arXiv subjects

Holger Lyre

Publications and source records attributed to Holger Lyre.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

"Understanding AI": Semantic Grounding in Large Language Models

Do LLMs understand the meaning of the texts they generate? Do they possess a semantic grounding? And how could we understand whether and what they understand? I start the paper with the observation that we have recently witnessed a generative turn in AI, since generative models, including LLMs, are key for self-supervised learning. To assess the question of semantic grounding, I distinguish and discuss five methodological ways. The most promising way is to apply core assumptions of theories of meaning in philosophy of mind and language to LLMs. Grounding proves to be a gradual affair with a three-dimensional distinction between functional, social and causal grounding. LLMs show basic evidence in all three dimensions. A strong argument is that LLMs develop world models. Hence, LLMs are neither stochastic parrots nor semantic zombies, but already understand the language they generate, at least in an elementary sense.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2019

Does AlphaGo actually play Go? Concerning the State Space of Artificial Intelligence

The overarching goal of this paper is to develop a general model of the state space of AI. Given the breathtaking progress in AI research and technologies in recent years, such conceptual work is of substantial theoretical interest. The present AI hype is mainly driven by the triumph of deep learning neural networks. As the distinguishing feature of such networks is the ability to self-learn, self-learning is identified as one important dimension of the AI state space. Another main dimension lies in the possibility to go over from specific to more general types of problems. The third main dimension is provided by semantic grounding. Since this is a philosophically complex and controversial dimension, a larger part of the paper is devoted to it. We take a fresh look at known foundational arguments in the philosophy of mind and cognition that are gaining new relevance in view of the recent AI developments including the blockhead objection, the Turing test, the symbol grounding problem, the Chinese room argument, and general use-theoretic considerations of meaning. Finally, the AI state space, spanned by the main dimensions generalization, grounding and "selfx-ness", possessing self-x properties such as self-learning, is outlined.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2014

Berry phase and quantum structure

The paper aims to spell out the relevance of the Berry phase in view of the question what the minimal mathematical structure is that accounts for all observable quantum phenomena. The question is both of conceptual and of ontological interest. While common wisdom tells us that the quantum structure is represented by the structure of the projective Hilbert space, the appropriate structure rich enough to account for the Berry phase is the U(1) bundle over that projective space. The Berry phase is ultimately rooted in the curvature of this quantum bundle, it cannot be traced back to the Hamiltonian dynamics alone. This motivates the ontological claim in the final part of the paper that, if one strives for a realistic understanding of quantum theory including the Berry phase, one should adopt a form of ontic structural realism.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2010

Why Quantum Theory is Possibly Wrong

Quantum theory is a tremendously successful physical theory, but nevertheless suffers from two serious problems: the measurement problem and the problem of interpretational underdetermination. The latter, however, is largely overlooked as a genuine problem of its own. Both problems concern the doctrine of realism, but pull, quite curiously, into opposite directions. The measurement problem can be captured such that due to scientific realism about quantum theory common sense anti-realism follows, while theory underdetermination usually counts as an argument against scientific realism. I will also consider the more refined distinctions of ontic and epistemic realism and demonstrate that quantum theory in its most viable interpretations conflicts with at least one of the various realism claims. A way out of the conundrum is to come to the bold conclusion that quantum theory is, possibly, wrong (in the realist sense).

quant-ph↗

arXiv2008

Does the Higgs Mechanism Exist?

This paper explores the argument structure of the concept of spontaneous symmetry breaking in the electroweak gauge theory of the Standard Model: the so-called Higgs mechanism. As commonly understood, the Higgs argument is designed to introduce the masses of the gauge bosons by a spontaneous breaking of the gauge symmetry of an additional field, the Higgs field. The technical derivation of the Higgs mechanism, however, consists in a mere re-shuffling of degrees of freedom by transforming the Higgs Lagrangian in a gauge-invariant manner. This already raises serious doubts about the adequacy of the entire manoeuvre. It will be shown that no straightforward ontic interpretation of the Higgs mechanism is tenable since gauge transformations possess no real instantiations. In addition, the explanatory value of the Higgs argument will be critically examined.

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2003

C. F. von Weizsaecker's Reconstruction of Physics: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

Carl Friedrich von Weizsaecker's thinking has always crossed the borders between physics and philosophy. Being a physicist by training he still feels at home in the physics community, as a philosopher by passion, however, his mind cannot stop thinking at the limits of physics. His physical ideas are based on the general conceptual and methodological preconditions of physical theories. Such a line of reasoning about the foundations of physics has brought Weizsaecker into an abstract program of a possible reconstruction of physics in terms of yes-no-alternatives, which he called "ur-theory." I shall start this paper with a review of the basic ideas of ur-theory: the definition of an ur and the connection between ur-spinors and spacetime. I then go over to some of ur-theory's present borders: the construction of quantized spacetime tetrads and the difficulties to incorporate gravity and gauge theories. Finally, I shall discuss the possible prospects of ur-theory -- partly with a view to modern quantum gravity approaches, but mainly in connection with its philosophical implications. Here, one of the crucial questions is, whether form, or, modern, information is an entity per se and what particular consequences this may have.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2003

On the Equivalence of Phase and Field Charges

The analysis of the gauge principle as a mere passive symmetry requirement leads to the conclusion that the connection term in the covariant derivative is flat and that local phase transformations are without any empirical significance in analogy to coordinate transformations. Nevertheless, the Aharonov-Bohm effect shows the physical significance of the non-trivial holonomy of a flat connection. On this basis the proposal of a new kind of charge, the phase charge, is made, understood as the coupling strength of the particle to the holonomy. The equivalence of phase and usual field charge must be tested experimentally in terms of an Aharonov-Bohm effect with muons or tauons, for instance.

hep-th↗

arXiv2001

A Generalized Equivalence Principle

Gauge field theories may quite generally be defined as describing the coupling of a matter-field to an interaction-field, and they are suitably represented in the mathematical framework of fiber bundles. Their underlying principle is the so-called gauge principle, which is based on the idea of deriving the coupling structure of the fields by satisfying a postulate of local gauge covariance. The gauge principle is generally considered to be sufficient to define the full structure of gauge-field theories. This paper contains a critique of this usual point of view: firstly, by emphazising an gauge theoretic conventionalism which crucially restricts the conceptual role of the gauge principle and, secondly, by introducing a new generalized equivalence principle - the identity of inertial and field charge (as generalizations of inertial and gravitational mass) - in order to give a conceptual justification for combining the equations of motion of the matter-fields and the field equations of the interaction-fields.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2001

The Principles of Gauging

The aim of this paper is twofold: First, to present an examination of the principles underlying gauge field theories. I shall argue that there are two principles directly connected to the two well-known theorems of Emmy Noether concerning global and local symmetries of the free matter-field Lagrangian, in the following referred to as "conservation principle" and "gauge principle". Since both these express nothing but certain symmetry features of the free field theory, they are not sufficient to derive a true interaction coupling to a new gauge field. For this purpose it is necessary to advocate a third, truly empirical principle which may be understood as a generalization of the equivalence principle. The second task of the paper is to deal with the ontological question concerning the reality status of gauge potentials in the light of the proposed logical structure of gauge theories. A nonlocal interpretation of topological effects in gauge theories and, thus, the non-reality of gauge potentials in accordance with the generalized equivalence principle will be favoured.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2000

Fiber Bundle Gauge Theories and "Field's Dilemma"

We propose a distinction between the physical and the mathematical parts of gauge field theories. The main problem we face is to uphold a strong and meaningful criterion of what is physical. We like to call it "Field's dilemma", referring to Hartry Field's nominalist proposal which we consider to be inadaequate. The resolution to the dilemma, we believe, is implicitly provided by the so-called fiber bundle formalism. We shall demonstrate, in detail, that the bundle structure underlying modern quantum and gravitational gauge field theories allows for a genuine distinction between the physically significant and the merely mathematical parts of these theories.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv1999

Gauges, Holes, and their `Connections'

The purpose of this paper is to present a generalized hole argument for gauge field theories and their geometrical setting in terms of fiber bundles. The generalized hole argument is motivated and extended from the spacetime hole arguments which appear in spacetime theories based on differentiable manifolds such as general relativity. Analogously, the generalized hole argument rules out fiber bundle substantivalism and, thus, a relationalistic interpretation of the geometry of fiber bundle spaces is favoured. Along the way, the concept of gauge field theories will be analyzed via considering the gauge principle and thereby hopefully clarifying certain terminological ambiguities.

gr-qc↗

arXiv1998

Against Measurement? -- On the Concept of Information

In his last article "Against `Measurement'" J. S. Bell sums up his well known critique of the problem of explaining the measurement process within the framework of quantum theory. In this article I will discuss the measurement process by analysing the concept of measurement from the epistemological point of view and I will argue against Bell that it belongs to the preconditions of experience to necessarily end up with a "reduction of the wavefunction". I will consider the "chain of reduction" in detail -- from pure states of S&A (system S and measuring apparatus A) via different kinds of mixtures to pure states of A(S). It turns out that decoherence is not sufficient to explain reduction, but that this can be done in terms of the concept of information within a transcendental approach.

quant-ph↗

arXiv1997

Quantum Space-Time and Tetrads

The description of space-time in a quantum theoretical framework must be considered as a fundamental problem in physics. Most attempts start with an already given classical space-time - then the quantization is done. In contrast to this the central assumption in this paper is not to start with space-time, but to derive it from some more abstract presuppositions like this is done in von Weizsaecker's "quantum theory of ur-alternatives". Mathematically the transition from a manifold with spin structure to a manifold with four real space-time coordinates has to be considered. The suggestion is made that this transition can be well described by using a tetradial formalism which appears to be the most natural connection between ur-spinors and real four-vectors.

quant-ph↗

arXiv1997

Multiple Quantization and the Concept of Information

The understanding of the meaning of quantization seems to be the main problem in understanding quantum structures. In this paper first the difference between quantized particle vs. radiation fields in the formalism of canonical quantization is discussed. Next von Weizsaecker's concept of ''multiple quantization'' which leads to an understanding of quantization as an iteration of probability theory is explained. Finally a connection between quantization and the idea of a ''general theory of information'' is considered. This brings together semantic information with the different levels of quantization and expresses the philosophical attitude of this paper concerning the interpretation of quantum theory.

quant-ph↗

arXiv1996

The Quantum Theory of Ur-Objects as a Theory of Information

The quantum theory of ur-objects proposed by C. F. von Weizsaecker has to be interpreted as a quantum theory of information. Ur-objects, or urs, are thought to be the simplest objects in quantum theory. Thus an ur is represented by a two-dimensional Hilbert space with the universal symmetry group SU(2), and can only be characterized as ''one bit of potential information''. In this sense it is not a spatial but an ''information atom''. The physical structure of the ur theory is reviewed, and the philosophical consequences of its interpretation as an information theory are demonstrated by means of some important concepts of physics such as time, space, entropy, energy, and matter, which in ur theory appear to be directly connected with information as ''the'' fundamental substance. This hopefully will help to provide a new understanding of the concept of information.

quant-ph↗