Introspection is a foundational cognitive ability, but its mechanism is not well understood. Recent work has shown that AI models can introspect. We study the mechanism of this introspection. We first extensively replicate Lindsey (2025)'s thought injection detection paradigm in large open-source models. We show that introspection in these models is content-agnostic: models can detect that an anomaly occurred even when they cannot reliably identify its content. The models confabulate injected concepts that are high-frequency and concrete (e.g., "apple"). They also require fewer tokens to detect an injection than to guess the correct concept (with wrong guesses coming earlier). We argue that a content-agnostic introspective mechanism is consistent with leading theories in philosophy and psychology.
The proliferation of artificial intelligence provides an opportunity to create psychological spaciousness in society. Spaciousness is defined as the ability to hold diverse interpersonal interactions and forms the basis for vulnerability that leads to authenticity that leads to prosocial behaviors and thus to societal harmony. This paper demonstrates an attempt to quantify, the human conditioning to subconsciously modify authentic self-expression to fit the norms of the dominant culture. Gaze is explored across various marginalized and intersectional groups, using concepts from postmodern philosophy and psychology. The effects of gaze are studied through analyzing a few redacted Reddit posts, only to be discussed in discourse and not endorsement. A mathematical formulation for the Gaze Pressure Index (GPI)-Diff Composite Metric is presented to model the analysis of two sets of conversational spaces in relation to one another. The outcome includes an equation to train Large Language Models (LLMs) - the working mechanism of AI products such as Chat-GPT; and an argument for affirming and inclusive HCI, based on the equation, is presented. The argument is supported by a few principles of Neuro-plasticity, The brain's lifelong capacity to rewire.
This is a short historical note about the visit of Prof. G. Klipping of Fritz Haber Institute, Germany, to the low temperature physics laboratory of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. During his visit in 1979, Klipping delivered a series of lectures on cryogenic practices and low temperature physics in the physics department. The authors, both Masters degree students at that time, with a specialization in cryogenics, attended these lectures arranged by Prof. R. Srinivasan then head of the Low Temperature laboratory. In this non technical note, the authors attempt to portray the research philosophy and attitudes of Klipping as captured through many wise remarks and snippets which formed an integral part of his lectures. In the 1970-80s Klipping made invaluable contributions to the development of cryogenics research in India.
Recent philosophical discussions about metaphysical indeterminacy have been substantiated with the idea that quantum mechanics, one of the most successful physical theories in the history of science, provides explicit instances of worldly indefiniteness. Against this background, several philosophers underline that there are alternative formulations of quantum theory in which such indeterminacy has no room and plays no role. A typical example is Bohmian mechanics in virtue of its clear particle ontology. Contrary to these latter claims, this paper aims at showing that different pilot-wave theories do in fact instantiate diverse forms of metaphysical indeterminacy. Namely, I argue that there are various questions about worldly states of affairs that cannot be determined by looking exclusively at their ontologies and dynamical laws. Moreover, it will be claimed that Bohmian mechanics generates a new form of modal indeterminacy. Finally, it will be concluded that ontological clarity and indeterminacy are not mutually exclusive, i.e., the two can coexist in the same theory.
The article discusses postmodernist approaches to the problem of nuclear weapons, taking as an example Jacques Derrida’s paper No Apocalypse, Not Now. Proceeding from the widespread conception of postmodernism as relativism, the author hypothesizes that postmodernist philosophers would either try to demonstrate the non-absolute nature of the nuclear threat or suggest relativist ways of countering it. If we agree with Boris Groys’ interpretation of Derrida’s work, then it perfectly conforms to such expectations. However, a careful reading of the paper in question proves both our hypothesis and Groys’ interpretation to be wrong. Although No Apocalypse, Not Now does contain a number of relativist theses (for instance, Derrida portrays nuclear war as a textual phenomenon, a non-event, the absent referent that finally blurs all the distinction between knowledge and opinion, doxa and episteme), they play a minor role in the overall argument. Firstly, Derrida acknowledges the absolute nature of nuclear weapons: for him, they threaten the destruction of the entire archive and all symbolic capacity, that is, of culture as a social mechanism for coping with death, if not the destruction of the whole humanity as a biological species. Secondly, the philosopher criticizes the strategy of deterrence for relying on the logic of escalation and being prone to chance and accident. Thirdly, Derrida emphasizes that a nuclear war, which would destroy all the values and ideals that might legitimate starting it, would in fact be fought (should it happen) in the name of the name, and of nothing else, thus of nothing. To counter such urges, at the same time fundamentalist and nihilistic, the philosopher invites us to fall in love with life. In the later works of Derrida this invitation develops into a principle of responsibility for the life of the other, one of the central tenets of his ethical and political thought. However, since Derrida chooses to focus on individual instead of collective survival, questions remain as to whether his philosophy is able to meet the challenges of the nuclear age.
Estimating the influence of religion on innovation is challenging because of both complexness and endogeneity. In order to untangle these issues, we use several measures of religiosity, adopt an individual-level approach to innovation and employ the instrumental variables method. We analyse the effect of religiosity on individual attitudes that are either favourable or unfavourable to innovation, presenting an individual's propensity to innovate. We instrument one's religiosity with the average religiosity of people of the same sex, age range, and religious affiliation who live in countries with the same dominant religious denomination. The results strongly suggest that each measure of religiosity has a somewhat negative effect on innovation attitudes. The diagnostic test results and sensitivity analyses support the main findings. We propose three causality channels from religion to innovation: time allocation, the fear of uncertainty, and conventional roles reinforced by religion.
Recent work on the status of astrophysical modeling in the wake of quantum gravity indicates that a 'fauxrizon' (portmanteau of 'faux horizon'), such as is relevant to understanding astrophysical black holes according to the fuzzball proposal within string theory, might ultimately solve the familiar black hole evaporation paradox. I clarify, with general upshots for the foundations of quantum gravity research, some of what this suggestion would amount to: identification of intertheoretic constraints on global spacetime structure in (observer-relative) semiclassical models of fuzzballs.
The paper treats the topic of hermeticism — an esoteric tradition of teachings — with the view to its origins and varying interpretations. In setting research objectives, the text aims at identifying the common structural foundations of myths and ideas of the hermetic genesis and to establish the main vectors of the formation and transformation of esoteric teachings presented in the spiritual domain and reflected in the material culture of Western Europe from the 4th century BC to the present. For the needs of such a comparative study that embraces philosophical, religious and historical phenomena of culture, the following methods are used. As it is mostly the texts that are analyzed, the methodological framework consists of the interpretation of texts and artifacts – all along the line of presentation of historical sequences, of their recursion, of structural and functional aspects. The sources included not only texts, mathematical operations and chemical formulas of previously known alchemic artifacts are also introduced into the comprehensive analysis. The examination of cultural phenomena leads to the systematization of religious origins, historical and philosophical traditions and scientific achievements that underlie the formation of hermeticism. This structuralisation is possible due to the tools for the analysis of the hermetic body developed in this text. The mapping of the historical development of hermeticism is proposed in a three-level paradigm model based on the image of the Thrice-Great Hermes. It is concluded that the basis of the image of Hermes is the invariant of the historical three-level model of cognition of esoteric teachings, for descriptions of which the terms of ABC — paradigm are introduced. Each of the Hermea has own disciplinary paradigm. The first level of Hermes I, the author of cosmogonic visions, A — paradigm, is represented by inner visions (revelations of the cosmic mind or daimonic visions), thus forming the cultural level of mythology, theology. The level of Hermes II, the founder of writing and counting, lies in the realm of concepts of visions ‒ e.g. the Platonic philosophy, geometry, mathematics (B — paradigm). The third level (C — paradigm) is represented by texts and alchemical artifacts (Alexandrian crystal) of Hermes III, the founder of the art of healing and chemistry, that further embodied in empirical sciences, chemistry and astronomy, as well as ancient technological knowledge of the production of metals, glass and dyes. In general, all hermetic disciplines and practices emerge on the basis of this three-level paradigm.
With Cyrano, Voltaire, and Verne, France provided important milestones in the history of early science fiction. However, even if the genre was not very common a few centuries ago, there were numerous additional contributions by French-speaking writers. In this paper, we review two cases of interplanetary novels written in the second half of the eighteenth century and sharing a rare particularity: their authors were female. Voyages de Milord Ceton was imagined by Marie-Anne de Roumier-Robert whereas Cornelie Wouters de Wasse conceived Le Char Volant. While their personal lives were very different, and their writing style too, both authors share in these novels a common philosophy in which equality -- between ranks but also between genders -- takes an important place. Their works thus clearly fit into the context of the Enlightenment.
The article considers the concept of resilience of the scientific community, which is novel for the Russian science. By applying the conceptual analysis, the key message of the paper suggests that not only is the term instrumental in describing the traits of modern Russian science, but also it shows possible solutions of further development of science. The relevance of introducing this notion into scientific circulation is justified by both external and internal reasons, i.e. the science reform and the need to reflect on scientific and organizational processes, as scientific institutions face substantial challenges in adapting to new realities. The term is considered in a time continuum, as case studies focus on the following areas: scientists’ perceptions on funding, dilemmas of stable and competitive financing of science, organizational culture, the future image as seen by scientists and the interaction with the media. Comparative perspective is also included. Among the categories used to describe the functions and the status of scientific communities, collective subject is one that can focus on active role of such communities, on the interconnectedness and interdependence of individuals in a group, the ability of a group to show various forms of joint activity, the ability of a group to self-reflection – just like resilience. However, using subject for scientific needs seems not always suitable, for the sense it has covers not all the aspects that arise in conducting empirical research. Resilience, in contrast, suits perfectly. Another advantage the term resilience provides is that it seems to be appropriate for outlining the processes generated inside the scientific region, since it allows describing not only scientists as individuals, but also a community as a whole. This thesis is illustrated by a brief overview of research on the resilience of organizations and the resilience of families. The paper concludes with applying resilience to practice, as the state of the psychological community is assessed through the lenses of the crisis of resilience as opposed to the crisis of identity.
Despite the success of our best models in Theoretical Physics, especially concerning Cosmology and Particle Physics, we still face persistent challenges. Among them we have the cosmological singularity problem, understanding the late-time acceleration of the Universe, and comprehending the fundamental nature of time. We believe relevant new insights to tackle each of these issues may be found in the Philosophy of Cosmology. We elaborate on three philosophical principles that shall guide us on how to improve our current theories. They are the Copernican Principle for Scales, the Cosmological Heterarchical Principle and the Cosmological Principle of Irreversibility. Following these principles, and using some of our current physical theories as a proxy to implement them, we consider a new assessment of each of these challenges, and show how they may be either explained away, hinting towards new physics, or summarized in a new philosophical principle.
Relationships between current theories, and relationships between current theories and the sought theory of quantum gravity (QG), play an essential role in motivating the need for QG, aiding the search for QG, and defining what would count as QG. Correspondence is the broad class of inter-theory relationships intended to demonstrate the necessary compatibility of two theories whose domains of validity overlap, in the overlap regions. The variety of roles that correspondence plays in the search for QG are illustrated, using examples from specific QG approaches. Reduction is argued to be a special case of correspondence, and to form part of the definition of QG. Finally, the appropriate account of emergence in the context of QG is presented, and compared to conceptions of emergence in the broader philosophy literature. It is argued that, while emergence is likely to hold between QG and general relativity, emergence is not part of the definition of QG, and nor can it serve usefully in the development and justification of the new theory.
The well-known equation for hydrostatic equilibrium in a static spherically symmetric spacetime supported by an isotropic perfect fluid is referred to as the Oppenheimer-Volkoff (OV) equation or the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) equation in various General Relativity textbooks or research papers. We scrutinize the relevant original publications to argue that the former is the more appropriate terminology.
In this dissertation the question of the unification of quantum theory and general relativity is treated. Based on the conceptual structure of these theories and under incorporation of certain ideas from classical philosophy there are formulated arguments for the assertion that these two fundamental theories of nature can only be led to a unification in the framework of a description, in which space-time is not presupposed but constituted by a more fundamental physical reality. Under this precondition an own model to derive the mathematical structure of general relativity from a unified quantum field theory of spinors is developed. In addition the quantum theory of fundamental binary logical alternatives, which has been conceived by Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker in the second half of the twentieth century and in which the existence of physical space and his properties is a consequence of quantum theory, is treated elaborately and considered with respect to the question of the unification of quantum theory and general relativity.
Black holes are extremely relativistic objects. Physical processes around them occur in a regime where the gravitational field is extremely intense. Under such conditions, our representations of space, time, gravity, and thermodynamics are pushed to their limits. In such a situation philosophical issues naturally arise. In this chapter I review some philosophical questions related to black holes. In particular, the relevance of black holes for the metaphysical dispute between presentists and eternalists, the origin of the second law of thermodynamics and its relation to black holes, the problem of information, black holes and hypercomputing, the nature of determinisim, and the breakdown of predictability in black hole space-times. I maintain that black hole physics can be used to illuminate some important problems in the border between science and philosophy, either epistemology and ontology.
Jaynes invented the Brandeis Dice Problem as a simple illustration of the MaxEnt (Maximum Entropy) procedure that he had demonstrated to work so well in Statistical Mechanics. I construct here two alternative solutions to his toy problem. One, like Jaynes' solution, uses MaxEnt and yields an analogue of the canonical ensemble, but at a different level of description. The other uses Bayesian updating and yields an analogue of the micro-canonical ensemble. Both, unlike Jaynes' solution, yield error bars, whose operational merits I discuss. These two alternative solutions are not equivalent for the original Brandeis Dice Problem, but become so in what must, therefore, count as the analogue of the thermodynamic limit, $M$-sided dice with $M\rightarrow\infty$. Whereas the mathematical analogies between the dice problem and Stat Mech are quite close, there are physical properties that the former lacks but that are crucial to the workings of the latter. Stat Mech is more than just MaxEnt.
I argue that European schools of thought on memory and memorization were critical in enabling the growth of the scientific method. After giving a historical overview of the development of the memory arts from ancient Greece through 17th century Europe, I describe how the Baconian viewpoint on the scientific method was fundamentally part of a culture and a broader dialogue that conceived of memorization as a foundational methodology for structuring knowledge and for developing symbolic means for representing scientific concepts. The principal figures of this intense and rapidly evolving intellectual milieu included some of the leading thinkers traditionally associated with the scientific revolution; among others, Francis Bacon, Renes Descartes, and Gottfried Leibniz. I close by examining the acceleration of mathematical thought in light of the art of memory and its role in 17th century philosophy, and in particular, Leibniz' project to develop a universal calculus.
How was the world created? People have asked this ever since they could ask anything, and answers have come from all sides: from religion, tradition, philosophy, mysticism... and science. While this does not seem like a problem amenable to scientific measurement, it has led scientists to come up with fascinating ideas and observations: the Big Bang, the concept of inflation, the fact that most of the world is made up of dark matter and dark energy which we can not perceive, and more. Of course scientists cannot claim to know the definitive truth. But we can approach the question from a scientific viewpoint and see what we find out. How do we do that? First, we look to the data. Thanks to modern technology, we have much more information than did people of previous ages who asked the same question. Then we can use scientific methods and techniques to analyze the data, organize them in a coherent way and try and extract an answer. This process and its main findings will be described in the article.
Physical cosmology tries to understand the Universe at large with its origin and evolution. Observational and experimental situations in cosmology do not allow us to proceed purely based on the empirical means. We examine in which sense our cosmological assumptions in fact have shaped our current cosmological worldview with consequent inevitable limits. Cosmology, as other branches of science and knowledge, is a construct of human imagination reflecting the popular belief system of the era. The question at issue deserves further philosophic discussions. In Whitehead's words, "philosophy, in one of its functions, is the critic of cosmologies". (Whitehead 1925)
In recent centuries the world has become increasingly dominated by empirical evidence and theoretic science in developing worldviews. Advances in science have dictated Roman Catholic doctrine such as the acceptance of Darwinian evolution and Big Bang cosmology. Albert Einstein created an indelible impact on the relationship between science and religion. The question is whether or not his work was deleterious for church doctrine or whether it was compatible with, or even advanced, church dogma. It's my contention that Einstein revived the relationship between science and theology and did not create a bifurcation between the two. Despite his personal religious beliefs, his work has helped to reinforce the harmonious conjunction of science with religion, which cannot be ignored by succeeding scientists and theologians.