of induction has been solved, dissolved or abated by way of various ‘to the best of explanation’ strategies, it remains recalcitrantly a problem within the broader sphere of philosophy. Indeed, as it will be argued, perhaps the true force of this problem does not lie in the problem of induction per se as concerning the justification of inductive methods, but rather in how it captures the cascade effect of a novel if perennial class of philosophical problems regarding time, memory, causality, phenomenal succession and the assumed immediacy or vivacity of personal experience. To this end, through the lens of the problem of induction, this presentation will examine some of the peculiar links between the Humean accounts of time, experience, and the curiously enigmatic yet largely absent conception of memory as well as the implications of such problems for learning, agency and what can be called general intelligence.
Reza Negarestani
Chapter from Intelligence and Spirit (Some Unsettling Kantian News as Delivered by Boltzmann)
Reza Negarestani
GlassBead–2017
Three Nightmares of the Inductive Mind
About the Author:
Reza Negarestani is a philosopher. He has contributed extensively to journals and anthologies and lectured at numerous international universities and institutes. His current philosophical project is focused on rationalist universalism beginning with the evolution of the modern system of knowledge and advancing toward contemporary philosophies of rationalism, their procedures as well as their demands for special forms of human conduct. He is the author of Cyclonopedia (re.press, 2008). His latest book, Intelligence and Spirit (Urbanomic / Sequence Press, 2018) is focused on philosophy of intelligence at the intersections between cognitive sciences, German idealism, and theoretical computer science.
