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GALILEO GALILEI FOUNDATION
WORLD FEDERATION OF SCIENTISTS
ETTORE MAJORANA FOUNDATION AND CENTRE FOR SCIENTIFIC CULTURE
GALILEO GALILEI CELEBRATIONS
Four Centuries Since the Birth of MODERN SCIENCE
SUBSYMBOLIC COMPUTATION IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Sponsored by the:
FOUNDATIONS
Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
Neural modelling of higher order cognitive processes
Connections Models for Data Structures
Neural Systems Engineering
ASEIT (Advanced School on Electronics and Information Technology)
OPEN INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON SUBSYMBOLIC TECHNIQUES AND ALGORITHMS
REPRESENTATION
Conceptual Spaces
Topological Self Organizing Maps
Symbolic Representation
VISUAL PERCEPTION
Evolutionary Processes for Artificial Perception
Cognitive Architectures for Artificial Vision
Algorithms for Image Analysis
ACTION
Motion Maps
Interacting with External World
Reinforcement Learning in Autonomous Robots
Behavior-Based Robotics
Autonomous intelligent agents that perform complex real word tasks must be able to build and process rich internal representations that allow them to effectively draw inferences, make decisions, and, in general, perform reasoning processes concerning their own tasks.
Within the computational framework of artificial intelligence (AI) this problem has been faced in different ways. According to the classical, symbolic approach, internal representations are conceived in terms of linguistic structures, as expression of a "language of thought". Other traditions developed approaches that are less linguistically oriented, and more biologically and anatomically motivated. It is the case of neural networks, and of selforganizing and evolutionary algorithms.
Empirical results concerning natural intelligent systems suggest that such approaches are not fully incompatible, and that different kinds of representations may interact. Similarly, it can be argued that the design of artificial intelligent systems can take advantage from different kinds of interacting representations that are suited for different tasks.
In this perspective, theoretical frameworks and methodological techniques are needed. They allow different kinds of representations to be employed together in a principled way. In particular, autonomous agents need to find the meaning for the symbols they use within their internal processes and in the interaction with the external world, thus overcoming the well-known symbol grounding problem.
An information processing architecture for autonomous intelligent agents should exhibit processes that act on suitable intermediate levels, which are intermediary among sensory data, symbolic level, and actions. These processes could be defined in terms of subsymbolic computation paradigms, such as neural networks, self-organizing, and evolutionary algorithms.
Purpose of this Course is to review and discuss the above-mentioned topics.
APPLICATIONS
Interested candidates should send a letter to the Director of the Course:
They should specify:
i) date and place of birth, together with present
nationality;
ii) affiliation;
iii) address, e-mail address.
Please enclose a letter of recommendation from the group leader or the Director of the Institute or from a senior scientist.
Participants must arrive in Erice on October 24, not later than 5:00 pm.
POETIC TOUCH
According to legend, Erice, son of Venus and Neptune, founded a small town on top of a mountain (750 metres above sea level) more than three thousand years ago. The founder of modern history &emdash; i.e. the recording of events in a methodic and chronological sequence as they really happened without reference to mythical causes &emdash; the great Thucydides (~500 B.C.), writing about events connected with the conquest of Troy (1183 B.C.) said: «After the fall of Troy some Trojans on their escape from the Achaei arrived in Sicily by boat and as they settled near the border with the Sicanians all together they were named Elymi: their towns were Segesta and Erice.» This inspired Virgil to describe the arrival of the Trojan royal family in Erice and the burial of Anchise, by his son Enea, on the coast below Erice. Homer (~1000 B.C.), Theocritus (~300 B.C.), Polybius (~200 B.C.), Virgil (~50 B.C.), Horace (~20 B.C.), and others have celebrated this magnificent spot in Sicily in their poems. For seven centuries (XIII-XIX) the town of Erice was under the leadership of a local oligarchy, whose wisdom assured a long period of cultural development and economic prosperity which in turn gave rise to the many churches, monasteries and private palaces which you see today.
In Erice you can admire the Castle of Venus, the Cyclopean Walls (~800 B.C.) and the Gothic Cathedral (~1300 A.D.). Erice is at present a mixture of ancient and medieval architecture. Other masterpieces of ancient civilization are to be found in the neighbourhood: at Motya (Phoenician), Segesta (Elymian), and Selinunte (Greek). On the Aegadian Islands &emdash; theatre of the decisive naval battle of the first Punic War (264-241 B.C.) &emdash; suggestive neolithic and paleolithic vestiges are still visible: the grottoes of Favignana, the carvings and murals of Levanzo.
Splendid beaches are to be found at San Vito Lo Capo, Scopello, and Cornino, and a wild and rocky coast around Monte Cofano: all at less than one hour's drive from Erice.
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S. GAGLIO |
M. JORDAN - M. MARINARO |
A. ZICHICHI |