The myth of visual depth cues IV: Shape-from-shading

The popular idea that “shading” is a shape and depth “cue” is the result of a failure to appreciate that neither shading as a physical fact nor shading as a perceptual fact can serve to explain the process leading to visual experience, because the description “shading” does not apply to the proximal stimulation, where this process begins. Both perceived shape and perceived illumination are products of figural constraints.

Artificial Consciousness, Meta-Knowledge, and Physical Omniscience

Previous work [Chrisley & Sloman, 2016, 2017] has argued that a capacity for certain kinds of meta-knowledge is central to modeling consciousness, especially the recalcitrant aspects of qualia, in computational architectures. After a quick review of that work, this paper presents a novel objection to Frank Jackson’s Knowledge Argument (KA) against physicalism, an objection in which such meta-knowledge also plays a central role. It is first shown that the KA’s supposition of a person, Mary, who is physically omniscient, and yet who has not experienced seeing red, is logically inconsistent, due to the existence of epistemic blindspots for Mary. It is then shown that even if one makes the KA consistent by supposing a more limited physical omniscience for Mary, this revised argument is invalid. This demonstration is achieved via the construction of a physical fact (a recursive conditional epistemic blindspot) that Mary cannot know before she experiences seeing red for the first time, but which she can know afterward. After considering and refuting some counter-arguments, the paper closes with a discussion of the implications of this argument for machine consciousness, and vice versa.

Kite Lutherie: Sonic Encounters around Wind-Human Collaborative Crafting

This text encapsulates the journey I embraced for my research—creation project on collaborative experimental lutherie. While pursuing my Master’s degree in Sonic Arts, I found myself deeply interested in the character and presence of the wind I was constantly stumbling upon in Belfast, Northern Ireland. By adopting the cosmoplitics approach proposed by Isabelle Stengers, read through the framework of the contemporary arts, I will evaluate the feasibility of presenting the sound making process as a collaborative platform where human and non-human actors are allowed to interact. While wondering how to establish sonic exchange mechanisms with the wind, I rediscovered the local kiting folk practices and began to study the kite using conceptual tools brought form the German media theory, particularly the work pioneered by Friedrich Kittler. It is a physical fact that the kite could not fly if either Wind or Human were missing; therefore, in that sense, I will argue that kite flying can be presented as Kulturtechnik whenever both actors find themselves affected by the result of the collaborative action. Going a step further, I will explore Kite crafting in terms of experimental Lutherie as a process in which the final “instrument” is indeed the result of wind-human sound interaction.

Moral Objectivism Across the Lifespan

We report the results of two studies that examine folk metaethical judgments about the objectivity of morality. We found that participants attributed almost as much objectivity to ethical statements as they did to statements of physical fact and significantly more objectivity to ethical statements than to statements about preferences or tastes. In both studies, younger participants attributed less objectivity to ethical statements than older participants. Females were observed to attribute slightly less objectivity to ethical statements than males, and we found important interactions between attributions of objectivity and other factors, such as how strong participants’ moral opinions were and how much disagreement about the issue they perceived to exist within society. We believe our results have significant implications for debates about the nature of folk morality and about the nature of morality in general.

Moral Objectivism Across the Lifespan

We report the results of two studies that examine folk metaethical judgments about the objectivity of morality. We found that participants attributed almost as much objectivity to ethical statements as they did to statements of physical fact and significantly more objectivity to ethical statements than to statements about preferences or tastes. In both studies, younger participants attributed less objectivity to ethical statements than older participants. Females were observed to attribute slightly less objectivity to ethical statements than males, and we found important interactions between attributions of objectivity and other factors, such as how strong participants’ moral opinions were and how much disagreement about the issue they perceived to exist within society. We believe our results have significant implications for debates about the nature of folk morality and about the nature of morality in general.

Motho ke motho ka batho, an African Perspective on Popular Sovereignty and Democracy

Motho ke motho ka batho is an ethical maxim to be found in many of the vernaculars of the Bantu-speaking peoples in Africa. It is based on the ontological view that motion is the principle of be-ing. It recognizes being human as a physical fact, but adds that in the ethical sense, a human being proper is one who acknowledges relationality with be-ing as a wholeness. This imposes the obligation to recognize, respect, protect, and promote life in all its manifestations, including the sphere of human relations. To act according to this ethical obligation is to rise above the level of selo, a mere physical entity, and to affirm one’s own humanness. This is the basis for economic, social, and political organization among the Bantu-speaking peoples. It is pithily stated as motho ke motho ka batho; umuntu ngumuntu ngabanye bantu. It is the core meaning of bantucracy. Historically, it predates the contemporary discourses on human rights. Against this background, the thesis to be defended here is that ethics precedes politics. An integral part of this thesis is that the principle of popular sovereignty ought not to be eliminated in politics. Furthermore, the desideratum for democracy—a means to an end—does not, by necessity, require elections and substantial possession of wealth or money. Was democracy in ancient Athens fortified and ameliorated by elections?

Hechos ciberfísicos: una propuesta de análisis para ciberamenazas en las Estrategias Nacionales de Ciberseguridad/ Cyber-physical Facts: A Proposed Analysis for Cyber Threats in the National Cybersecurity Strategies

El artículo presenta la categoría de hechos ciberfísicos, una propuesta para el análisis y la delimitación de amenazas en el régimen híbrido del ciberespacio. Se propone la hipótesis de que América Latina, y en particular México, no comprenden en sus Estrategias Nacionales de Ciberseguridad (ENCS) la naturaleza de las ciberagresiones ni la posibilidad de que una crisis surgida en el ciberespacio salte al espacio físico o material. Para probarla se presenta el contexto de la ciberseguridad en la región y se realiza una crítica de la ENCS de México. Después se hace un análisis comparativo de cinco casos de interés y referencia entre los estudios de ciberseguridad, para introducir el concepto de hecho ciberfísico. Por último, se aplica la propuesta a un estudio de caso y se muestra su utilidad para las ENCS, así como su grado de impacto en la esfera de la seguridad pública y nacional. Abstract The article introduces the category of cyber-physical facts, a proposal for the analysis and delimitation of threats in the hybrid regime of cyberspace. The research objective is to test the hypothesis that Latin America, and Mexico in particular, do not understand in their National Cybersecurity Strategies (NCSS) the nature of cyber-attacks, nor the possibility that a crisis arising in cyberspace will jump into the physical or material ground. To prove this, the context of cybersecurity in the region is presented and also a critique of the NCSS of Mexico. Then, the article makes a comparative analysis of five cases of interest and reference in cybersecurity studies to introduce the concept of cyber-physical fact. Finally, this proposal is applied to a case study, and its usefulness to the NCSS is shown, as well as its degree of impact in the sphere of public and national security.

Quranic Forensic on Begging: Formulating Policies and Action Plans to Handle Street Beggars

Begging behavior is a serious issue and happens on a wide scale, especially in urban areas. In Islamic normative point of view, the Quran has a distinctive perspective towards beggars. In Sura al-Mā‘ūn [107]: 3, Allah swt. encourages Moslem people to pay attention to poor beggars. In contrast, in other verses, al-Jāthiyah [45]: 7, al-Quran criticizes people who are lying for the sake of other’s mercy with a mode and guise of a falsehood. In fact, the begging behavior nowadays is not only caused by the economic problem, but beggars even make it as a preferable profession. The biggest problem in handling the beggar issues is the difficulty to differentiate between the genuine and the professional beggar. If we examine thoroughly using an analysis of the Quran verses, there is a distinctive characteristic of those beggars. These at least can be identified through the micro-expression, sound pressure, and eye tracking. The analysis of the human’s track and physical fact through al-Quran here is what the authors intend as Quran forensic. Based on the distinguishing indicators from the analysis of the Quran forensic, this article found a new model for solving beggar problems with a multidisciplinary approach.

Vol. I

The event on which this fiction is founded has been supposed, by Dr. Darwin,1 and some of the physiological writers of Germany, as not of impossible occurrence. I shall not be supposed as according the remotest degree of serious faith to such an imagination; yet, in assuming it as the basis of a work of fancy, I have not considered myself as merely weaving a series of supernatural terrors. The event on which the interest of the story depends is exempt from the disadvantages of a mere tale of spectres or enchantment. It was recommended by the novelty of the situations which it developes; and, however impossible as a physical fact, affords a point of view to the imagination for the delineating of human passions more comprehensive and commanding than any which the ordinary relations of existing events can yield....