Response to Selinger on Dreyfus

My claim is clear and unambiguous: no machine will pass a well-designed Turing Test unless we find some means of embedding it in lived social life. We have no idea how to do this but my argument, and all our evidence, suggests that it will not be a necessary condition that the machine have more than a minimal body. Exactly how minimal is still being worked out.

Why Nudges Coerce: Experimental Evidence on the Architecture of Regulation

Critics frequently argue that nudges are more covert, less transparent, and more difficult to monitor than traditional regulatory tools. Edward Glaeser, for example, argues that “[p]ublic monitoring of soft paternalism is much more difficult than public monitoring of hard paternalism”. As one of the leading proponents of soft paternalism, Cass Sunstein, acknowledges, while “[m]andates and commands are highly visible”, soft paternalism, “and some nudges in particular[,] may be invisible”. In response to this challenge, proponents of nudging argue that invisibility for any given individual in a particular choice environment is compatible with “careful public scrutiny” of the nudge. This paper offers the first of its kind experimental evidence that tests whether nudges are, in fact, compatible with “careful public scrutiny”. Using three sets of experiments, the paper argues that, even when entirely visible, nudges attract less scrutiny than their “hard law” counterparts.     

Structured Arguments and Their Aggregation: A Reply to Selinger

Selinger provides a new take on what is being referred to in the computational literature as ‘structured argumentation’. In this commentary the differences and similarities with existing work are highlighted as a way of demonstrating how philosophical and computational approaches to argumentation are increasingly coming together and complementing one another.     

Robotic Nudges: The Ethics of Engineering a More Socially Just Human Being

Robots are becoming an increasingly pervasive feature of our personal lives. As a result, there is growing importance placed on examining what constitutes appropriate behavior when they interact with human beings. In this paper, we discuss whether companion robots should be permitted to “nudge” their human users in the direction of being “more ethical”. More specifically, we use Rawlsian principles of justice to illustrate how robots might nurture “socially just” tendencies in their human counterparts. Designing technological artifacts in such a way to influence human behavior is already well-established but merely because the practice is commonplace does not necessarily resolve the ethical issues associated with its implementation.     

Christmas and Subjective Well-Being: a Research Note

According to Holmes and Rahe, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 11(2), 213–218, (1967), Christmas is a critical life event that may cause feelings of stress that, in turn, can lead to reduced subjective well-being (SWB) and health problems. This study uses a quantitative approach and large-scale survey data to assess whether or not respondents in European countries indicate lower SWB before and around Christmas. Precisely, respondents interviewed in the week before Christmas or at Christmas holidays are compared to respondents who are questioned at other times throughout the year. Moreover, the assumption is tested if religious denomination and religiousness moderate the association between Christmas and SWB. Main findings suggest that the Christmas period is related to a decrease in life satisfaction and emotional well-being. However, Christians, particularly those with a higher degree of religiousness, are an exception to this pattern.     

Note on a rank test of cronholm and revusky

A rank testR _n has been proposed by Cronholm and Revusky which in effect increases the number of observations per subject by the device of randomly assigning a subject to a treated group in each of a series of sub-experiments. In this note further results on the asymptotic normality of theR _n test are discussed both under the null hypothesisH ₀ of randomness and under a class of alternatives toH ₀. The limiting power of the test is also discussed.     

方法影响结果?方法变异的本质、影响及控制

方法变异是由研究方法导致的系统误差.方法变异既可能产生结构层面的影响,也可能产生题目层面的影响;既可能影响单个结构的测量,也可能影响用相同方法研究的多个结构之间的关系,还可能影响用相同方法研究的多个研究之间的关系,进而影响到相关领域的理论建构.在控制方法变异时,可采取过程控制法和统计控制法,最好先用过程控制法.     

Note on a reanalysis of Davis' reading tests

Correlation data on nine reading tests originally analyzed by Frederick B. Davis by the principal axes method are reanalyzed by Spearman's uni-dimensional method. It is concluded that a single common factor (reading ability) accounts for the correlations among the tests with residuals remarkably small in view of the fact that the tests were designed to test nine supposedly different skills. Three of the tests showed additional specific variance not attributable to the common factor.     

Preliminary Note on a General Purpose Recording Technique

The extent to which attitudes towards mental illness and the mentally ill were influenced by the respondent's own level of personal adjustment was studied for 77 female psychiatric aides. The data suggested that, for this sample, the two variables were relatively independent of each other.     

Research Note: Anti-Semitism and Superstition

Superstitions and anti-Semitism are generally based on irrational beliefs. To date, no research has examined the relationship between anti-Semitism and superstition. Four groups, Arab-Muslim, Arab-Christian, Non-Arab Muslim, and Non-Arab Christian, responded to anti-Semitism and superstition measures. With respect to anti-Semitism scores, Arabs scored higher than non-Arabs and Muslims scored higher than Christians. Superstitions varied, however, with Arabs endorsing more New Age beliefs, while Muslims endorsed more traditional superstitious beliefs. The correlations between anti-Semitism and superstitious beliefs were significant, but low, and are explained in terms of cultural differences.