LSE Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method

Meet the #LSEPhilosophy Department! Why study #Philosophy? Why study at #LSE? Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gnVtiYBt #PartOfLSE #London #Philosophy #University #MSc #degree #study

📰 New #LSEPhilosophy Blog Post: How #AI Challenges Prudential Regulation Decision-makers are sensitive to uncertainty. Prudential regulation in finance is a good example. In general, the more uncertain a financial institution is about its risk exposures, the more capital it needs to hold. But what if a financial institution is uncertain about how uncertain it is about its risks? #LSE #Philosophy PhD student Kangyu Wang argues that the increasing use of AI models in finance, while expectedly going to improve the accuracy and cost-efficiency of #riskassessment, poses two uncertainty-related challenges against the current prudential regulation system. These difficulties highlight a more general problem regarding #uncertainty: what to do when we are uncertain about how uncertain we are? https://lnkd.in/etsJm8E7

📣 New article by #LSEPhilosophy Assistant Professor Jonathan Parry in #LSEResearchForTheWorld Rising global conflict and defence cuts have sparked discussion around whether the UK should bring back conscription. While the suggestion has so far been rejected by Downing Street, it has shone a spotlight on the issue of military recruitment. Without conscription, the army must attract people to its ranks. But in its bid to encourage people to join one of society’s most dangerous professions, is the state placing some of its citizens at more risk than others? https://lnkd.in/e6rxUCP5

📚 We are happy to announce the online release of 'The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI' by Jonathan Birch! 📣 You can get the online version for FREE: https://lnkd.in/e_Smqp-G About the book: Can octopuses feel pain and pleasure? What about crabs, shrimps, insects, or spiders? How do we tell whether a person unresponsive after severe brain injury might be suffering? When does a fetus in the womb start to have conscious experiences? Could there even be rudimentary feelings in miniature models of the human brain, grown from human stem cells? And what about #AI? These are questions about the edge of sentience, and they are subject to enormous, disorienting uncertainty. The stakes are immense, and neglecting the risks can have terrible costs. We need to err on the side of caution, yet it’s often far from clear what ‘erring on the side of caution’ should mean in practice. When are we going too far? When are we not doing enough? The Edge of Sentience presents a comprehensive precautionary framework designed to help us reach ethically sound, evidence-based decisions despite our uncertainty. #Philosophy #LSEPhilosophy #Ethics #Sentience

Congratulations to Kate Vredenburgh from #LSEPhilosophy who has been awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (FLF)! 👏 “My research generally explores normative questions about social and #datascience, #technology, and the #economy. I plan to use the award to begin a new project about #AI and the future of work.” https://lnkd.in/eGAVmihB

Roman Frigg and Richard Bradley from #LSEPhilosophy are part of the Innovate UK funded project Hazard Impact Tracker (HIT) - they will share their expertise in decision making under uncertainty: 'What makes this project so exciting is that it will be an opportunity to put philosophy of science and decision theory to work at addressing a critical challenge for humanitarian interventions: how and when to act to mitigate the potential impacts of a natural hazard such as a tropical storm or cyclone, when there is a good deal of uncertainty around the nature of the hazard and its impact it will have.'

📰 Why is animal consciousness controversial? Talking to my inner sceptic Many researchers now agree that animal consciousness is more common than once believed. One of the leading animal sentience researchers is #LSEPhilosophy Professor Jonathan Birch. His research is often met with scepticism from inside and outside the #Philosophy world. However, he sometimes is a reasonable sceptic himself. In our latest #blog post, Jonathan Birch gives insights into his inner dialogue with his own sceptic. https://lnkd.in/g5Vqrsaz

📣 Open Position: Graduate Programmes Manager Join #LSEPhilosophy and become #PartOfLSE Our department is searching for a Graduate Programmes Manager. Application deadline: 9 August 2024. ▶ More about the role and link to the LSE application portal: https://lnkd.in/e9mbz7K5 #jobs #London #HE #University

🎧 The podcast of the #LSEFestival2024 panel on ‘Invertebrate minds: from spiders to octopuses’ is now online! The #LSEPhilosophy panelists discussed how to include invertebrate animals from spiders to sea creatures in debates on animal welfare to ensure their interests are protected and promoted. ▶ https://lnkd.in/eCwrBwtc #PartOfLSE #Philosophy #Podcast #AnimalWelfare #Sentience

▶ New #LSEPhilosophy Blog Article! Moral Progress used to be one of the core ideas and commitments of the Enlightenment. Then it became a controversial idea, but a new theory of moral progress is now gaining traction, argues LSE Philosophy PhD student Rafael Ruiz de Lira: https://lnkd.in/em9x_Smi