Complexity: A philosopher's reflections

In Search of the Philosopher's Stone: Remarks on Humphreys and Freedman's Critique of Causal Discovery

In medieval times the philosopher's stone was supposed to enable its possessors to convert base metals into gold. Its discovery would revolutionize the world, presumably not by undermining the value of gold, but by enriching its possessors and ultimately society at large. The stone was never discovered, but, as in many intellectual searches, the by-products of the hunt (such as the science of c...

The elusive philosopher's stone in young blood.

A Philosopher's Reflections on the Discovery of Mirror Neurons

Mirror neurons fire both when a primate executes a transitive action directed toward a target (e.g., grasping) and when he observes the same action performed by another. According to the prevalent interpretation, action-mirroring is a process of interpersonal neural similarity whereby an observer maps the agent's perceived movements onto her own motor repertoire. Furthermore, ever since Gallese...

Practising alchemy: the transmutation of evidence into best health care.

Alchemy was the synthesis or transmutation of all elements in perfect balance to obtain the philosopher's stone, the key to health. Just as alchemists sought this, so health practitioners always seek the best possible practice for optimal health outcomes for our patients. Best practice requires full knowledge--a little information can be dangerous. We need to serve our apprenticeship before we ...

Modelling and Order of Acoustic Transfer Functions Due to Reflections from Augmented Objects

It is commonly accepted that the sound reflections from real physical objects are much more complicated than what usually is and can be modelled by room acoustics modelling software. The main reason for this limitation is the level of detail inherent in the physical object in terms of its geometrical and acoustic properties. In the present paper, the complexity of the sound reflections from a c...