Science (Video)

Parallel Architecture is a theory of the mental representations involved in the language faculty. These representations are organized in three orthogonal dimensions or levels: phonology, syntax, and semantics, correlated with each other through interface links. Words are encoded in all three levels and serve as part of the interface between sound and meaning. In the representation of an entire sentence, the words are spread out across the combinatoriality of the three levels. An important requirement for a theory of language is that it must offer an account of how we can talk about what we see. It is proposed that conceptual structure in language interfaces with a level of physical space – which in turn interfaces with visual, haptic, and proprioceptive perception, and with the planning of action. Thus, the basic principles of the Parallel Architecture for language can be extended to major aspects of mental function. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38684]

Vocal learning is one of the most critical components of spoken language. It has only evolved several independent times among mammals and birds. Although all vocal learning species are distantly related and have closer relatives that are non-vocal learners, humans and the vocal learning birds have evolved convergent forebrain pathways that control song and speech imitation and production. Erich Jarvis presents an overview of the various biological hypothesis of what makes vocal learning and spoken language special, how it evolved, and what differs about the molecular and neural mechanisms compared to other behavioral traits. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38686]

Common sense is shared knowledge about people and the physical world, enabled by the biological brain. It comprises intuitive psychology, intuitive physics, and intuitive sociality. Unlike deep neural networks, common sense requires only limited experience. Human intelligence has evolved to deal with uncertainty, independent of whether big or small data are available. Complex AI algorithms, in contrast, work best in stable, well-defined situations such as chess and Go, where large amounts of data are available. This stable-world principle helps to understand what statistical algorithms are capable of and distinguish it from commercial hype or techno-religious faith. Gerd Gigerenzer introduces the program of psychological AI, which uses psychological heuristics to make algorithms smart. What we need is a fusion of the adaptive heuristics that embody common sense with the power of machine learning. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38683]

UC San Diego's School of Biological Sciences presents another event in their Deep Look series focusing on Earth Day. UC San Diego researchers will offer perspectives from a range of scientific disciplines relevant to the planet and its future. How are wildflowers adapting to climate change? How can humans sustainably co-exist with one of the world’s largest vertebrates, the Asian elephant? How is modern genetics being used to aid the future of the California Condor? Plus, UC San Diego has launched a new Center for Nature, Science and Society to explore the nexus of climate change, biodiversity and human impacts. Series: "A Deep Look into the Future of Biology" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 38861]

The emergence of language is routinely regarded as a major (or even the main) evolutionary transition in our species’ history. Much less attention and awe has been dispensed to the fact that humans evolved the capacity to successfully create, learn, and use a myriad of different languages which, while similar in some aspects, are radically different in many others. In this presentation, I will argue that these differences have observable consequences for non-linguistic aspects of cognition and behavior. Finally, I will discuss how these effects play out in the design, testing, and deployment of AI, as the linguistic peculiarities of behemoth languages like English are extrapolated to the world’s languages. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38681]

Awarded with the 2022 Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences, Bryan T. Grenfell discusses population biology and the evolution of infectious diseases in his presentation during the Kyoto Prize Symposium. Grenfell’s achievements have helped researchers understand infection mechanisms of viruses such as COVID-19 and have aided in proposing effective infectious disease control policies. Grenfell, a population biologist and professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Public Affairs at Princeton University, proposed phylodynamics as a methodology to predict the infectious disease dynamics of RNA viruses by considering viral evolution, thus contributing to the development of research fields that integrate immune dynamics, epidemiology, and evolutionary biology. Series: "Kyoto Prize Symposium" [Science] [Show ID: 38573]

Carver Mead is a pioneer of modern microelectronics. He proposed a new methodology, very large-scale integration (VLSI), that would make it possible for creating millions or billions of transistors on a single integrated circuit (microchip). His research investigated techniques for VLSI, designing and creating high-complexity microchips. This design process has advanced electronic technologies and transformed the lives of most of the people inhabiting our planet. Mead also paved the way to VLSI design automation and facilitating the revolutionary development of today's VLSI-based electronics and industry. For his work and contributions, Mead was awarded the 2022 Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology. In his talk entitled, "Engineering Concepts Clarify Physical Law" Mead will discuss a simplified theory that might serve as an entry point for further development by generations of young people who feel disenfranchised by the existing establishment. Series: "Computer Science Channel" [Science] [Show ID: 38572]

Highly organized social groups require well-structured and dynamic communication systems. Naked mole-rats form some of the most rigidly structured social groups in the Animal Kingdom, exhibiting eusociality, a type of highly cooperative social living characterized by a reproductive division of labor with a single breeding female, the queen. Using machine learning techniques we demonstrated that one vocalization type, the soft chirp, encodes information about individual identity and colony membership. Colony specific vocal dialects can be learned early in life--pups that were cross-fostered acquire the dialect of their adoptive colonies. We also demonstrate that vocal dialects are influenced in part by the presence of the queen. Alison Barker summarizes these findings and highlight our current work investigating how social and vocal complexity evolved in parallel in closely related species throughout the Bathyergidae family of African mole-rats. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38680]

The origin of humans is a difficult scientific problem in evolution that is grounded in biology and molded by culture. Recent advances in neuroscience and artificial intelligence have led to synergies and surprising new hypotheses. Mysteries such as the origin of language and human sociality are being illuminated by these advances. This CARTA symposium will be explored by researchers at the frontiers of A.I., machine learning, language and sociality. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38687]

Tage S. Rai is a psychologist who studies ethics, culture, and violence. Drawing on both qualitative and experimental methods, he examines the social-relational nature of morality, its origins, and its consequences. In recent work, he has found that when perpetrators are motivated by moral sentiments, they may humanize rather than dehumanize their victims, experience greater rather than lesser self-control when harming them, and respond irrationally to material costs and benefits. Moving forward, he is especially interested in developing psychological approaches to the study of organizational and institutional violence. Series: "Exploring Ethics" [Health and Medicine] [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38800]