Lecture: “What Is an Algorithm?”

Triolet Campus, Polytech, Building 31, Serge Peytavin Lecture Hall – Place Eugène Bataillon, 34090 Montpellier.

Professor Pascal Nouvel, a philosopher, will give a lecture at Polytech Montpellier titled “What Is an Algorithm?”: Developments in artificial intelligence have sparked numerous debates about the role it may soon play in human societies.

The range of possibilities opened up by these techniques inspires both enthusiasm and concern. At the heart of all these systems lie algorithms. In this lecture, I will therefore begin by asking: What is an algorithm? I will expand on this by asking: What gives an algorithm the unique ability to “recognize patterns”? Indeed, “pattern recognition” is another—and perhaps more accurate—term for artificial intelligence. In this regard, I will ask where the equation between intelligence (whether artificial or not) and pattern recognition comes from. As we shall see, this simple question leads us to revisit the entire history of philosophy.

Pascal Nouvel, Doctor of Science (Biology) and Doctor of Letters (Philosophy), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tours, member of the Education, Ethics, and Health research team (EA 7505), and Director of the Center for Ethics and Contemporary Philosophy.

He is the author of *The Art of Loving Science* (PUF, 2000), *An Inquiry into the Concept of the Model* (2003, ed.), *The Possible and Biotechnologies* (PUF, 2003, with Claude Debru), *History of Amphetamines* (PUF, 2009), *The Philosophy of Science* (PUF, 2011), and *Axiomatics of Feelings* (Hermann, 2015).

This conference will be followed by a roundtable discussion titled “The Challenges of Interdisciplinarity for a Sustainable World.”

• In the presence of:
  . Mokrane Bouzehoub, Professor at UVSQ, Deputy Scientific Director of the CNRS Institute of Information Sciences and Their Interactions (INS2i),
• Michel Robert, Professor at the University of Montpellier, Head of the Department of Institutional Evaluation at HCERES,
• Wilfried Sanchez, Deputy Scientific Director of IFREMER,
• Bertrand Fourcade, Professor, University of Grenoble Alpes,
• François Pierrot, DR at the CNRS, Executive Director of I-SITE MUSE.

Registration for the conference/roundtable and the cocktail reception is free but must be completed by July 4.

• Register Online