ALife 2025 day 5

The final day of the conference: it's been a great event.  The day yet again started with some parallel sessions of contributed papers, and I went to the session on Cellular Automata. I was chairing the session, so couldn't take a full set of notes, but I remember the talks being interesting.

Then the final keynote, by Anna Ciaunica, a philosopher, on the importance of embodiment: why we need our toes (and the rest of our body) to think.  We associate the mind with the brain; why not with the rest of the body? Why is the brain not a part of the body? Why do we have a "Brain and Body Institute", but not a "Liver and Body Institute"?  Why do we imagine Mary in her black and white world not understanding seeing red, rather than not understanding eating a red apple?  Why do we have an adult-centric neuro-centric bias, a male embodiment bias?  Think about pregnancy, not just from the mother's point of view, but from the point of view of the embryo: pregnancy is a universal experience, we have all been inside another person.  The opposite of death isn't life, it's birth.  We should think beyond autopoiesis to co-poiesis.  Currently our philosophical tools have been mostly invented by male philosophers.  Consider a parallel world, with a Renée Descartes, who is pregnant.

Well, after that mind-altering experience, it was time for the final boxed lunch.  And then the closing ceremony, bast paper awards, and thanks to everyone!

Next year, in Waterloo! 

Cape Spear

We had been warned the weather would be poor.  It isn't.  So, after a day and a half in a windowless room, discussing many fascinating things to do with Time, Life, and Self Reference, a group of us went to the nearby Cape Spear, the most easterly point in Canada, for a hike.  Exercising both brain and body.

getting ready to go to Cape Spear (Charles Ofria, Roger White, Penousal Machado, Wolfgang Banzhaf, Samson Abramsky)

sea and sky

A view back along the trail to Cape Spear, from where we have walked, and to where we will soon return for tea and cake.

view from a hotel window, and other places

My total journey to St John's Newfoundland took 13 hours: an eight hour flight from Heathrow to Toronto, a two hour layover, and then a three hour flight directly back the way I had just come, to St John's.  Pre Covid, I could have caught a direct five hour flight from London.

So I arrived in St John's late last night, with no photo opportunities.  This morning, this is the view that greeted me when I looked out the window:

I am here for a small workshop on Time, Life, and Self Reference.  I am one of the co-organisers, so I arrived a day early, to discuss plans with the other organisers.  Then we went for a walk, first to the workshop venue (so I would know how to find it), and then to admire some of the local scenery.

view over The Narrows, the entrance to St John's harbour

further glorious countryside

the power of the hash tag

People In Toronto Created A Memorial To A Dead Raccoon After The City Forgot To Pick It Up

#deadraccoonto 

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Niagara falls

I’m spending a week in London, Ontario at UCNC 2014: excellent conference.  The conference outing was a trip to Niagara Falls.

I was initially a bit dubious about the long journey there, and back.  But, wow!

The view from the boat:

The bird (I think it is a cormorant?) was a bonus.  The boat got a lot closer to the falls than this, but it was a bit too wet to take photographs: we all stood gaping in awe, somewhat protected (neck to knees) by bright pink plastic bin bags.

The view from the top:

I don’t know whose hand that is!  The light was too bright for me too see what I was photographing: I just snapped away like mad, then selected later.  Fortunately enough good ones came out.

Amazing experience. I couldn’t stop grinning.

UCNC 2014

I’ve arrived safely in London, Ontario, ready for the UCNC conference. More to the point, the poster has also arrived safely, after suffering the rigors of “outsize or fragile” checked baggage. The tough plastic poster tube has a somewhat less circular cross section than before. The baggage handlers appear to take this designation as a challenge.

I intend to mail the poster home after the conference…

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