The Annual Meeting of the International Association for Computing and Philosophy
University of Maryland at College Park
July 15-17 2013
“Minds, Machines and Morals”
Latest updates:
- June 27: Please note that the special conference rate at Marriott hotel is only available until July 6, at which point the price will increase from $129/night to $209/night.
- June 15: Program and Conference Poster added
- June 6: Registration is now open. Hotel, venue and transportation information added
- June 5: Detailed symposium descriptions added
This generation has borne witness to a veritable explosion in the use of computing technologies in almost every aspect of life. Philosophers, scientists, and technologists/engineers have an important role to play in addressing the foundational questions that arise on the inexorable march toward intelligent machines. This year’s theme is “Minds, Machines and Morals.” Questions regarding the status of machines as moral agents and patients press on us as we envision a future filled with self-driving cars, robotic surgeons, health-care providers, and online computational surrogates. According to what principles should they behave, if any? How much autonomy should they be granted, and how might they interact with human partners before, during, and after engaging in action accompanied by moral deliberation? What is the nature of the folk concepts that drive our ordinary ascriptions of blame and praise? Is it necessary for machines to be sensitive to the vicissitudes of human moral cognition in context, and if so, how might these be computationally instantiated in systems built to work side-by-side with people? Finally, how can traditional moral philosophy contribute to this emerging picture of human-machine interaction? We encourage the submission of novel work on these and related issues. We remain especially interested in the kind of interdisciplinary investigations that have been typical of our meetings as we seek to reach out to cognitive scientists, neuroscientists, social psychologists and experimental philosophers in further developing our understanding of moral minds and moral machines. Work in other areas traditionally of interest to the computing and philosophy community is invited as well.
Conference Organization and Important Dates
This year’s meeting will be organized somewhat differently than past meetings. Rather than having a general call for symposia and an associated program committee, we have decided to structure the meeting around three distinct yet related tracks. Each track will be organized and supervised by a dedicated chairperson who will be responsible for managing the collection, review and dissemination of referee reports. Track chairs will assemble their own program committees to assist in the adjudication of submissions. In a change from previous meetings, all submissions are to be full papers of approximately 3000 words and may not exceed 4000 words. Improperly formatted submissions or papers that do not meet submission guidelines will be subject to exclusion from the review process.
A selection of the best papers from IACAP 2013 will be submitted for publication in a special issue of the journal Philosophy & Technology
http://www.springer.com/philosophy/epistemology+and+philosophy+of+science/journal/13347
Information regarding formatting and submission, including templates and other formatting aides can be found in their respective sections on the conference website. Track descriptions and chairs are listed below:
The three tracks at this year’s conference will consist not only of paper presentations originating from the open call for papers, but organized symposia as well. The symposia contain a mix of refereed and invited presentations. Brief descriptions of these symposia can be found here.
Track I: Information and Computing Ethics (Link to Track Website)
Chair: Mariarosaria Taddeo, Oxford University
In contemporary information societies, information technologies have grown to the point of being indispensable for many of our activities, from working to entertaining and interacting with others and with the environment, from learning and education to waging war. The ubiquitous deployment of such technologies raises important ethical problems concerning their design and use. The track aims at gathering both papers discussing conceptual frameworks to address such problems and papers focusing on the specific ethical issues affecting contemporary information societies. Main areas of interest are:
· Security and warfare;
· Individual rights;
· Privacy and anonymity;
· Personal identity;
· Social interactions;
· Education;
· Economy;
· Healthcare;
· Technological design.
Track II: Minds and Machines (Link to Track Website)
Chair: Marcello Guarini, University of Windsor
The Society for Machines and Mentality, an IACAP special interest group, is devoted to advancing the philosophical understanding of issues involving artificial intelligence, philosophy, and cognitive science. The Machines and Mentality track chairs welcome philosophical papers in one or more of the following areas:
· Machine Ethics
· Moral Cognition
· Models of mental state ascription
· Nature of concepts
· Philosophy of (or in) AI
· Philosophy of (or in) the Cognitive Sciences or Cognitive Modeling
· Other work at the intersection of (i) philosophy and (ii) AI or the various cognitive or psychological sciences
Track III: Computing in Philosophy (Link to Track Website)
Chair: Cameron Buckner, University of Houston
This track is devoted to the ways that computers can extend our ability to acquire, represent, understand, and distribute philosophical knowledge. These include the application of new methods of proof, representation, and visualization to traditional philosophical questions, the use of new formal, online, and distributed forms of research and publication, and the possibilities digital representations of the discipline afford as a guide to metaphilosophy. We welcome papers on the way that these new approaches are transforming philosophy in the following areas:
· Computational metaphysics
· Computational epistemology
· Digital archives and reference works
· Cognition and visualization
· Computing and art
· Computing in the philosophy of information
· Digital pedagogy and computer-enhanced instruction
· Formal argument analysis and theories of reasons
· Social computing and distributed philosophy
· Computational metaphilosophy
Covey Award Winner (accepted in absentia)
Margaret Boden, University of Sussex
Keynote Speakers
Shaun Nichols, University of Arizona
John Mikhail, Georgetown University
Bertram Malle, Brown University
Herbert A. Simon Award Winner: Judith Simon, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Brian M. Goldberg Award Winner: Nir Fresco, University of New South Wales
Important Dates
· Call for papers distributed: December 10 2012
· Final submissions entered into submission website: March 31 2013 April 30, 2013
· Conference: July 15-17 2013
Directions to Campus from Airports
The University of Maryland is served by three major airports– DCA – Ronald Reagan Washington National, BWI – Baltimore Washington International, and IAD – Washington Dulles International Airport. IACAP recommends using SuperShuttle as a convenient and cost efficient method of transportation to campus from each of these airport locations. Information on other transportation alternatives to campus from the airports is also listed.
Reagan Washington National (DCA) (DCA website)
- Located in Arlington, Virginia, this airport is located about 15 miles south of College Park. Travel can be slow through downtown Washington, D.C. during rush hours; approximate driving time is 40 minutes.
- You can take the Metrorail from the airport. Take the Yellow Line (toward Mt. Vernon Square), transferring to the Green Line (toward Greenbelt), and get off at College Park/U of MD station. The University’s Shuttle-UM bus (#104) picks up university-bound passengers on the EAST side of the station. Click here for the College Park Metro Shuttle schedule [PDF].
- Super Shuttle is a convenient method of transportation to the conference center from the airport. A shared ride one-way costs approximately $28.
- Taxi service from the airport to campus will cost approximately $90.00 one-way.
Driving Directions from Reagan Washington National:
- From Reagan National Airport take the George Washington Memorial Parkway Northbound for 1 mile.
- Take the exit marked 1-395 North / US -1 North / 14th Street Bridge.
- In 1000 feet, after crossing the Potomac River, follow I-395 as it veers to the right.
- Follow I-395 for 3.0 miles. Pay close attention to signs for I-395. Be very careful not to turn onto the Southeast Freeway at 1.0 miles.
- I-395 will go into a long tunnel and then emerge and dead end on New York Avenue.
- Turn right onto New York Avenue and follow it for 4 miles where it will split.
- Follow the left fork to I-295 North (the Baltimore Washington Parkway).
- Follow I-295 North for 2.9 miles to MD-410 (Hyattsville/New Carrollton)
- Turn left onto MD-410 west and follow for 2.4 miles.
- Turn right onto Adelphi Rd and follow for 1.5 miles.
- Turn left onto University Boulevard East and follow for .2 miles, making a U-turn at Temple St.
Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) (BWI website)
- Located just outside Baltimore, this airport is approximately 25 miles north of College Park. Driving time is approximately 35 minutes.
- Metro offers an express bus from BWI to the Greenbelt metro station (1 stop from College park). Take the B30 metro bus to the Greenbelt metro. Then take the metro train to College Park. The University’s Shuttle-UM bus (#104) picks up university-bound passengers on the EAST side of the station. Click here for the College Park Metro Shuttle schedule [PDF]. Total cost is approximately $4.00 one-way.
- MARC Train service is available from the BWI Rail Station to College Park.
- Super Shuttle is a convenient method of transportation to campus from the airport. A shared ride one-way costs approximately $32.
- Taxi service from the airport to campus will cost approximately $90.00 one-way.
Driving Directions from Baltimore Washington International:
- From Baltimore Washington International Airport, follow I-195 West 6 miles to the I-95 interchange.
- Follow I-95 south towards Washington DC.
- In 16 miles, I-95 will split. Follow the left fork towards I-95 South, US 1, and College Park.
- At exit 27, merge onto MD-650 S/New Hampshire Ave toward Takoma Park.
- Turn left onto University Boulevard E. Marriott will be on the right.
Washington Dulles International (IAD) (IAD website)
- Located near Herndon, Virginia, this airport is about 35 miles southwest of College Park. Driving time is approximately one hour.
- 5A Express bus service is available to take you to the L’Enfant Plaza Metro Station where you will take the Green Line (toward Greenbelt), and get off at College Park/U of MD station. The University’s Shuttle-UM bus (#104) picks up university-bound passengers on the EAST side of the station. Click here for the College Park Metro Shuttle schedule [PDF]. Total cost is approximately $5.00 one-way.
- Super Shuttle is a convenient method of transportation to campus from the airport. A shared ride one-way costs approximately $39.
- Taxi service from the airport to campus will cost approximately $90.00.
Driving Directions from Washington Dulles International :
- From Dulles International Airport, follow the Dulles Toll Road, VA 267, east for 12 miles, to the intersection with the Capital Beltway, I-495.
- Take the exit for I-495 North Baltimore and follow I-495 for 20 miles to exit 29. Be careful to stay right at the I- 495/I-270 split at 5 miles.
- At exit 29, merge onto MD-193 E/University Boulevard E. Marriott will be on the right.
Submission Website
Authors must submit their papers through the IACAP 2013 conference submission website.
Papers will be reviewed by qualified reviewers drawn from a special track committee, with general expertise in philosophy and computation. We encourage authors to clearly explain how their paper fits into the track of their choice. In cases where a submitted paper is not deemed relevant, it may be considered for review for another special track or the general technical papers track at the discretion of the track chairs and the conference chair.
Author Registration
Authors must register at the IACAP 2013 conference submission website (available March 1, 2013) before they submit their papers. The conference management software will assign a password, which will enable the author to log on to submit their paper. In order to avoid a rush at the last minute, authors are encouraged to register as soon as possible after March 1, and well in advance of the March 31 paper deadline. Final paper submission will close at 11:59 PM PST on March 31, 2013.
Resources for Authors
IACAP 2013 will rely on electronic submission of papers for review purposes. We cannot accept submissions by email or fax. Authors will receive confirmation of receipt of their papers, including an ID number, shortly after submission. The track chairs and/or conference chair will contact authors again only if problems are encountered with papers. Inquiries regarding paper receipt must be made no later than April 7, 2013.
Papers must not exceed 4000 words, including all figures, tables, and references. We will return to the authors any submissions that exceed this limit or that diverge significantly from the format as specified. We assume that authors will have access to LaTeX or Microsoft Word to format their documents and can use a Web browser to download style files and upload their papers. Electronic templates for producing the camera-ready copy are available for LaTeX and Microsoft Word.
Templates are accessible on the Web at:
http://www.easychair.org/publications/?page=1594225690
Authors who have questions about these templates or other formatting issues should send them to pbellopgd@gmail.com by e-mail.
To ensure the ability to preview and print submissions, authors must provide their manuscripts in pdf format. Papers prepared in Word should be saved as pdf files and submitted in this format. To support the review process, each submission must be accompanied by information about the paper’s title and abstract, as well as the authors’ names and physical addresses. Authors must enter this information into the submission website. Submissions may be accompanied by online appendices that contain data, demonstrations, instructions for obtaining source code, or the source code itself. We encourage authors to include such appendices when they submit papers. This material will not count in the submission’s page length.
Presentation Information and Guidelines
Each presenter will have 20 minutes for presentation, followed by 10 minutes of discussion. Data projectors will be available – we ask presenters to bring any electronic materials (e.g., Powerpoint or the like) on a USB memory stick, rather than planning on using their own computers. Presenters are encouraged to use their time to highlight what they believe to be the most significant / interesting / provocative (etc.) insights / findings / arguments (etc.) in their papers, with a view towards inspiring discussion among an interdisciplinary audience – i.e., one including those outside the presenters’ own primary specializations and disciplines. More formal reading of papers is certainly in order if that is the presenter’s preference – and especially if difficult or complex arguments are to be presented for careful critique and discussion. But again, we ask presenters to recognize and seek to foster the strong interdisciplinarity that has defined the CAP conferences since their inception.
Venue: University of Maryland, Marriott Inn and Conference Center
The 2013 meeting will be held starting July 15 and ending July17 at the Marriott Inn and Conference Center, College Park, MD. Room rates are roughly expected to be $130 USD per night. The hotel website can be found here, complete with links to information about local airports and transportation options. We will be regularly updating the website with information for travelers, maps, area guides and information about local attractions.