Related papers: Through a Glass Darkly
Astronomers have played many roles in their engagement with the larger astronomy education ecosystem. Their activities have served both the formal and informal education communities worldwide, with levels of involvement from the occasional…
Perhaps one of the most intriguing questions in philosophy concerns the true nature of external reality. In this paper, we discuss some of the theories that have been put forth regarding the nature of reality and of our perceived universe.…
If human societies are so complex, then how can we hope to understand them? Artificial Life gives us one answer. The field of Artificial Life comprises a diverse set of introspective studies that largely ask the same questions, albeit from…
An account of determinism and indeterminism in physics, addressed to non-physicist readers, leading up to proposals for how to understand statements about the future and single-event probability, motivated by quantum mechanics.
This is a programmatic paper, marking out two directions in which the study of social media can contribute to broader problems of social science: understanding cultural evolution and understanding collective cognition. Under the first…
Recently a computational model has been proposed of the social integration, as described in sociological terms by Peter Blau. In this model, actors praise or critique each other, and these actions influence their social status and raise…
Mathematics is changing. Computers are verifying proofs, checking calculations, and exploring complex structures that would overwhelm human effort. Yet curiosity-driven research is where tomorrow's breakthroughs are quietly prepared. In…
Public scientists (scientists only from now onwards), understood as a member of the teaching and/or research staff of a public university or a public research organization (including humanities and social sciences), benefit the academic…
Machine learning is often viewed as an inherently value-neutral process: statistical tendencies in the training inputs are "simply" used to generalize to new examples. However when models impact social systems such as interactions between…
Socio-economic inequalities are manifested in different aspects of our social life. We discuss various aspects, beginning with the evolutionary and historical origins, and discussing the major issues from the social and economic point of…
The impact of Machine Learning (ML) algorithms in the age of big data and platform capitalism has not spared scientific research in academia. In this work, we will analyse the use of ML in fundamental physics and its relationship to other…
The world of mathematics is often considered abstract, with its symbols, concepts, and topics appearing unrelated to physical objects. However, it is important to recognize that the development of mathematics is fundamentally influenced by…
Humans spend a significant part of their lives being a part of groups. In this document we propose research directions that would make it possible to computationally form productive groups. We bring to light several issues that need to be…
This note is an informal presentation of spin glasses and of the Parisi formula. We also discuss some models for which the Parisi formula is not well-understood, and some partial progress that relies upon a connection with partial…
In this paper, we present a series of mathematical problems which throw interesting lights on flamenco music. More specifically, these are problems in discrete and computational mathematics suggested by an analytical (not compositional)…
I discuss some problems related to extreme mathematical realism, focusing on a recently proposed "shut-up-and-calculate" approach to physics (arXiv:0704.0646, arXiv:0709.4024). I offer arguments for a moderate alternative, the essence of…
A primary goal of physics is to create mathematical models that allow both predictions and explanations of physical phenomena. We weave maths extensively into our physics instruction beginning in high school, and the level and complexity of…
The phenomenon of the Dark matter baffles the researchers: the underlying dark particle has escaped so far the detection and its astrophysical role appears complex and entangled with that of the standard luminous particles. We propose that,…
The growing disconnection of the majority of population from mathematics is becoming a phenomenon that is increasingly difficult to ignore. This paper attempts to point to deeper roots of this cultural and social phenomenon. It concentrates…
Concave mirrors are fundamental optical elements, yet some easily observed behaviors are rarely addressed in standard textbooks, such as the formation of multiple reflected images. Here we investigate self-imaging -- where the observer is…