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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for The Rotman Institute of Philosophy
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SUMMARY:Rotman Visiting Speaker: Cameron Buckner
DESCRIPTION:“LLMs as Models of Reasoning”Abstract: Recent advances in large language models that use self-prompting like GPT’s o1/o3 and DeepSeek have begun to encroach on human-level performance on “higher reasoning” problems in mathematics\, planning\, and problem-solving tasks. OpenAI in particular has made ambitious claims that these models are reasoning and that by scrutinizing their chains of self-prompting\, we can “read the minds” of these models\, with obvious implications for solving problems of opacity and safety. In this talk\, I review four different methodological approaches to evaluate the success of these models as models of human reasoning (“psychometrics”\, “signature limits”\, “inner speech”\, and “textual culture”)\, focusing especially on comparisons to philosophical and psychological work on “inner speech” in human reasoning. I argue that this work suggests that while the achievements of self-prompting models are impressive and may make their behavior more human-like\, we should be skeptical that problems of transparency and safety are solved by scrutinizing chains of self-prompting\, and more philosophical and empirical work needs to be done to understand how and why self-prompting improves the performance of these models on reasoning problems. \nBio: Cameron Buckner is a Professor and the Donald F. Cronin Chair in the Humanities at the University of Florida. His research primarily concerns philosophical issues which arise in the study of non-human minds\, especially animal cognition and artificial intelligence.  He began his academic career in logic-based artificial intelligence. This research inspired an interest into the relationship between classical models of reasoning and the (usually very different) ways that humans and animals actually solve problems\, which led him to the discipline of philosophy. He received a PhD in Philosophy at Indiana University in 2011 and an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellowship at Ruhr-University Bochum from 2011 to 2013. Recent representative publications include “Empiricism without Magic: Transformational Abstraction in Deep Convolutional Neural Networks” (2018\, Synthese)\, and “Rational Inference: The Lowest Bounds” (2017\, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research)—the latter of which won the American Philosophical Association’s Article Prize for the period of 2016–2018.  He just published a book with Oxford University Press that uses empiricist philosophy of mind (from figures such as Aristotle\, Ibn Sina\, John Locke\, David Hume\, William James\, and Sophie de Grouchy) to understand recent advances in deep-neural-network-based artificial intelligence. \nAttendance is free; for more information\, please contact Andrew Richmond at arichmo8@uwo.ca  \nLight refreshments will be served post-talk.
URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/rotman-visiting-speaker-cameron-buckner/
LOCATION:Room 1130 – Western Interdisciplinary Research Building\, Western Interdisciplinary Research Building\, London\, ON\, N6A3K7\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Past Events,Public Events,Public Lectures
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CREATED:20250730T202219Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250731T202033Z
UID:29253-1754488800-1754494200@www.rotman.uwo.ca
SUMMARY:Rotman Visiting Speaker: Eric Hochstein
DESCRIPTION:“Why Pan Pancomputationalism?”Abstract: Pancomputationalism is the view that every system in nature (e.g. brains\, digestive tracts\, rocks\, buckets of water\, etc.) can be understood as computing or running a program\, effectively making everything in nature a kind of computer. In response\, an increasing number of philosophers have argued that while we can create a computation model or description of virtually any physical system in nature\, only some systems in nature metaphysically compute or run programs. In this talk I argue that such a view is false\, and not supported by computer science\, or our explanatory practices in the sciences.  In other words\, I argue that we have compelling reasons to think that everything really does compute. And that this does not result in any sort of reduction ad absurdum. \nBio: Eric Hochstein is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Victoria and a Western Research Chair Visiting Fellow with the Rotman Institute of Philosophy.  He specializes in Philosophy of Science\, Philosophy of Neuroscience\, Philosophy of Psychology\, and Philosophy of Mind.  Eric’s research focuses on the different ways in which we model complex systems in science\, and how these various models relate and contribute to scientific explanation. \nAttendance is free\, no RSVP is required. Light refreshments will be served.
URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/rotman-visiting-speaker-eric-hochstein/
LOCATION:Room 4190 – Western Interdisciplinary Research Building\, Western Interdisciplinary Research Building\, Room 4190\, London\, Ontario\, N6A 3K7\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Past Events,Public Events,Public Lectures
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