AI Nativism

I was thinking today about why I feel comfortable posting stubby posts with typos and half-formed thoughts. My conversation today at with a friend at my local coffee shop helped me understand why. I came of age on research and engineering and artist teams where we live created knowledge together in rooms with low egos yet some urgency where it felt needed to get ideas in the room quickly so others could react to them. That’s how I’ve always approached my blog. I live journal what I’m excited about, and as I meet with people and learn I flesh out sections or trim them out altogether.

One connection I’d like to explore is whether recent AI developments have moved us any further on resolving the classic nativist vs. empricist debates we used to have in cognitive science decades ago, and the interaction between these papers seems fruitful.

REFS

[1] Nativism and empricism in artificial intelligence by Robert Long. Philoophical Studies (2024) 181: 763-788. [2] Nativism, Empricism, and the Origins of Knowledge by Elizabeth Spelke. Infant Behavior & Development 21(2), 1998 pp. 181-200