
Philosophy of Computer Science [pdf] - Schiphol
http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/Papers/phics.pdf
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Schiphol
William Rapaport has just won the 2015 Barwise Prize for significant work on
philosophy and computing -- [http://www.apaonline.org/news/254862/William-
Rapaport-is-the...](http://www.apaonline.org/news/254862/William-Rapaport-is-
the-2015-Barwise-Prize-winner.htm)

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daviddaviddavid
Rapaport is also the man behind the rather exhaustive Buffalo Restuarant
guide:

[http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/restaurant.guide/](http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/restaurant.guide/)

And he was a central figure in the construction of the Buffalo sentence:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffal...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo)

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mindcrime
This looks awesome. It's a huge book though; this draft is 824 pages! Still,
definitely looking forward to reading this... eventually.

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MichaelGG
Honest curiosity: What do you think you'll get out of it? A big chunk of it
seems to be about definition. A lot of it hinges on knowing more about
consciousness (and state-of-the-art seems to be essentially nil on that topic
- the position that consciousness is magic is still taken seriously). There's
discussions about the "duality" between hardware and software: while certainly
a rich area to make arguments, I'm not sure it's really impactful or
interesting.

There seems to be little to no practical concerns addressed. Which is fine -
chasing things just because they're intriguing shouldn't be looked down on.
I'm just wondering if there's more to it, something that'd impact people
writing software (even for fun) or designing computers.

~~~
ahelwer
Sure. For example, what it means for a program to be correct. "It's not a bug,
it's a feature!" is a joke, but also a playful illustration of a complicated
topic. It's worth thinking critically and clearly about these things, and will
only become more relevant as formal verification & specification enters our
field. It's especially useful when defining undefined behavior, or just
implementing an imprecise spec. Analytic philosophy in general is summed up
thus:

"When we have realized the obstacles in the way of a straightforward and
confident answer, we shall be well launched on the study of philosophy—for
philosophy is merely the attempt to answer such ultimate questions, not
carelessly and dogmatically, as we do in ordinary life and even in the
sciences, but critically, after exploring all that makes such questions
puzzling, and after realizing all the vagueness and confusion that underlie
our ordinary ideas." \- Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy
([https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5827/5827-h/5827-h.htm](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5827/5827-h/5827-h.htm))

