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Articles

Thinking About Thinking

A brief introduction to one of the fundamenal questions for Artifical Intelligence research, by Tomas Campbell.

It is commonly said of philosophy that it is a timeless subject; the problems being discussed now are little different from those which concerned the Ancient Greeks more than two thousand years ago. While the essential uncertainty of man’s condition in the universe remains the same, it is worth remembering that philosophy, as with all other subjects, is a product of society. Philosophical discussions do not take place in some sort of abstract vacuum and different societies over the centuries and across the globe have all tackled fundamental questions from radically different perspectives. Practical philosophy is only as static and unchanged as the society around us and the issues which bother philosophers should bother us all.

A good example of how changes in society shape philosophy can be found in the recent scientific development known as Artificial Intelligence.

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