Philosophy Talks - 28: Oğuz Erdin - Why Living Things are not Machines?

Date of the talk:
December 25, 2024.

Abstract:
Since the 1950s the received view in cognitive sciences takes the computer as its fundamental model. According to this computational theory of mind, an otherwise passive mind becomes active because of the stimulus it receives as input, and processes these inputs by following an algorithm. The outputs of these computations, in turn, can be perceiving, decision making, planning, behavior, and the like. Another development, again in the 1950s, the discovery of the DNA and its functioning, also enforces the information theoretic machine metaphor this time for biology itself as it enables thinking in terms of an-algorithm-corresponding-to-a- code. In this regard, it is hard to not fall in love with the “molecular machines” videos on YouTube that have become quite popular in the last decade. In this talk, I will present 3 counter-examples to the computer and the machine metaphor which are well-known in the narrow community of action based cognitive science communities but not in the general philosophy community. If time permits, I will then outline the main principles of a purely action based paradigm called “interactivism.”

About Dr. Erdin:
Haydar Oğuz Erdin quit his theoretical physics PhD at the all-but-dissertation level (University of Texas, Austin), and turn to continental philosophy and Marxism for a Master’s degree (Bilgi University). For his PhD, he wanted to work on topics closer to hard sciences, and after learning about the “homunculus paradox,” wrote his thesis in philosophy of cognitive science (Boğaziçi University). For his post-doc he received a Fulbright grant and worked with the founder of “interactivism,” Mark Bickhard (Lehigh University). Nowadays he is a part-time instructor at the Boğaziçi University, giving lectures on interactivism and philosophy of cognitive science.