Conecta. Desde 1995

Machine Learning: Prediction Without Explanation? https://www.springer.com/ journal/11023/updates/18180316 Description Over the last decades, Machine Learning (ML) techniques have gained central prominence in many areas of science. ML typically aims at pattern recognition and prediction, and in many cases has become a better tool for these purposes than traditional methods. The downside, however, is that ML does not seem to provide any explanations, at least not in the same sense as theories or traditional models do. This apparent lack of explanation is often also linked to the opacity of ML techniques, sometimes referred to as the ‘Black Box Challenge’. Methods such as heat maps or adversarial examples are aimed at reducing this opacity and opening the black box. But at present, it remains an open question how and what exactly these methods explain and what the nature of these explanations is. While in some areas of science this may not create any interesting philosop...

Biennial Early Career Conference.  April 8 and 9, 2021.  Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC).  Annenberg School for Communication,  University of Pennsylvania. The second biennial early career conference by the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC) at the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania asks: What are post-pandemic politics? We understand post-pandemic, not as a myopic focus on COVID-19, but rather as an optic illuminating both  persistent  and  emergent  conditions of inequity and precarity. We also use post-pandemic as an opportunity to imagine new forms of politics, community, solidarity, and action.  We invite early career scholars, activists, artists, and journalists to reflect on the crucial role of communication in this moment of rupture and offer the following questions as a provocation for participants:  What can the critical study of global commu...

Postdoc Research Position: The Global History of Material Culture and Technology, 1850 – 2000, in a research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) Project leader: Professor Mikael Hård The Technical University of Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt), near Frankfurt, Germany, announces a two-year post-doctoral research position, beginning 1 October 2020. We welcome applications from talented and diligent historians of all genders who are about to develop an independent research profile in the global history of technology and material culture. The successful candidate will become a member of a larger project called “A Global History of Technology, 1850–2000” (GLOBAL-HOT). The project investigates the history of material culture and artifacts in various parts of the world from 1850 to 2000. The researchers investigate the persistent use of indigenous technologies along with globalized ones, as well as the emergence of hybrid solutions. The goal is to increase our understanding...

Job Advertisement: Three to Four Year Postdoctoral Position at Vrije Universiteit Brussel with Prof. dr. Steffen Ducheyne, Research Project: ‘An Integrated Study of Isaac Newton’s Methods’ Deadline: 8 November 2020 PROJECT DESCRIPTION The postdoctoral research project  ‘An Integrated Study of Isaac Newton’s Methods’  will focus on the potential interaction between the different methods which Isaac Newton used in his work. Newton is often celebrated as one of the most important physicists in the history of science. However, Newton was not only an innovative physicist and mathematician, he also developed new methodological instruments. Ever since I.B. Cohen’s seminal study The Newtonian Revolution, scholarly attention has been devoted to Newton’s natural philosophical methods, and especially to his so-called ‘Principia-style’ methodology. More recently, scholars including Raquel Delgado-Moreira, Rob Iliffe, Mordechai Feingold and Jed Z. Buchwald, and William...

En las últimas décadas, y una vez superadas las reconstrucciones más o menos apologéticas (y, en gran medida, ahistóricas) del pasado, la historia de la psiquiatría se ha convertido en uno de los campos más dinámicos y apasionantes de la historia de la ciencia, acumulando un enorme caudal de aportaciones que han procedido a lo largo de cuatro ejes principales que, a su vez, se relacionan con otros tantos procesos constitutivos de la historia contemporánea. En primer lugar, el eje de una historia conceptual que ha explorado el desenvolvimiento del discurso psicopatológico en el marco de un largo y complejo proceso de racionalización y secularización del saber. En segundo término, el eje de una historia social que, en la estela de la influyente obra de Michel Foucault, ha intentado desentrañar la imbricación de los saberes y las prácticas psiquiátricas con los resortes e intereses del poder en el contexto de la introducción de formas disciplinarias de control social y aparatos estatales...

El próximo jueves, 16 de julio, a las 17h, tendrá lugar una sesión por videoconferencia con los alumnos del Máster interuniversitario en Historia de la Ciencia y Comunicación científica con la finalidad de ofrecer información acerca de las características del programa de doctorado en Estudios Históricos y sociales sobre ciencia, medicina y comunicación científica, sus líneas de investigación, las actividades formativas, la asignación de la dirección de la tesis y el proceso de preinscripción. Asimismo, se atenderán las dudas que los estudiantes pudieran plantear. La sesión está organizada por los profesores Antonio García Belmar, responsable del programa de doctorado en la Universidad de Alicante, Enrique Perdiguero, responsable del programa de doctorado en la Universidad Miguel Hernández y María José Báguena, de la Universidad de Valencia y coordinadora del programa de doctorado. La sesión podrá seguirse a través del siguiente enlace:   https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/b...

The   British  Journal for the History of Science Themes   invites proposals from prospective ‘special editors’ for  its next issue. BJHS Themes  is a collaborative venture between the  British  Society for the History of Science and and  Cambridge  University Press. It’s an open access journal. It is published annually. Each issue focusses on a particular theme in the histories of science (broadly defined). Past issues can be found  here  and include the following themes: “ How Collections End  (Volume 4, 2019); “ Worlds of science for children and young people, 1830–1991 ” (Volume3, 2018);  Animal agency  (Volume 2, 2017) and  Science of giants: China and India  (Volume 1, 2016). Deadline for proposals from potential ‘special editors’: 15 July 2020. Further instructions for submitting proposals can be found  here . If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Rohan Deb Roy. Url:...

RISE IMET 2021.  International Conference on Interactive Media, Smart Systems  and Emerging Technologies EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF MUSEUMS AND HERITAGE SITES June 2-4th 2021, Nicosia, Cyprus The RISE IMET International Conference on Emerging Technologies and the Digital Transformation of Museums and Heritage Sites will be held in Nicosia, Cyprus, on June 2-4th 2021 (after bring postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic). The conference is organised by the  Research Centre on  Interactive media, Smart systems and Emerging technologies ( RISE ). RISE constitutes a centre of excellence and a  joint venture between the three public universities of Cyprus (University of Cyprus, Cyprus University of Technology and Open University of Cyprus), the Municipality of Nicosia, the Max Planck Institute for Informatics (Germany) and University College London (UK) ( http://www.rise.org.cy) . This is the first conference in a series of...

Scholars specializing in environmental history are seeking contributors for an edited volume that explores the ecological history of big box stores. Big box stores, from Target to Walmart to REI, have radically reshaped the American landscape in the last fifty years. Every person in the country has some connection to one or many of these outlets. Yet, despite their ubiquitous presence in our lives, environmental historians have not investigated the global ecological footprint of these transformative institutions. This volume focuses on the rise of big-box retail in the latter part of the twentieth century and the radical ways in which industry retailers reshaped our global and local environments. We are looking for chapter proposals from potential contributors by July 24th, 2020. If your research fits this project and you'd like to join the volume, please contact Bart Elmore, associate professor of environmental history at Ohio State Univeristy

Panel topic: The work of Andrea Cesalpino, a philosopher, physician, and botanist in Renaissance Italy Proposals for a paper (or questions) should be sent to Fabrizio Baldassarri by the end of July 2020 More info  here  or on  academia.edu