SCHAFFNER@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (Kenneth Schaffner) (04/11/87)
Bruce Buchanan suggested that I send you the following for posting on the AI
LIST Bulletin Board. If you have any questions, you may contact me at
SCAHFFNER@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA, though inquiries about the Conference should go to
the Special Events Office as listed below. Thanks.
---Ken Schaffner
A CONFERENCE ON
THE BRAIN: PHILOSOPHY, NEUROLOGY, AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
In Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the University of
Pittsburgh and the Centennial of the School of Medicine
The nature of the relationship of the mind to the human brain and the
process by which thinking occurs have been perennial philosophical problems.
Attempts to understand these issues through the centuries have progressively
involved new sciences and new ways of approaching these classic questions.
Psychology, neurology, and the neurosciences are relatively new recruits to
the interdisciplinary company whose mission is to comprehend the mind and
the brain, and they have been even more recently joined by computer science
and artificial intelligence.
The past five years has seen the rapid emergence of a revolutionary
computational framework which suggests a new and exciting approach to mind-
brain relations and to thought itself. This approach, which goes by the
various names of "connectionism," "parallel distributed processing," and
"neural network theory" has been described as a paradigm shift in the
cognitive sciences. Problems in perception, memory, language, and thought
that were recalcitrant to previous approaches have yielded startling
solutions when pursued from the perspective of connectionism. This new
viewpoint, which adopts an explicitly parallel architecture on which to base
its models, is also consistent with developments occurring in the design of
so called "supercomputers." Both connectionism and supercomputer design
studies are critical of traditional "von Neumann style" computer
architecture and processing, and have proposed novel human brain-like models
which already offer extraordinary promise in the areas of speech recognition
and pattern detection.
This Conference, which is being held as part of the celebration of the
University of Pittsburgh's bicentennial and its School of Medicine's
centennial, is designed to critically examine this developing revolution in
our comprehension of thought and the brain from an interdisciplinary
perspective. The implications of the revolution for our understanding of
consciousness, learning, memory, language, and knowledge in general will be
examined by psychologists, computer scientists, physicians, and
philosophers. The extent to which neurological data and theories can suggest
novel directions for both psychological and computer-based research, and
vice versa, will be a recurrent theme of the Conference. Possible though as
yet futuristic therapeutic implications such as partial brain reconstitution
with the aid of "neural chips" will be considered. Ethical and legal issues
associated with both current brain research and such possible futuristic
advances will be examined as well.
The Conference brings together a group of scholars who have
collectively had a phenomenal impact on our current understanding of the
mind and its relations to the brain. Dr. Minsky who will lead off the
Conference with a Keynote address is generally recognized as the preeminent
theoretician of artificial intelligence and its application to theories of
the mind. Drs. Rumelhart and McClelland are cognitive psychologists whose
recently edited two volume collection of papers on Parallel distributed
Processing is already recognized as the "bible" of connectionism. Dr. Joynt
is a distinguished neurologist who brings extensive clinical experience to
the Conference's interdisciplinary subject matter. Drs. Paul and Patricia
Churchland, Dennett, and Haugland are all nationally recognized philosophers
of science and of mind who have made major contributions to these areas. Dr.
Hinton has been one of the major developers of parallel distributed
processing theory, and Dr. Reggia is a neurologist and computer scientist
who has developed pioneering applications of neurological data to artificial
intelligence models of the brain. Dr. Miller is a nationally prominent
medical ethicist, and Prof. Meisel is a leading figure in both health law
and bioethics. These major speakers will also be joined by nationally
prominent University of Pittsburgh faculty from philosophy, psychology,
neuroscience, neurology, neurosurgery, and computer science who will serve
as commentators on the Conference material.
PROGRAM
THE BRAIN: PHILOSOPHY, NEUROLOGY, AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
ALL SESSIONS WILL BE HELD IN THE WESTERN PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE AND CLINIC
AUDITORIUM, 2ND FLOOR, 3811 O'HARA STREET, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
Tuesday, May 5, 1987:
8:30 a.m. REGISTRATION
Morning - Session I
9:00 a.m. INTRODUCTION....................Thomas Detre, M.D.
Senior Vice President for Health
Sciences, University of
Pittsburgh
WELCOME.........................Wesley W. Posvar, Ph.D.
President
University of Pittsburgh
9:15 a.m. INTRODUCTION TO THEMES..........Kenneth F. Schaffner, M.D.,Ph.D.
Professor, Department of History
and Philosophy of Science
9:30 a.m. Keynote address:
THE SOCIETY OF MIND..............Marvin Minsky, Ph.D.
Donner Professor of Science
Department of Electrical
Engineering
and Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
10:30 a.m. Coffee Break
10:45 a.m. PARALLEL DISTRIBUTED
PROCESSING IN COGNITIVE
SCIENCE..........................David Rumelhart, Ph.D.
Co-Director, Institute of
Cognitive Science
University of California,
San Diego
Afternoon - SESSION II:
Chairperson - John Moossy, M.D.
Professor of Pathology and Neurology
Chief, Division of Neuropathology
University of Pittsburgh
1:00 p.m. REPRESENTATION AND COMPUTATION:
BIOLOGICAL VARIETIES AND
PHILOSOPHICAL CONSEQUENCES........Paul Churchland, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Philosophy
and Cognitive Science Program
University of California,
San Diego
2:00 p.m. THINKING ABOUT THINKING...........Robert J. Joynt, M.D., Ph.D.
Dean and Vice-President
Professor of Neurology
University of Rochester
School of Medicine and
Dentistry
3:30 p.m. Coffee Break
3:45 p.m. HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS AS A VIRTUAL
VON NEUMANN MACHINE...............Daniel Dennett, Ph.D.
Director, Center for
Cognitive Studies
Tufts University
4:45 p.m. General Discussion
5:15 p.m. Adjournment
6:00 p.m. Cocktails (location to be announced)
Wednesday, May 6, 1987
Morning - Session III
Chairperson - S.K. Chang, Ph.D.
Chairperson, Computer Science Department
University of Pittsburgh
9:00 a.m. LEARNING REPRESENTATIONS IN
A PARALLEL NETWORK................Geoffrey Hinton, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Computer
Science
Carnegie-Mellon University
9:45 a.m. UNDERSTANDING NATURAL LANGUAGE
THROUGH PARALLEL DISTRIBUTED
PROCESSING........................James. L. McClelland, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Psychology
Carnegie-Mellon University
10:30 a.m. COOPERATION THROUGH COMPETITION
IN ASSOCIATED MEMORY MODELS.......James Reggia, M.D., Ph.D.
Departments of Neurology
and Computer Science
University of Maryland
11:15 a.m. Coffee Break
11:30 a.m. UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH PANEL DISCUSSION
Panelists:
Gordon Banks, M.D., Ph.D.(Neurology)
Eric Frank, Ph.D.(Neurobiology, Anatomy and Cell Science)
Alan Lesgold, Ph.D.(Psychology)
Harry E. Pople, Ph.D. (Decision Systems Laboratory)
John Vries, M.D. (Neurosurgery)
Richmond Thomason, Ph.D. (Linguistics and Philosophy)
Afternoon - Session IV
Chairperson Kurt Baier, D. Phil.
Distinguished Service Professor of Philosophy
University of Pittsburgh
1:30 p.m. KNOWLEDGE, BENEFITS, AND RIGHTS:
ETHICAL ISSUES IN BRAIN RESEARCH..Bruce Miller, Ph.D.
Professor and Chairman
Department of Philosophy
Michigan State University
2:15 p.m. ON THE OBLIGATION TO "VOLUNTEER"
FOR BRAIN RESEARCH................Alan Meisel, J.D.
Professor of Law
and Psychiatry
University of Pittsburgh
3:00 p.m. Coffee Break
3:15 p.m. EPISTEMOLOGY IN THE AGE OF
NEUROSCIENCE.....................Patricia Churchland, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
and Cognitive Science Program
University of California,
San Diego
4:00 p.m. TWO MODELS OF INTELLIGENCE.......John Haugeland, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Philosophy
University of Pittsburgh
5:00 p.m. Adjournment
All individuals who wish to attend should register for the Conference.
There is no Registration Fee for the Conference, but a form containing
the following information should be received by the University of Pittsburgh
Health Sciences Office of Special Events, M-211 Scaife Hall, Pittsburgh PA
15261, no later than April 20th, 1987. Space is limited and early registration
is advised. A block of rooms has been reserved for registrants at the
University Inn in the Oakland section near the University of Pittsburgh;
telephone 800-245-6675 (in Pennsylvania 800-242-1498). When registering,
please identify yourself as being with this Conference. For individuals
attending the Conference, a 20% reduced air fare is available from U.S.
Air; contact the Special Events Office below for information. This Conference
meets the criteria for twelve credit hours in Category 1 of the Physician's
Recognition Award of the American Medical Association. (1.2 CEUs are awarded
to health professionals.)
REGISTRATION FORM:
(Please Print)
Name: Degree:
Office Address:
Home Address:
Telephone: (Home) (Office)
Affiliation:
For further information contact the Special Events Office: (412) 648-9006.
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