Informatics as a Semiotic Discipline

2021

2003

Computing is changing the traditional field of Philosophy of Science in a very profound way. First as a methodological tool, computing makes possible "experimental Philosophy" which is able to provide practical tests for different philosophical ideas. At the same time the ideal object of investigation of the Philosophy of Science is changing. For a long period of time the ideal science was Physics (e.g., Popper, Carnap, Kuhn, and Chalmers). Now the focus is shifting to the field of Computing/Informatics. There are many good reasons for this paradigm shift, one of those being a long standing need of a new meeting between the sciences and humanities, for which the new discipline of Computing/Informatics gives innumerable possibilities. Contrary to Physics, Computing/Informatics is very much human-centered. It brings a potential for a new Renaissance, where Science and Humanities, Arts and Engineering can reach a new synthesis, so very much needed in our intellectually split culture. This paper investigates contemporary trends and the relation between the Philosophy of Science and the Philosophy of Computing and Information, which is equivalent to the present relation between Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Physics.

Deleted Journal, 2023

This review essay analyzes the book by Giuseppe Primiero, On the foundations of computing. Oxford: Oxford University Press (ISBN 978-0-19-883564-6/hbk; 978-0-19-883565-3/pbk). xix, 296 p. ( ). It gives a critical view from the perspective of physical computing as a foundation of computing and argues that the neglected pillar of material computation (Stepney) should be brought centerstage and computing recognized as the fourth great domain of science (Denning).

O que nos faz pensar, 2016

Informatics is generally understood as a " new technology " and is therewith discussed according to technological aspects such as speed, data retrieval, information control and so on. Its widespread use from home appliances to enterprises and universities is not the result of a clear-cut analysis of its inner possibilities but is rather dependent on all sorts of ideological promises of unlimited progress. We will discuss the theoretical definition of informatics proposed in 1936 by Alan Turing in order to show that it should be taken as final and complete. This definition has no relation to the technology because Turing defines computers as doing the work of solving problems with numbers. This formal definition implies nonetheless a relation to the non-formalized elements around informatics, which we shall discuss through the Greek notion of téchne.

The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Information, 2016

During the last decade, the philosophy of computer science has carved an important space within the landscape of philosophical investigations. The range of questions and problems it addresses is wide and varied: the methodology of design, the ontology and semantics of computational artefacts, abstraction and implementation, to name a few. This chapter focuses strictly on the philosophical interpretation of the notion of information within computer science.

2014

Abstract: A common usage of the concept of information requires a unique definition of it. The text expands on a proposal for an ontology of information, which will be grounded in physics. Shannon’s communication theory does not conceptualize any physical variable. It will be shown that by doing so the gap between syntax and semantics can be closed by introducing the universal category of triadic information. Any informational scenario is given by the trias of a) a sender, and of b) the transformation, which happens to c) the receiver. The concept of information is taken in a broader sense, and is based on physical fundaments. The gravitational force which is exploited to a physical body holds in the same sense well defined information as a spontaneous appearance of a new, algorithmically underivable structure or event: the world gets ‘com-pleted ’ within a continuous informational process. Any spontaneous process will always happen in order to increase the entropy of the world. Tha...

Scientific Annals of Computer Science, 2014

Philosophical studies series, 2017

I survey a common theme that pervades the philosophy of computer science (and philosophy more generally): the relation of computing to the world. Are algorithms merely certain procedures entirely characterizable in an "indigenous", "internal', "intrinsic", "local", "narrow", "syntactic" (more generally: "intra-system") purely Turing-machine language? Or must they interact with the real world, with a purpose that is expressible only in a language with an "external", "extrinsic", "global", "wide", "inherited" (more generally: "extra-" or "inter-"sytem) semantics? If you begin with Computer Science, you will end with Philosophy. 1 I was simultaneously surprised and deeply honored to receive the 2015 Covey Award from the International Association for Computing and Philosophy. 2 The honor is due in part to linking me to the illustrious predecessors who have received this award, but also to its having been named for Preston Covey, 3 whom I knew and who inspired me as I began my twin journeys in philosophy and computing. 1.1 From Philosophy to Computer Science, and Back Again Contrary to the motto above, I began with philosophy, found my way to computer science, and have returned to a mixture of the two. Inspired by Douglas Hofstadter's review [Hofstatder, 1980] of Aaron Sloman's The Computer Revolution in Philosophy [Sloman, 1978], which quoted Sloman to the effect that a philosopher of mind who knew no AI was like a philosopher of physics who knew no quantum mechanics, 4 my philosophical interests in philosophy of mind led me to study AI at SUNY Buffalo with Stuart C. Shapiro. 5 This eventually led to a faculty appointment in computer science at Buffalo. (Along the way, my philosophy colleagues and I at SUNY Fredonia published one of the first introductory logic textbooks to use a computational approach [Schagrin et al., 1985].) At Buffalo, I was amazed to discover that my relatively arcane philosophy dissertation on Alexius Meinong was directly relevant to Shapiro's work in AI, providing an intensional semantics for his SNePS semantic-network processing system (see, e.g., [Shapiro and Rapaport, 1987], [Shapiro and Rapaport, 1991]). 6 And then I realized that the discovery of quasi-indexicals ('he himself', 'she herself', etc.; [Castañeda, 1966]) by my dissertation advisor, Hector-Neri Castañeda 1 "Clicking on the first link in the main text of a Wikipedia article, and then repeating the process for subsequent articles, usually eventually gets you to the Philosophy article. As of May 26, 2011, 94.52% of all articles in Wikipedia lead eventually to the article Philosophy" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Getting to Philosophy). If you begin with "Computer Science", you will end with "Philosophy" (in 12 links). 2 http://www.iacap.org/awards/ 3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covey Award 4 "I am prepared to go so far as to say that within a few years, if there remain any philosophers who are not familiar with some of the main developments in artificial intelligence, it will be fair to accuse them of professional incompetence, and that to teach courses in philosophy of mind, epistemology, aesthetics, philosophy of science, philosophy of language, ethics, metaphysics, and other main areas of philosophy, without discussing the relevant aspects of artificial intelligence will be as irresponsible as giving a degree course in physics which includes no quantum theory" [Sloman, 1978, p. 5].

2002

The academic communities directly associated with computing science have varied their scope across a significant part of their development. This article graphically explores the historical development of informatics using the trajectory of curricula recommendations in computing science. The usual description of informatics as an ever expanding field is challenged facing the disciplinary diversity found in the ACM computing curricula recommendations and related documents. Indeed, in a first period the disciplinary diversity fostered by the community was reduced. This reduction of diversity was accompanied by an increase in the depth of a few branches, structuring Informatics in areas such as computer engineering, computing science, and information systems. Later on, Informatics's footprint has increased, demanding a renewal of its disciplinary structure, which triggered the emergence of new related occupations. The graphic representations proposed here mediate a discussion of current professional tendencies, illustrating that Informatics' history is more rich than it is usually seen.

IGI Global, 2020

The NATO conference held in Garmisch in 1968 was on the future of the computer and software world, and it presented the process of realization of what has been talked about in those dates to the present day. This chapter also examines the development of software systems since 1968, depending on the technological developments. The contribution of mathematics and physics to the development of information systems was explained in chronological order by comparing the possibilities of yesterday and today. Complementary contributions of science and technology have been evaluated in the evolutionary and revolutionary developments ranging from the definition of information theory in 1948 to teleportation. It can clearly be seen that discrete mathematics directly affects the improvements in computer science. This review study clearly shows that it would not be possible to talk about digital transformation and quantum computation if the discoveries of Shannon, Turing and Neumann, and the studies of other scientists before them did not exist.