Research
Summary
I work on issues in the Philosophy of Science and Technology, with a focus in social epistemology and data science.
Academia.edu, Research Gate, Google Scholars, PhilPapers
I work on issues in the Philosophy of Science and Technology, with a focus in social epistemology and data science.
Academia.edu, Research Gate, Google Scholars, PhilPapers
Formal Epistemology
Radical Pooling and Imprecise Probabilities [Preprint] [Erkenntnis, 2022]
Learning and Pooling, Pooling and Learning (with Rush Stewart) [Preprint] [Erkenntnis, 2018]
Probabilistic Opinion Pooling with Imprecise Probabilities (with Rush Stewart) [Preprint] [Journal of Philosophical Logic, 2017]
Radical Pooling and Imprecise Probabilities [Preprint] [Erkenntnis, 2022]
Learning and Pooling, Pooling and Learning (with Rush Stewart) [Preprint] [Erkenntnis, 2018]
Probabilistic Opinion Pooling with Imprecise Probabilities (with Rush Stewart) [Preprint] [Journal of Philosophical Logic, 2017]
Social Media and Data Science
Attention and counter-framing in the Black Lives Matter movement on Twitter (third author, with Colin Klein and others) [Open Access] [Naturel Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, 2022]
Polarization and trust in the evolution of vaccine discourse on Twitter during COVID-19 (first author, with Colin Klein and others) [Open Access] [PLOS ONE, 2022].
Automated Clustering of COVID'19 anti-vaccine discourse on Twitter (first author, with Marc Cheong) [Arxiv, 2022].
The affiliative use of emoji and hashtags in the Black Lives Matter movement: A Twitter case study (third author, with Mark Alfano and others) [Open Access] [Social Science Computer Review, 2021].
Attention and counter-framing in the Black Lives Matter movement on Twitter (third author, with Colin Klein and others) [Open Access] [Naturel Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, 2022]
Polarization and trust in the evolution of vaccine discourse on Twitter during COVID-19 (first author, with Colin Klein and others) [Open Access] [PLOS ONE, 2022].
Automated Clustering of COVID'19 anti-vaccine discourse on Twitter (first author, with Marc Cheong) [Arxiv, 2022].
The affiliative use of emoji and hashtags in the Black Lives Matter movement: A Twitter case study (third author, with Mark Alfano and others) [Open Access] [Social Science Computer Review, 2021].
Philosophy of Science
The Coordination Dilemma for Epidemiological Modelers (first author, with Sarita Rosenstock and Colin Klein) [Preprint] [Biology and Philosophy, 2021]
The Coordination Dilemma for Epidemiological Modelers (first author, with Sarita Rosenstock and Colin Klein) [Preprint] [Biology and Philosophy, 2021]
Ethics of Autonomous Decision Making
Stochastic Policies in Morally Constrained (C-)SSPs (third author, with Charles Evans, Sylvie Thiebaux, Claire Benn and Pamela Robinson), [Preprint] [Proceedings of the 2022 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, 2022].
Stochastic Policies in Morally Constrained (C-)SSPs (third author, with Charles Evans, Sylvie Thiebaux, Claire Benn and Pamela Robinson), [Preprint] [Proceedings of the 2022 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, 2022].
Game Theory and Logic
On Semantic Gamification [Lecture Notes in Computer Science - 7th Indian Conference, ICLA 2017, Proceedings] [Preprint]
The structural collapse approach reconsidered [Preprint] Análisis Filosófico, 2012] (a response to Roy T. Cook)
On Semantic Gamification [Lecture Notes in Computer Science - 7th Indian Conference, ICLA 2017, Proceedings] [Preprint]
The structural collapse approach reconsidered [Preprint] Análisis Filosófico, 2012] (a response to Roy T. Cook)
Works in Progress
Women, Life, Freedom on Twitter: Anecdotal language and social memory
In this paper we are examining the discourse and network dynamics of the Women, Life, Freedom protests on Twitter. Our working hypothesis focuses on the distinctive use of anecdotal and generalizable semantic expressions, which are tied with different types of memories.
Exploratory Data Analysis: Between Discovery and Justification
This paper examines the relation between confirmatory and discovery practices as they are done in data science. We argue, by taking a closer look at exploratory data analysis (EDA) and different scenarios, that the boundaries between the two contexts are not always clear: the separation between exploratory and confirmatory practices is a function of the type of question and data scenario the scientist is facing. To conclude, we argue that these observations illuminate the discussion around \textit{agnostic science}, and provide a framework for thinking more systematically how data science is shaping science and philosophy of science.
The Technological Disruption of Epistemic Authorities
Social media has been blamed for the increasing distrust in the sciences [1]. More generally, the sometimes difficult interactions between scientific and democratic practices [2] has been disrupted by this new technology [3]. This paper argues that in order to properly understand and find guidance in dealing with these issues, a broader philosophy of technology with historical perspective is needed. This is done here by building analogies with writing and the printing press.
Generics and negativity about social groups: An analysis of Twitter data
It is thought that generics, i.e., unquantified generalizations about categories or individuals (e.g., “liberals are naïve”), are common in communication, and that when they are about social groups, this may offend and polarize people because generics gloss over variations between individuals. Generics about social groups might be particularly common on Twitter (now X). This remains unexplored, however. We therefore developed a machine learning classifier for social generics, applied it to over 1 million tweets about people, and analyzed the tweets. While it is often suggested that generics are pervasive in communication, most tweets (72%) about people did not contain generics. However, tweets with them received more “retweets” and “likes”. Furthermore, while recent psychological research may lead to the prediction that tweets with generics about political groups are more common than tweets with generics about gender or ethnic groups, we found no evidence to support this. However, consistent with recent claims that political animosity is less constrained by social norms than animosity against gender or ethnic groups, negative tweets with generics about political groups were significantly more prevalent and more “retweeted” than negative tweets about ethnic groups. Our findings offer the first insights into the use of social generics on Twitter.
Altruistic and Spiteful Utilities
This essay bridges Harsanyi's Aggregation Theorem (1955, 1977) with Adam Smith moral sentiments, and makes use of the formalism to characterize altruism, spite and self-interest in line with contemporary work by Kitcher (2010). This is a departure from the traditional understanding of Harsanyi's results as defining a utilitarian social welfare function. Instead, they here provide a formalization of Smith's tripartite distinction of other-directed attitudes. Furthermore, I will emphasize the importance of the recognition of unsocial passions like spite, and how this aspect of Smith's account makes Das Adam Smith Problem even harder to solve.
Segregation on Networks
I define a network dynamics analogous to Thomas Schelling's model for segregation and show that even minor homophily can leads to polarization. Yet, the interaction between homopily and heterophily shows encouraging results, since heterophily has an integration effect in unequal populations, even in the presence of homophily.
Women, Life, Freedom on Twitter: Anecdotal language and social memory
In this paper we are examining the discourse and network dynamics of the Women, Life, Freedom protests on Twitter. Our working hypothesis focuses on the distinctive use of anecdotal and generalizable semantic expressions, which are tied with different types of memories.
Exploratory Data Analysis: Between Discovery and Justification
This paper examines the relation between confirmatory and discovery practices as they are done in data science. We argue, by taking a closer look at exploratory data analysis (EDA) and different scenarios, that the boundaries between the two contexts are not always clear: the separation between exploratory and confirmatory practices is a function of the type of question and data scenario the scientist is facing. To conclude, we argue that these observations illuminate the discussion around \textit{agnostic science}, and provide a framework for thinking more systematically how data science is shaping science and philosophy of science.
The Technological Disruption of Epistemic Authorities
Social media has been blamed for the increasing distrust in the sciences [1]. More generally, the sometimes difficult interactions between scientific and democratic practices [2] has been disrupted by this new technology [3]. This paper argues that in order to properly understand and find guidance in dealing with these issues, a broader philosophy of technology with historical perspective is needed. This is done here by building analogies with writing and the printing press.
Generics and negativity about social groups: An analysis of Twitter data
It is thought that generics, i.e., unquantified generalizations about categories or individuals (e.g., “liberals are naïve”), are common in communication, and that when they are about social groups, this may offend and polarize people because generics gloss over variations between individuals. Generics about social groups might be particularly common on Twitter (now X). This remains unexplored, however. We therefore developed a machine learning classifier for social generics, applied it to over 1 million tweets about people, and analyzed the tweets. While it is often suggested that generics are pervasive in communication, most tweets (72%) about people did not contain generics. However, tweets with them received more “retweets” and “likes”. Furthermore, while recent psychological research may lead to the prediction that tweets with generics about political groups are more common than tweets with generics about gender or ethnic groups, we found no evidence to support this. However, consistent with recent claims that political animosity is less constrained by social norms than animosity against gender or ethnic groups, negative tweets with generics about political groups were significantly more prevalent and more “retweeted” than negative tweets about ethnic groups. Our findings offer the first insights into the use of social generics on Twitter.
Altruistic and Spiteful Utilities
This essay bridges Harsanyi's Aggregation Theorem (1955, 1977) with Adam Smith moral sentiments, and makes use of the formalism to characterize altruism, spite and self-interest in line with contemporary work by Kitcher (2010). This is a departure from the traditional understanding of Harsanyi's results as defining a utilitarian social welfare function. Instead, they here provide a formalization of Smith's tripartite distinction of other-directed attitudes. Furthermore, I will emphasize the importance of the recognition of unsocial passions like spite, and how this aspect of Smith's account makes Das Adam Smith Problem even harder to solve.
Segregation on Networks
I define a network dynamics analogous to Thomas Schelling's model for segregation and show that even minor homophily can leads to polarization. Yet, the interaction between homopily and heterophily shows encouraging results, since heterophily has an integration effect in unequal populations, even in the presence of homophily.
