Heim shares the award with Hans Kamp, a professor of formal logics and philosophy of language at the University of Stuttgart in Germany. Heim and Kamp are being recognized for their independent work on the 'conception and early development of dynamic semantics for natural language.' The Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy, sometimes referred to as the Nobel Prize of philosophy, is awarded every three years by the Schock Foundation to distinguished international recipients proposed by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. A prize ceremony and symposium will be held at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm Nov. 11-12. MIT will host a separate event on campus celebrating Heim's achievement on Dec. 7. 'Natural languages are highly context-dependent ' how a sentence is interpreted often depends on the situation, but also on what has been uttered before. In one type of case, a pronoun depends on an earlier phrase in a separate clause. In the mid-1970s, some constructions of this type posed a hard problem for formal semantic theory....

Management is a discipline characterized by both art and science. Chinese-style management is also imbued with a strong philosophical orientation, and the bamboo tree provides a useful metaphor to help unpack its essence. Bamboo has many valuable and unique characteristics. Its hollow fibrous stalk makes it lightweight, flexible and resilient in the face of extreme weather. It grows rapidly and is evergreen ' resonant of constant vitality. Bamboo's interconnected roots and the overlapping stalks of a bamboo forest are also indicative of collective strength. And, of course, bamboo is multi-functional. The qualities of bamboo share similarities with Chinese management philosophy. Chinese business leaders, consciously or not, often follow similar, deep-rooted guiding principles when managing their enterprises. These include building flexibility and resilience, maintaining good growth momentum, promoting teamwork and creating social value. As a result, typical bamboo characteristics highlighted in Chinese philosophy also often show up in modern management styles....

What is the relationship between philosophy and AI' Philosophy, with its inquiries into the nature of knowledge, reasoning, and consciousness, has played a pivotal role in shaping the foundations of AI. One of the fundamental questions that philosophers have grappled with is the nature of human intelligence. Philosophical theories of logic, reasoning, and language have provided the groundwork for computational models and algorithms of AI systems. Moreover, philosophical debates around consciousness, perception, and moral reasoning have spurred discussions on whether AI can possess these qualities and what ethical implications arise from creating intelligent machines. The influence and contribution that logic had to the development of AI is more than evident. That's why, first and foremost, we'll analyze its significance and explore which ideas in particular were the ones that contributed to AI's development. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was the first to formulate laws that governed rationality: he invented the first system of formal logic. While his specific contributions to the development of artificial intelligence were indirect due to the vast time gap between his era and the emergence of AI as a field, some of his philosophical concepts and methods have influenced AI research and development....

Elon Musk's vision of Twitter, now rebranded as X, as an 'everything app' is no secret. When the X logo replaced Twitter's blue bird, the internet buzzed with heated discussions about just what it would mean for X to be an everything app. Musk promoted his super app project by referring to the Chinese all-in-one app WeChat. But for many American users unfamiliar with WeChat, a train of questions followed. What's it like to use WeChat' How has WeChat become 'everything' in China' Would it be possible to replicate the app's success in the U.S.' I'm a Chinese digital media scholar, and I've used WeChat since 2012. But, in contrast to Musk's enthusiasm, I don't think WeChat is something to write home about. I believe it's ordinary rather than special, lacking distinctive features compared with the other popular apps I studied for my current book project about Chinese touchscreen media. WeChat's inconspicuousness on my phone screen is no accident. Although WeChat is an everything app in the sense of being a digital hub for over a billion users, the app's design is intentionally grounded in a more nuanced and philosophical meaning of the word 'everything' than you might expect....