In standard Poincare and anti de Sitter SO(2,3) invariant theories, antiparticles are related to negative energy solutions of covariant equations while independent positive energy unitary irreducible representations (UIRs) of the symmetry group are used for describing both a particle and its antiparticle. Such an approach cannot be applied in de Sitter SO(1,4) invariant theory. We argue that it...

The phenomenal growth of Skype in recent years has surpassed all expectations. Much of the application’s success is attributed to its FEC mechanism, which adds redundancy to the voice streams to sustain audio quality under network impairments. Adopting the quality-of-experience (QoE) approach, i.e., measuring the Mean Opinion Scores (MOS), we examine how much redundancy Skype adds to its voice ...

In this reply to James H. Fetzer’s “Minds and Machines: Limits to Simulations of Thought and Action”, the author argues that computationalism should not be the view that (human) cognition is computation, but that it should be the view that cognition (simpliciter) is computable. It follows that computationalism can be true even if (human) cognition is not the result of computations in the brain....

Some philosophers have replied to Leibniz’s “shift” argument against the reality of absolute space by appealing to anti-haecceitist doctrines about possible worlds, influenced especially by David Lewis’s counterpart theory. But separated from Lewis’s distinctive views about what possible worlds are, it is difficult to understand what those doctrines really amount to, and why they are relevant t...

Metzinger’s claim that there are no such things as selves has given rise to a lot of discussions. By examining the notion of self used by Metzinger, I want to clarify what he means when saying that nobody ever was or had a self. Furthermore, I want to examine if there could be a notion of ‘self’ which is compatible with the SelfModel Theory of Subjectivity (SMT). I will argue that there is a no...

The paper argues that, as far as logic and abstract metaphysics go, the claim that composition is identity could be true, despite wellmotivated arguments against the coherence of the claim. The key to answering the arguments is to reject a principle of universal substitutivity of “identical” plural expressions while retaining Leibniz’ Law, that identicals have the same properties, relations, an...

This paper presents a model of stochastic growth in which the probability of adverse shocks to production is inversely related to the aggregate stock of capital per capita. Postulating this endogenous relationship, justified by empirical evidence, the model yields long-run predictions consistent with the recent findings of cross-country club convergence and intra-distribution mobility.