Warsaw Spacetime Colloquium: JB Manchak (28 May on Zoom)

On Friday, 28 May, JB Manchak (University of California, Irvine) will give a talk entitled “On the (In?)Stability of Spacetime Inextendibility” (abstract below). The meeting will take place online on Zoom (17:00-19:00 CEST). If you have not registered yet, you can do so by sending a message to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl. The Colloquium is organized by the Philosophy of Physics Group at the International Center for Formal Ontology (Faculty of Administration and Social Sciences, Warsaw University of Technology). The recordings of the previous meetings are available on the ICFO's YouTube channel. ABSTRACT Within the context…continue reading →

Warsaw Spacetime Colloquium: Baptiste Le Bihan (21 May on Zoom)

On Friday, 21 May, Baptiste Le Bihan (University of Geneva) will give a talk entitled “Quantum Gravity and Mereology: Not So Simple” (abstract below). The meeting will take place online on Zoom (17:00-19:00 CEST). If you have not registered yet, you can do so by sending a message to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl. The Colloquium is organized by the Philosophy of Physics Group at the International Center for Formal Ontology (Faculty of Administration and Social Sciences, Warsaw University of Technology). ABSTRACT A number of philosophers have argued in favour of extended simples on the grounds that…continue reading →

Warsaw Spacetime Colloquium: Tim Maudlin (7 May on Zoom)

On Friday, 7 May, Tim Maudlin (New York University) will give a talk entitled “S=kln(B(W)): Boltzmann entropy, the Second Law, and the Architecture of Hell” (abstract below). The meeting will take place online on Zoom (17:00-19:00 CEST). If you have not registered yet, you can do so by sending a message to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl. The Colloquium is organized by the Philosophy of Physics Group at the International Center for Formal Ontology (Faculty of Administration and Social Sciences, Warsaw University of Technology). ABSTRACT The concept of entropy was introduced in the setting of classical thermodynamics,…continue reading →

Warsaw Spacetime Colloquium: Marco Giovanelli (23 April on Zoom)

On Friday, 23 April, Marco Giovanelli (University of Turin) will give a talk entitled “Special Relativity as a Theory of Principles. Reflections On Einstein’s Distinction between Constructive and Principle Theories” (abstract below). The meeting will take place online on Zoom (16:00-18:00 CEST). If you have not registered yet, you can do so by sending a message to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl. The Colloquium is organized by the Philosophy of Physics Group at the International Center for Formal Ontology (Faculty of Administration and Social Sciences, Warsaw University of Technology). ABSTRACT In a 1919 article for the Times…continue reading →

Warsaw Spacetime Colloquium: Erik Curiel (9 April on Zoom)

On Friday, 9 April, Erik Curiel (LMU Munich, Harvard University) will give a talk entitled “The Dynamics of Classical Physics Determines the Structure of Newtonian Spacetime; That of Quantum Physics Does Not” (abstract below). The meeting will take place online on Zoom (17:00-19:00 CEST). If you have not registered yet, you can do so by sending a message to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl. The program for the summer semester can be found here, while the recordings of the previous meetings are available on the ICFO’s YouTube channel. ABSTRACT I describe a few theorems that show that,…continue reading →

Warsaw Spacetime Colloquium: Sabine Hossenfelder (26 March on Zoom)

On Friday, 26 March, Sabine Hossenfelder (Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies) will give a talk entitled “Superdeterminism” (abstract below). The meeting will take place online on Zoom (17:00-19:00 CET). If you have not registered yet, you can do so by sending a message to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl. The program for the summer semester can be found here, while the recordings of the previous meetings are available on the ICFO's YouTube channel. ABSTRACT In this talk I will explain what superdeterminism is, why the objections that have so far been raised to it are unjustified, and…continue reading →

Next publication in Synthese: “Epistemic and poietic intentional processes”

The paper Epistemic and poietic intentional processes by Jozef Lubacz was published in Synthese. The paper is available in open access. Abstract "We examine the intentional processes that correspond to conceptualizations of activities performed by subjects with the intention of achieving an objective. Taking as its basis a general framework of intentional processes, two types of such process are considered: epistemic ones, aimed at acquiring knowledge about something, and poietic ones, aimed at bringing about something. The “something” is understood as anything that the processes can pertain to: a physical, mental or abstract…continue reading →

New publication in Synthese: “Newcomb’s problem isn’t a choice dilemma:”

The paper entitled “Newcomb’s problem isn’t a choice dilemma“, written by Zhanglyu Li & Frank Zenker, has been published in Synthese (open access). Abstract "Newcomb’s problem involves a decision-maker faced with a choice and a predictor forecasting this choice. The agents’ interaction seems to generate a choice dilemma once the decision-maker seeks to apply two basic principles of rational choice theory (RCT): maximize expected utility (MEU); adopt the dominant strategy (ADS). We review unsuccessful attempts at pacifying the dilemma by excluding Newcomb’s problem as an RCT-application, by restricting MEU and ADS, and by…continue reading →

Warsaw Spacetime Colloquium: Daniele Oriti (12 March on Zoom)

On Friday, 12 March, Daniele Oriti (LMU Munich) will give a talk entitled “Which spacetime emergence in quantum gravity?” (abstract below). The meeting will take place online on Zoom (17:00-19:00 CET). If you have not registered yet, you can do so by sending a message to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl. The recordings of the previous meetings are available on the ICFO’s YouTube channel. Abstract: We discuss several issues in quantum gravity, related to the notion of spacetime being emergent and not fundamental, focusing on their conceptual aspects more than their (possible) technical solution: – what it…continue reading →

Warsaw Spacetime Colloquium: Sean Carroll (26 February on Zoom)

On Friday, 26 February, Sean Carroll (Caltech) will give a talk entitled “From Quantum Mechanics to Spacetime” (abstract below). The meeting will take place online on Zoom (17:00-19:00 CET). If you have not registered yet, you can do so by sending a message to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl. The recordings of the previous meetings are available on the ICFO’s YouTube channel. Abstract: Nine decades in, the foundations of quantum mechanics remain mysterious. Meanwhile, modern physicists puzzle over how to reconcile quantum mechanics with gravity. I will suggest that these problems are related, and that a promising…continue reading →