BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:ILLC Website X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/Amsterdam BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Amsterdam X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/Amsterdam BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:19700329T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:19701025T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:/NewsandEvents/Archives/2017/newsitem/9389/16- October-2017-AUC-Logic-Lectures-Series-Alexandru-B altag DTSTAMP:20171016T134002 SUMMARY:AUC Logic Lectures Series, Alexandru Balta g ATTENDEE;ROLE=Speaker:Alexandru Baltag (ILLC/UvA) DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Amsterdam:20171016T180000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Amsterdam:20171016T190000 LOCATION:AUC Common Room, Science Park 113, Amster dam DESCRIPTION:Abstract: This is an invitation to r eflect on the successes and failures of collective rationality, particularly as embodied in modern m echanisms for mass information-aggregation-and-exc hange (media, markets, voting, social networks, cr owdsourcing). What are the nature, sources and dyn amics of “collective knowledge”? Do the benefits p rovided by ''the wisdom of the crowds" outweigh th e dangers posed by the stupidity or even ''madness " of the crowds? Do the above-mentioned aggregatio n mechanisms fulfill their epistemic promises (hel ping us acquire relevant information and take bett er collective decisions), or do they end up creati ng their own pseudo-reality (as exemplified by ech o-chambers, ''fake news" and ''alternative facts") , leading in the end only to catastrophic mass del usions and self-defeating protest votes? Can Log ic and Philosophy help us understand this dilemma? Can Computer science help us verify and ''debug" our social software, diagnose its weaknesses and p rovide tools for social-informational ''mechanism design", that could be used to prevent the worst f orms of ''groupthink"? Can ''epistemic democracy" actually work and endure? Will the ''facts" (the a ctual facts) eventually emerge from the noisy netw orks of irrelevant data, self-confirming rumors an d self-congratulatory 'likes'? Or, to put it more bluntly: will 'truth' (the real truth) survive the ''information age"? X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:\n

Abstract:
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\n This is an invitation to reflect on the successes and failures of collective rationality, particularly as embodied in modern mechanisms for mass information-aggregation-and-exchange (media, markets, voting, social networks, crowdsourcing). What are the nature, sources and dynamics of “col lective knowledge”? Do the benefits provided by '' the wisdom of the crowds" outweigh the danger s posed by the stupidity or even ''madness" o f the crowds? Do the above-mentioned aggregation m echanisms fulfill their epistemic promises (helpin g us acquire relevant information and take better collective decisions), or do they end up creating their own pseudo-reality (as exemplified by echo-c hambers, ''fake news" and ''alternative facts "), leading in the end only to catastrophic m ass delusions and self-defeating protest votes?
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\n Can Logic and Philosophy help us unde rstand this dilemma? Can Computer science help us verify and ''debug" our social software, diag nose its weaknesses and provide tools for social-i nformational ''mechanism design", that could be used to prevent the worst forms of ''groupthink "? Can ''epistemic democracy" actually w ork and endure? Will the ''facts" (the actual facts) eventually emerge from the noisy networks of irrelevant data, self-confirming rumors and sel f-congratulatory 'likes'? Or, to put it more blunt ly: will 'truth' (the real truth) survive the ''information age"?

\n URL:http://www.auc.nl/shared-content/events/lectur es/wit-2017-2018/10/auc-logic-lectures-alexandru-b altag-on-logic-goes-viral---the-fate-of-truth-in-t he-age-of-information.html CONTACT:Dora Achourioti at t.achourioti at uva.nl END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR