Formal approaches to legal reasoning. This project aims to use formal epistemology to improve understanding of existing legal practices and to propose recommendations for improving the consistency and accuracy of legal proceedings. Since judges and juries rarely know all the relevant facts, they must make the best decision possible in the face of uncertainty. Formal epistemology employs probabilistic reasoning to advance understanding of how to form beliefs and make decisions in response to unce ....Formal approaches to legal reasoning. This project aims to use formal epistemology to improve understanding of existing legal practices and to propose recommendations for improving the consistency and accuracy of legal proceedings. Since judges and juries rarely know all the relevant facts, they must make the best decision possible in the face of uncertainty. Formal epistemology employs probabilistic reasoning to advance understanding of how to form beliefs and make decisions in response to uncertain evidence. The project has potential to influence the relevant policy and will result in improved legal reasoning and risk reduction in legal decision making.Read moreRead less
Future fables: literature, evolution and artificial intelligence. The future of AI is a site of considerable philosophical and cultural anxiety in the West. Given the future of AI is currently only available to publics through literary or fictional tropes, it is vital that we investigate the historical evolution of these literary or fictional tropes of AI to understand its future direction. This project aims to understand (1) how the post-Darwinian literary imagination has shaped our current anx ....Future fables: literature, evolution and artificial intelligence. The future of AI is a site of considerable philosophical and cultural anxiety in the West. Given the future of AI is currently only available to publics through literary or fictional tropes, it is vital that we investigate the historical evolution of these literary or fictional tropes of AI to understand its future direction. This project aims to understand (1) how the post-Darwinian literary imagination has shaped our current anxieties about AI and (2) how literary and scientific writers after Darwin rethink the future of the human species by imagining the co-evolution of humans, animals and machines. Expected outcomes of the project include conceptual resources to understand the human-nonhuman relation and the future of AI.Read moreRead less
Trust and Distrust in Social Epistemic Networks. This project aims to discover critically-needed understandings of the social causes and consequences of ‘fake news’. It will do this by investigating and mapping the relationship between ‘epistemic vices’ and people’s acceptance of misinformation and disinformation (e.g. conspiracy theories). It will bring together approaches from experimental philosophy, natural language processing, social network analysis, and normative reflection to provide new ....Trust and Distrust in Social Epistemic Networks. This project aims to discover critically-needed understandings of the social causes and consequences of ‘fake news’. It will do this by investigating and mapping the relationship between ‘epistemic vices’ and people’s acceptance of misinformation and disinformation (e.g. conspiracy theories). It will bring together approaches from experimental philosophy, natural language processing, social network analysis, and normative reflection to provide new insights regarding distrust and intellectual vice, thus significantly advancing knowledge of the ‘dark side’ of social epistemology. Results will lead to urgently required guidance regarding the features of social networks that exacerbate or buffer against the manifestation of these vices.Read moreRead less
Religion, state and social inclusion: lessons from schools in three countries. Social inclusion is a priority for governments in Australia and overseas. Religious schools can be exclusionary, but can also provide safe havens for religious minorities. This project analyses a range of educational controversies in France, USA and Australia to propose programs and policies that enhance inclusion in religiously diverse societies.
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL130100141
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,996,807.00
Summary
The origins of inequality, hierarchy, and social complexity. Despite obvious failures, humans cooperate far more than other mammals. This project explains how we came to be so unlike other animals; how our cooperative practices transformed us; and how those practices changed, as human societies became increasingly complex after the invention of farming.
Finding equivalence between natural and artificial intelligences. This project aims to investigate the ways in which artificial intelligence is equivalent to human intelligence. Computers outperform humans in many domains, yet it is clear that computers often don’t perform tasks the way humans do. Developing innovative methods for evaluating claims of equivalence by drawing on simpler, well-understood model systems like the honeybee brain, the project expects to fill this existing knowledge gap. ....Finding equivalence between natural and artificial intelligences. This project aims to investigate the ways in which artificial intelligence is equivalent to human intelligence. Computers outperform humans in many domains, yet it is clear that computers often don’t perform tasks the way humans do. Developing innovative methods for evaluating claims of equivalence by drawing on simpler, well-understood model systems like the honeybee brain, the project expects to fill this existing knowledge gap. Expected outcomes include a framework that provides powerful, nuanced criteria for comparison of natural and artificial intelligences. Benefits are expected to include enhanced guidance for the development of AI systems both in everyday contexts and as exploratory tools in comparative and cognitive neuroscience.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL110100093
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,635,728.00
Summary
Making democratic governance work. The project will deepen and advance our understanding of the impact of democratic governance upon prosperity, welfare and peace in countries around the world since the late twentieth century.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180101119
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$357,008.00
Summary
Making more effective groups and group decisions. This project aims to devise strategies that a wide range of groups, such as those in healthcare, science, business etc can use to improve their judgements and decisions. It begins with a philosophical approach to develop a practical framework for understanding and working with groups. This interdisciplinary examination will include devising concrete guidelines that various groups can use to improve the quality of their enquiries and decisions.
Trust in a social and digital world. This project aims to provide a systematic and empirically-informed account of the way networks facilitate or hinder knowledge. Distinguishing on-line information from disinformation can be difficult. This task can be greatly assisted by networks of trusted peers, but figuring out who to trust is itself a challenge. Identifying, designing, and facilitating networks of trust is therefore an urgent task. By using the tools of social epistemology, virtue epistemo ....Trust in a social and digital world. This project aims to provide a systematic and empirically-informed account of the way networks facilitate or hinder knowledge. Distinguishing on-line information from disinformation can be difficult. This task can be greatly assisted by networks of trusted peers, but figuring out who to trust is itself a challenge. Identifying, designing, and facilitating networks of trust is therefore an urgent task. By using the tools of social epistemology, virtue epistemology, and network science, this project will identify how individuals should distribute their trust when embedded in epistemically hostile environments.Read moreRead less
Benefiting from injustice. This project argues that people can acquire duties to compensate victims of injustice when they benefit from these injustices, even when they neither caused the injustices nor could have prevented them. We explore the implications of this argument for the treatment of colonised peoples, and for policies on climate change and international trade.