Philosophy of ICT and Islam Lecture 1: Philosophy of Science and Computing

Learning Outcomes Understand what the philosophy of science is concerned with. Appreciate important philosophical questions in computer science

List of Topic Philosophy of Science Philosophical Questions in Computer Science Protocol Architectures

Terminology The Computer “A device that changes variable assignment” Thomason (2003)

Philosophy of Science We are not concerned in this context to deal with the open-ended questions of philosophy. Rather, the philosophical issues of computer science and in particular Islamic-related issues are of concern. Generally, the philosophy of science tackles issues such science foundation, science limitations and requirements for scientific progress.

Philosophy of Science (con.) Methodological issues to develop scientific knowledge are also of concern. Philosophical questions such as what is a law, what is a theory, whether scientific results are objective or subjective are also relevant. The Philosophy of science has developed since the 1900s starting from the proposition that scientific knowledge is formed from experience and that verifying scientific claims is required

Philosophy of Science (con.) As the verification of many phenomenons proved to be difficult if not impossible, in 1934, K. Popper stated that there could not be a way to prove universal truths and that observations can be used to falsify scientific claims. In 1962, T. Kuhn argued that throughout history, scientists explain their scientific findings based on a set of unchallenged prevailing scientific theories and thus there is usually no need to prove any scientific fact from scratch

Philosophical Questions in Computer Science A major philosophical computer science question is “Is computer science a new discipline?”

Philosophical Questions in Computer Science (con.) In particular, is computer science an engineering discipline, an applied mathematics discipline or a physics discipline. Certainly, computer science uses theories, concepts and techniques from such disciplines but can’t say it is any of them.

Philosophical Questions in Computer Science (con.) Some think of computer science as concerned with programming or building computer hardware. This also does not represent accurately what computer science represents.

Philosophical Questions in Computer Science (con.) Computer science is concerned with investigating, understanding and devising theories, methodologies and algorithms that support the specification, design, implementation and evaluation of computational systems

Philosophical Questions in Computer Science (con.) “What is a computer?” is another philosophical question that needs tackling Thomason (2003) answers this question as follows: “A computer is a device that changes variable assignment”.

Philosophical Questions in Computer Science (con.) In explaining this in a more technical way, one could say that a computer is a machine that: Takes an input which includes a set of instructions Execute the instructions and Provide an output.

Philosophical Questions in Computer Science (con.) Central to computer science are algorithms and that raises another question of “What an algorithm is?” Probably, the best way to understand algorithm is to think of mathematical functions which map accurately and unambiguously a set of inputs to a set of outputs. Similarly, an algorithm is a function composed of a set of instructions that takes an input and produces an output.

Philosophical Questions in Computer Science (con.) Using a sorting algorithm to sort a set of integer is an example of a deterministic algorithm. A nondeterministic algorithm could follow different paths for a given input. A random number generation algorithm is an example of a nondeterministic algorithm

Philosophical Questions in Computer Science (con.) “Can we build computers that can think?” is another question that philosophers and artificial intelligence scientists are trying to answer.

Philosophical Questions in Computer Science (con.) Certainly, intelligent computer systems have been developed and used that can think and adapt to new environments, inputs and situations. However, such systems are still not as good as humans in thinking. An open question is whether such intelligent systems can one day beat humans in the thinking game.

Philosophical Questions in Computer Science (con.) A central issue of concern here is the computer capabilities to understand the semantics of data.

Philosophical Questions in Computer Science (con.) What are the ethical issues of computer science?” is an important question that is vital to ensure the proper use of computers and their applications This question will be answered from an Islamic perspective throughout the coming lectures.