In this paper we examine the case of Tay, the Microsoft AI chatbot that was launched in March, 2016. After less than 24 hours, Microsoft shut down the experiment because the chatbot was generating tweets that were judged to be inappropriate since they included racist, sexist, and anti-Semitic language. We contend that the case of Tay illustrates a problem with the very nature of learning software that interacts directly with the public, and the developer's role and responsibility associated with it. (...) We make the case that when LS interacts directly with people or indirectly via social media, the developer has additional ethical responsibilities beyond those of standard software. There is an additional burden of care. (shrink)

George Greenough was one of the influential group of early nineteenth-century English geologists who rejected both Hutton's and Werner's attempts to propound all-embracing geological theories, and followed a deliberately empirical approach. He travelled through Scotland in 1805, studying geological phenomena in the light of both the Plutonist and the Neptunist theories, and generally concluded that neither was entirely satisfactory as an explanation of the observable facts. He was also the first to suggest that the ‘Parallel Roads’ of Glen Roy were (...) the successive beach-levels of a former lake: this theory was later attacked by Darwin but ultimately vindicated by Agassiz's glacial theory. The more important geological passages from Greenough's MS. journal of the tour are reproduced and discussed in this paper. They illustrate some of the scientific problems that were involved in accepting either Hutton's or Werner's theory entire. (shrink)

When people hear the name of Cardinal Newman, one of the first associations they make is to his Idea of a University. However, it is rarely known that his first love was Catholic education at the elementary and secondary levels, so that the Oratory School he founded has been described as the “apple of his eye.” Interestingly, Pope Francis is the first pontiff in modern history, at least, to have taught high school (chemistry and Latin) and who has reflected extensively (...) on his own personal experiences of being raised by the Salesian Fathers in Argentina. Both Newman and Francis would regard Catholic elementary and secondary schools as essential to producing what Newman repeatedly referred to as “an educated laity” – equally essential for what St. John Paul II dubbed “the new evangelization.”. (shrink)

The Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman seemingly had the “Midas touch” in reverse. Oxford, Littlemore, Dublin were all sites of failures; the “Achilli Affair” was a humiliation; the quarrel with Faber was an embarrassment. Nonetheless, most people today think of Newman as a rousing success story. Why? Newman serves as an object lesson in living the Paschal Mystery, whereby each moment of crisis can be transformed into a moment of grace.

Johannes Kinker (1764–1845) who tried to promote Kantian philosophy in different ways, was also interested in the phenomenon of language. His general language theory is presented in Inleiding eener Wijsgeerige Algemeene Theorie der Talen, published in 1817. An impression of that theory is given in this paper. Some important questions arise, viz. whether Kinker was influenced by others; whether his theory was an original one and what the place of the theory is in the linguistic situation of the eighteenth and (...) the beginning of the nineteenth century. (shrink)

(1996). Knowledge elicitation using a multi‐modal approach. World Futures: Vol. 47, Unity and Diversity in Contemporary Systems Tinking: Systematic Pictures at an Exhibition, pp. 93-101.

First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Soon after the Hegel Society of Great Britain was inaugurated in September 1979, the Chairman received a congratulatory letter from the President of the Hegel Society of America, suggesting that every effort should be made to develop, “more concrete and personal forms of collaboration and communication.” The generosity of this response has now borne fruit in a joint meeting of the two Societies, marking the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Hegel’s death. It took place between the first and fourth (...) of September 1981, at Merton College Oxford, and was devoted to the discussion of “Hegel’s philosophy of action: individual, culture and society”. (shrink)

One of the most important achievements of the Internationale Hegel-Vereinigung over the past twenty years has been the way in which it has managed to meet the needs of both the specialist and the general public. In the normal course of events it organizes symposia on research subjects. Every two years it gets a group of experts to pool information and exchange views within a relatively narrow field of inquiry, a comparatively neglected topic which looks as though it might benefit (...) from being brought into the limelight. In order to maintain its international character, it is the general rule that these meetings should take place outside Germany, that they should be hosted by one or other of the countries from which the Society draws its members. It is often the case that they are sponsored by the respective Academy of Sciences or Ministry of Culture. Those invited to take part in them can, therefore, be pretty certain that they are being co-opted into a well co-ordinated program. They also know that their papers will be appearing in a series widely recognized as a trendsetter in continental Hegel studies, in an undertaking which already includes such influential publications as Gadamer’s edition of the Urbino Lectures, Well’s edition of the Lille papers on Objective Spirit, the Zwettl papers on the Jena Period, and the proceedings of the Amersfoort meeting on the Philosophy of Nature. (shrink)

A recently published collection of articles focuses upon a relatively small group of texts dealing mainly with astronomical calculations and omens as well as physiognomic omens, attempting to use these as a basis for reconstructing ancient Jewish science in the Persian and Hellenistic periods. The present review raises questions regarding the aims and methods employed, offering an alternative suggestion for the transfer of technical knowledge from Babylonia to ancient Palestine.

hoc est, Capitolium’. This sentence comes in a passage based on a portion of the Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth , but is not itself to be found in Geoffrey. Since Luard was unable to find the words attributed to him ‘in Lucan’, he concluded that the chronicler who was responsible for their inclusion had made a mistake. He offers no suggestions about the origins of the quotation. In a posthumous work of G. Gundermann's edited by G. Goetz, (...) Trogtis und Gellius bei Radulfus de Diceto, we find the quotation described as ‘einen angeblichen Lucanvers'. W. Morel learned of its existence from this reference and printed it as fr. 12 of Lucan. (shrink)