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Computability: Historical, Logical and Philosophical Foundations | Israel Institute for Advanced Studies

Computability: Historical, Logical and Philosophical Foundations

[RG#143] Computability: Historical, Logical and Philosophical Foundations

September 1, 2015 - January 31, 2016

Organizers:

Jack Copeland (University of Canterbury)
Eli Dresner (Tel Aviv University)

The theory of computability was launched in the 1930s by a group of logicians who proposed new characterizations of the ancient idea of an algorithmic process. The theoretical and philosophical work that these thinkers carried out laid the foundations for the computer revolution, and this revolution in turn fuelled the fantastic expansion of scientific knowledge in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. 

The 1930s revolution was a critical moment in the history of science: ideas conceived at that time have become cornerstones of current science and technology. Since then, many diverse computational paradigms have blossomed, and still others are the object of current theoretical enquiry - massively parallel and distributed computing, quantum computing, real-time interactive asynchronous computing, relativistic computing, hypercomputing, nano-computing, DNA computing, neuron-like computing, computing over the reals, computing involving quantum random-number generators. The list goes on; few of these forms of computation were even envisaged during the 1930s' analysis of computability.

The fundamental question tackled by the group is: do the concepts introduced by the early pioneers provide the logico-mathematical foundation for what we call computing today, or is there a need to overhaul the foundations of computing to fit the twenty-first century?

 

 

Members

poster

Jack Copeland

FELLOW
University of Canterbury
Jack Copeland is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Canterbury and Director of the Turing Archive for the History of Computing.
poster

Eli Dresner

FELLOW
Tel Aviv University
Eli Dresner is a Professor in the Departments of Philosophy and Communication at Tel Aviv University. His research interests are the philosophy of language, philosophical logic, and the philosophy of logic.
poster

Nir Fresco

FELLOW
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Nir Fresco is a postdoctoral fellow at the Edelstein Center (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and a visiting fellow at the Decision Systems Lab (University of Wollongong, Australia). In 2013 he graduated with a PhD in Philosophy from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
poster

Carl Posy

FELLOW
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Carl Posy is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research interests are the philosophy of mathematics, the history of philosophy, and philosophical logic and its applications.
poster

Diane Proudfoot

FELLOW
University of Canterbury
Diane Proudfoot is Associate Professor/Reader and Head of Philosophy at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. Diane has held various scholarships and visiting fellowships, including at MIT, New York University, Georgetown University, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
poster

Oron Shagrir

FELLOW
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Oron Shagrir is a Professor of Philospohy and Cognitive Science at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His areas of research include the conceptual foundations of (mainly computational) cognitive and brain sciences, the history and philosophy of computing and computability, and philosophy of mind.
poster

Stewart Shapiro

FELLOW
The Ohio State University
Stewart Shapiro is the O'Donnell Professor of Philosophy at The Ohio State University. His research interests are the philosophy of mathematics and logic, and philosophy of language.
vardi

Moshe Vardi

FELLOW
Rice University

Moshe Y. Vardi is an Israeli mathematician and a computer scientist. He is the George Distinguished Service Professor in Computational Engineering at Rice University.

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