This paper describes six new architecture-altering operations that provide a way to dynamically determine the architecture of a multipart program during a run of genetic programming. The new operations are patterned after the naturally occurring operations of gene duplication and gene deletion and are motivated by Ohno's provocative book Evolution by Means of Gene Duplication. The new operation...

In this paper, I argue that the ultimate argument for Scientific Realism, also known as the No-Miracles Argument (NMA), ultimately fails as an abductive defence of Epistemic Scientific Realism (ESR), where (ESR) is the thesis that successful theories of mature sciences are approximately true. The NMA is supposed to be an Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE) that purports to explain the succe...

By mimicking the standard definition for a formal language, we define what it is natural language to be compact. We set out valid English argument none of whose finite subarguments valid. consider one by objections argument's logical validity and then dismiss them. The conclusion that English—and any other with capacity express argument—is not This rules large class logics as correct foundation...

In this scenario, a generic meta-stable deSitter vacuum site in the cosmic landscape in string theory has a very short lifetime. Typically, the smaller is the vacuum energy of a meta-stable site, the longer is its lifetime. This view of the landscape can provide a qualitative dynamical explanation why the dark energy of our universe is so small. The argument for this scenario is based on resona...

A link between the semiclassical Einstein equation and a maximal vacuum entanglement hypothesis is established. The hypothesis asserts that entanglement entropy in small geodesic balls is maximized at fixed volume in a locally maximally symmetric vacuum state of geometry and quantum fields. A qualitative argument suggests that the Einstein equation implies the validity of the hypothesis. A more...

We introduce a modular framework for distributed abstract argumentation where the argumentation context, that is information about preferences among arguments, values, validity, reasoning mode (skeptical vs. credulous) and even the chosen semantics can be explicitly represented. The framework consists of a collection of abstract argument systems connected via mediators. Each mediator integrates...

Where do we start when arguing for the existence of God? Is there a proper order of topics in the discussion? This paper draws together many of the varied threads of evidential apologetics into a single argument in the form of a debate between an atheist and a Christian. I argue that our belief in God starts with the direct perception of His being, and that further evidences come in to play pri...

The Argument Interchange Format (AIF) has been devised in order to support the interchange of ideas and data between different projects and applications in the area of computational argumentation. In order to support such interchange, an abstract ontology for argumentation is presented, which serves as an interlingua between various more concrete argumentation languages. In this paper, we aim t...

Recent developments in cosmology indicate that every history having a nonzero probability is realized in infinitely many distinct regions of spacetime. Thus, it appears that the universe contains infinitely many civilizations exactly like our own, as well as infinitely many civilizations that differ from our own in any way permitted by physical laws. We explore the implications of this conclusi...

I’ll raise a problem for Retributivism, the view that legal punishment is justified on the basis of desert. I’ll focus primarily on Mitchell Berman’s recent defense of the view. He gives one of the most sophisticated and careful statements of it. And his argument is representative, so the problem I’ll raise for it will apply to other versions of Retributivism. His insights about justification a...