[SydPhil] Predictive Engines: Andy Clark and Predictive Processing at Macquarie 11 - 13 Dec

[Centre for Agency, Values, and Ethics]

Hi all,


Philosophers of mind and cognition are warming up to the consequences of the predictive processing framework for how we should explain the structure and function of the brain, cognitive processes and even consciousness. The unique selling point of the framework is that it will unify perception, cognition and action within a single explanatory framework (Friston and Stephan 2007, Hohwy 2013, Clark 2016). Even more astonishing is the claim that a single principle, the free energy principle, is the ultimate explanation for all of the above, as well as the evolution of the brain as a predictive engine (Friston 2013). In amongst the empirical applications of predictive processing, a diverging set of philosophical accounts of the framework have recently emerged. In particular Andy Clark’s (2013, 2016) action oriented account of the framework which gives more emphasis to the role of embodied action and Jakob Howhy’s (2013) account of the framework as largely a matter of internal predictive processes in the brain (Howhy 2013, Fabry 2017). These are important statements that frame predictive processing and the free energy principle in terms of externalism and internalism about the mind. This conference explores both the philosophical and empirical consequences of the predictive turn and brings together Clark and Hohwy at a conference in Australia for the first time.

Conference venue:

  *   Monday 11th 9.30 - 12 The Incubator Macquarie University, 13.00 - 17.00 Macquarie Theatre.
  *   Tuesday 12th and Wednesday 13th The Incubator Macquarie University 9.30 - 16.30  [S8 on campus map<https://www.mq.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/108142/Campus-Map.pdf>.]

Schedule of talks:

Monday 11th

The Incubator Macquarie University (can easily be found on google maps)

9.00 Opening remarks and welcome to country

9.30 – 11.00 Andy Clark (Edinburgh/Macquarie) Only Predict: On the Nature, Scope and Limits of Predictive Processing

11.00 – 12.00 David Kaplan (Macquarie) Bayesian Modelling, Constraints, and Unification

12.00 – 13.00 Lunch (not provided)

Macquarie Theatre: C5C T1, Wally’s Walk.

13.00 – 14.00 Regina Fabry (Giessen) Into the Dark Room: A Predictive Processing Account of Major Depressive Disorder

14.00 – 15.00 Michael Kirchhoff (Wollongong) Nested Markov Blankets and the Boundaries of Mind

15.00 – 15.30 – Coffee

15.30 – 16.30 – Richard Menary (Macquarie) Predictive Engines and the Free Energy Principle

16.30 – 17.00 Discussion led by John Sutton (Macquarie)

Tuesday 12th

The Incubator Macquarie University

9.30 – 11.00 Jakob Hohwy (Monash) Prediction Error Minimisation vs. Embodied Cognition

11.00 – 12.00 Phillip Gerrans (Adelaide) SADness and Precision

12.00 – 13.00 Lunch (not provided)

13.00 – 14.00 Rachael Brown (ANU) Bridging the Gap: Plausibility, Enculturation and Cognition

14.00 – 14.15 Coffee

14.15 – 15.15 Sidney Carls-Diamante (Auckland) Predictive Processing in the Octopus: Issues and Implications

15.15 – 16.15 Ken Cheng (Macquarie) Embodied, Extended, and Enactive Cognition in Animals: Varieties of Situated Cognition

19.00 Conference Dinner, registration required.

Wednesday 13th

The Incubator Macquarie University

9.30 – 10 Coffee

10 – 11.30 Jennifer Windt (Monash) Bodily Self-sampling & the Body-Brain-Body Problem:  A Predictive Processing Perspective on Dreams & Sleep

11.30 – 12.30 Dan Hutto (Wollongong) Getting Into Predictive Processing's Great Guessing Game: Bootstrap Heaven or Hell?

12.30 – 1.30 Lunch (not provided)

1.30 – 2.30 Colin Wastell (Macquarie) Responding to novel problems: Complex Emergent Modularity and Predictive Processing

2.30 – 3.00 Coffee

3.00 – 4.00 Colin Klein (Macquarie) Belief and Desire, Credence and Value, The Good and The Typical, and Other Pairs you Probably Shouldn’t Identify.

4.00 Final remarks – Richard Menary (Macquarie)

Attending the conference is free, but spaces are limited. Please contact Alex Gillett if you would like to attend: alexander-james.gillett at students.mq.edu.au<mailto:alexander-james.gillett at students.mq.edu.au>



Macquarie University Research Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics (CAVE)
Department of Philosophy
Macquarie University
Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
CAVE website: mq.edu.au/cave<http://cave.mq.edu.au>
www.facebook.com/MQCAVE<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/aYDOBJikGozLC2?domain=facebook.com>

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