Reason in the computation age

This course will commence with an introduction to modern logic and nineteenth century attempts to capture the protocols of thinking with formal procedures and systems. We will look at the pre-history of the modern programmable computer by considering the work of pioneers such as Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Kurt Gödel, Alan Turing and Alonzo Church. Our aim is to understand what motivated attempts to mechanize human reasoning and to understand how that project has transformed what we understand to be intelligence, judgment and rationality.
In the second half of the course, we will turn to contemporary developments in algorithmic practice that underpin machine learning and information science ('Big Data'). Our concern will be to interrogate contemporary understandings of artificial intelligence and to consider what potential limits there are to computational reason. We will conclude with an examination of contemporary task allocation and shopping platforms such as Amazon, Deliveroo and Uber and their social consequences.