Episode 1 – Rob Farquharson (06/04/2017)

Rob Farquharson is a Masters of Philosophy candidate at the University of Adelaide, where he is studying the philosophical foundation of cognitive science with a focus on real world examples. His current case study is on the homing behaviour of desert ants. He is also an undergraduate tutor, and has a keen interest in moral philosophy.

We spoke about no-platforming, in particular the recent cases of this occurring against Ayaan Hirsi Ali on her trip to Australia, and Peter Singer in Canada, artificial intelligence, and wild-animal suffering.

Below are some additional resources for understanding the difference between digital and analogue computing that Rob mentioned in the podcast.

How do connectionist networks compute?

The role of representation in computation

“Algebra gives way to geometry: exploiting physical structures, not symbols, to compute Pythagorean Theorem.”