The problem of time of quantum gravity has been argued to make canonical approaches unsatisfactory. In this article I study how it affects quantum cosmology and reach the same conclusion. The advantage of studying the cosmological case is that its simplicity makes the discussion much clearer and less technical. The classical models I will be concerned with describe how two degrees of freedom, the scale factor and a scalar field, evolve with respect to a time variable. After quantizing the model, this time variable just disappears, and I argue that this is problematic. Indeed, this variable in the classical model allowed us to make claims like `the universe is 13.8 billion years old' and I will argue that these claims are physically meaningful predictions that are lost in quantum cosmology. I will analyze some of the relational positions in the quantum gravity and quantum cosmology literature that tend to deny the physical meaning of time variables and I will argue against them for the case of classical cosmology. I conclude that the age of the universe is a physical prediction of classical cosmological models, that it is missing from quantum cosmology, and that this should make us suspect that there is something wrong with this sort of approach.
Mental Bozuklukların Tanısal ve İstatistiksel El Kitabı’nın (DSM-5) 2013 yılında yayınlanan beşinci versiyonundaki en önemli değişikliklerden biri, obsesif-kompulsif bozukluğun (OKB) güncellenmiş bir ‘Obsesif-Kompulsif ve İlişkili Bozukluklar’ (OKİB) bölümü altında kategorize edilmesidir. OKİB kategorisi, obsesif-kompulsif (OK) spektrum şemsiyesi altında benzer fenomenolojik özellikleri paylaşan bir dizi psikiyatrik bozukluk hakkında anlayışımızı yansıtmaktadır. Bu makale mevcut OK spektrum modelinin temel kavramsal özelliklerini ele alarak başlamakta, ardından OK spektrumda tekrarlayan davranışlarla karakterize bozukluklar ile davranışsal bağımlılıklar arasında ilişki kuran güncel bir eğilime genel bakış sunmaktadır. Kavramsal ve deneysel eksikliklerine rağmen bu nozolojik değişimin bilgi ve fikirleri geliştiren, yayan ve daha sonra kurumsallaştıran epistemik bir topluluk faaliyetinin sonucu olarak ortaya çıktığı varsayılmaktadır. Son olarak, özgür irade tartışmalarını yeniden canlandırması nedeniyle mevcut modelin gelecek yansıtımlarından doğan etik sorunlar tartışılmıştır.
Masaharu Mizumoto, Dat Tien Nguyen, Justin Sytsma
et al.
Multilingual large language models (LLMs) face an often-overlooked challenge stemming from intrinsic semantic differences across languages. Linguistic divergence can sometimes lead to cross-linguistic disagreements--disagreements purely due to semantic differences about a relevant concept. This paper identifies such disagreements as conflicts between two fundamental alignment norms in multilingual LLMs: cross-linguistic consistency (CL-consistency), which seeks universal concepts across languages, and consistency with folk judgments (Folk-consistency), which respects language-specific semantic norms. Through examining responses of conversational multilingual AIs in English and Japanese with the cases used in philosophy (cases of knowledge-how attributions), this study demonstrates that even state-of-the-art LLMs provide divergent and internally inconsistent responses. Such findings reveal a novel qualitative limitation in crosslingual knowledge transfer, or conceptual crosslingual knowledge barriers, challenging the assumption that universal representations and cross-linguistic transfer capabilities are inherently desirable. Moreover, they reveal conflicts of alignment policies of their developers, highlighting critical normative questions for LLM researchers and developers. The implications extend beyond technical alignment challenges, raising normative, moral-political, and metaphysical questions about the ideals underlying AI development--questions that are shared with philosophers and cognitive scientists but for which no one yet has definitive answers, inviting a multidisciplinary approach to balance the practical benefits of cross-linguistic consistency and respect for linguistic diversity.
Gamification, the integration of game mechanics in non-game settings, has become increasingly prevalent in various digital platforms; however, its ethical and societal impacts are often overlooked. This paper delves into how Platonic and Aristotelian philosophies can provide a critical framework for understanding and evaluating the ethical dimensions of gamification. Plato's allegory of the cave and theory of forms are used to analyse the perception of reality in gamified environments, questioning their authenticity and the value of virtual achievements, while Aristotle's virtue ethics, with its emphasis on moderation, virtue, and eudaimonia (true and full happiness), can help assess how gamification influences user behaviour and ethical decision-making. The paper critically examines various gamification elements, such as the hero's journey, altruistic actions, badge levels, and user autonomy, through these philosophical lenses, and addresses the ethical responsibilities of gamification designers, advocating for a balanced approach that prioritizes user well-being and ethical development over commercial interests. By bridging ancient philosophical insights with modern digital culture, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the ethical implications of gamification, emphasizing the need for responsible and virtuous design in digital applications.
The innovative city pilot policy is a new engine to accelerate the social development of China, which is an important support feature for realizing sustainable economic development. Using the city pilot policy issued by the Chinese government in 2008 as a quasi-natural experiment and the method of multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model, we explore the effect of the policy on regional carbon emission efficiency. The research shows that the innovative city pilot policy could lead a significant promotion of the carbon emission efficiency of cities, which shows the characteristics of dynamic sustainability, that is, the policy effect continues to increase over time. Mechanism analysis reveals that the innovative city pilot policy mainly drives the improvement of urban carbon emission efficiency through improving the green technology innovation level of pilot cities, promoting the upgrading of regional industrial structure and increasing government investment in science and technology. In addition, the innovative city pilot policy has a spatial spillover effect on urban carbon emission efficiency, that is, the innovative city pilot policy not only promotes the local carbon emission efficiency, but also improves the carbon efficiency of neighboring areas.
In the theory of crossed modules, considering arbitrary self-actions instead of conjugation allows for the extension of the concept of crossed modules and thus the notion of generalized crossed module emerges. In this paper we give a precise definition for generalized cat$^1$-groups and obtain a functor from the category of generalized cat$^1$-groups to generalized crossed modules. Further, we introduce the notions of coverings and liftings for generalized crossed modules and investigate properties of these structures. Main objective of this study is to obtain an equivalence between the category of coverings and the category of liftings of a given generalized crossed module $(A,B,α)$.
We propose a general formulation of a univariate estimation-of-distribution algorithm (EDA). It naturally incorporates the three classic univariate EDAs \emph{compact genetic algorithm}, \emph{univariate marginal distribution algorithm} and \emph{population-based incremental learning} as well as the \emph{max-min ant system} with iteration-best update. Our unified description of the existing algorithms allows a unified analysis of these; we demonstrate this by providing an analysis of genetic drift that immediately gives the existing results proven separately for the four algorithms named above. Our general model also includes EDAs that are more efficient than the existing ones and these may not be difficult to find as we demonstrate for the OneMax and LeadingOnes benchmarks.
Let $G$ be a simple group over a global function field $K$, and let $π$ be a cuspidal automorphic representation of $G$. Suppose $K$ has two places $u$ and $v$ (satisfying a mild restriction on the residue field cardinality), at which the group $G$ is quasi-split, such that $π_u$ is tempered and $π_v$ is unramified and generic. We prove that $π$ is tempered at all unramified places $K_w$ at which $G$ is unramified quasi-split. The proof uses the Galois parametrization of cuspidal representations due to V. Lafforgue to relate the local Satake parameters of $π$ to Deligne's theory of Frobenius weights. The main observation is that, in view of the classification of generic unitary spherical representations, due to Barbasch and the first-named author, the theory of weights excludes generic complementary series as possible local components of $π$. This in turn determines the local Frobenius weights at all unramified places. In order to apply this observation in practice we need a result of the second-named author with Gan and Sawin on the weights of discrete series representations.
E-learning, in Brazil, has been recently involved in some questioning about how necessary it is to consider obligatory presential classes as a supplement to distance education. It has been implicitly assumed in this questioning that presential classes help preserving educational quality. Thus, it has influenced Brazilian public policies for distance education. This article asks whether a body present in classroom guarantees more than the sole presence of that body and what a presential class guarantees that a virtual class does not. Answers to this question consider that there is a bodiless presentiality due to dialogical interaction.
Key words: distance education, e-learning, virtual communities, dialogical interaction, bodiless presentiality.
In our previous work with Grifo and Hà, we showed the stable Harbourne-Huneke containment and Chudnovsky's conjecture for the defining ideal of sufficiently many general points in $\mathbb{P}^N$. In this paper, we establish the conjectures for all remaining cases, and hence, give the affirmative answer to Harbourne-Huneke containment and Chudnovsky's conjecture for any number of general points in $\mathbb{P}^N$ for all $N$. Our new technique is to develop the Cremona reduction process that provides effective lower bounds for the Waldschmidt constant of the defining ideals of generic points in projective spaces.
El artículo analiza críticamente la propuesta contenida en el libro Aquinas’s Ontology of the Material World. Change, Hylomorphism, and Material Objects de Jeffrey E. Brower. Se sintetizan algunos de los puntos principales de la obra ero, particularmente, se evalúa el núcleo de su propuesta, consistente en poner en diálogo las ideas tomasinas acerca del mundo natural con las propuestas de la ontología contemporánea. Se evidencia que, más allá de las intenciones, el autor no consigue cumplir con lo proyectado en tanto parece ejercer en algunos puntos cierta violencia interpretativa contra conceptos centrales de la filosofía del Aquinate. Se concluye que dicha violencia es consecuencia de pretender circunscribir tales conceptos dentro de un contexto epistemológico radicalmente distinto como es el de la ontología contemporánea.
Segundo a objeção da Má Companhia, o fato de que a infame Lei Básica V de Frege proporciona o padrão de definição geral dos princípios de abstração superior é uma boa razão para duvidar da validade deste tipo de definições. Neste artigo, eu argumento contra esta objeção, mostrando que o padrão de definição dos princípios de abstração — como extrapolados a partir do §64 do Grunlagen de Frege — inclui um requisito adicional (que denomino como a condição de especificidade) que não é satisfeito pela Lei Básica V, embora seja satisfeito por outras abstrações de ordem superior, tal como o Princípio de Hume. Mostro também que a falha deste requisito adicional no caso da Lei Básica V é engendrada por uma característica essencial da concepção de Frege da lógica, e que, assim, o próprio Frege não deveria ter tomado a Lei Básica V como uma definição por abstração.
Causal treatment effect estimation is a key problem that arises in a variety of real-world settings, from personalized medicine to governmental policy making. There has been a flurry of recent work in machine learning on estimating causal effects when one has access to an instrument. However, to achieve identifiability, they in general require one-size-fits-all assumptions such as an additive error model for the outcome. An alternative is partial identification, which provides bounds on the causal effect. Little exists in terms of bounding methods that can deal with the most general case, where the treatment itself can be continuous. Moreover, bounding methods generally do not allow for a continuum of assumptions on the shape of the causal effect that can smoothly trade off stronger background knowledge for more informative bounds. In this work, we provide a method for causal effect bounding in continuous distributions, leveraging recent advances in gradient-based methods for the optimization of computationally intractable objective functions. We demonstrate on a set of synthetic and real-world data that our bounds capture the causal effect when additive methods fail, providing a useful range of answers compatible with observation as opposed to relying on unwarranted structural assumptions.