Neural networks, real patterns, and the mathematics of constrained optimization: an interview with Don Ross

Abstract

DON ROSS (Winnipeg, 1962) is professor of economics at the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and is program director of methodology at the Center for Economic Analysis of Risk (CEAR) at the J. Mack Robinson School of Business at Georgia State University (USA). He is co-founder of the Research Unit in Behavioral Economics and Neuroeconomics (RUBEN) at the University of Cape Town. From 2012 to 2014 Ross was chair of the executive board of the International Network for Economic Method (INEM), and remains an active member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Economic Methodology, Biological Theory, and Bioeconomics. He holds a PhD in philosophy of science (1990) from the University of Western Ontario.The scope of Ross' work is staggering. His areas of specialization span economic methodology, game theory, experimental economics of risk and time preferences, addiction and impulsive consumption, the history of economics, and philosophy of science (from logical positivism to scientific metaphysics). Moreover, he has published, refereed, and organized symposia on topics as diverse as biological evolution, human language and signalling dynamics, artificial intelligence (AI) and artificial life modelling, connectionist theories of cognition, cognitive learning theory, analysis of econometric methods, political economy of international trade, African industry studies, and economic development (with emphasis on development in South Africa).Ross' published monographs include: Philosophy of economics (2014), Economic theory and cognitive science: microexplanation (2005), What people want: the concept of utility from Bentham to game theory (1999), and Metaphor, meaning and cognition (1993). His collaborations include Scientific metaphysics (2012, with James Ladyman and Harold Kincaid), Distributed cognition and the will (2007, with David Spurrett, Harold Kincaid, and G. Lynn Stevens), Handbook of the philosophy of economics (2009, with Harold Kincaid), Midbrain mutiny: the picoeconomics and neuroeconomics of disordered gambling (2008, with Carla Sharp, Rudy E. Vuchinich, and David Spurrett), Every thing must go: metaphysics naturalized (2007, James Ladyman), and Dennett's philosophy: a comprehensive assessment (2000, with David Thompson and Andrew Brooks). To date, he has published upward of fifty scholarly articles, three dozen book chapters, and a score of reviews and review articles. He has also contributed over a hundred mass-market articles on trade and industrial policy in Africa.In this interview, professor Ross explores his intellectual roots and surveys his transition from cognitive scientist to economist. He discusses his involvement with Daniel Dennett, the virtues of economic optimization theory, and the merits (and demerits) of integrating economics with its neighbour disciplines.EJPE: The story of your academic training is very interesting: You started out as a philosopher interested in cognitive science-how did this segue into studying economics? Can you say a little bit about your background as a philosopher and your early interests in cognitive science?DON ROSS: It was a rapid trip across a wide intellectual landscape. I started offbeing interested in continental philosophy, specifically Merleau-Ponty's brand of phenomenology. Then I read Doug Hofstadter's Godel, Escher, Bach (1980), in my final undergraduate year, and was entranced by the deep intellectual roots of the study of machine intelligence. My alma mater, Western Ontario, was strong in cognitive science-Zenon Pylyshyn was there at the time-and it was possible to specialize in cognitive science within the philosophy of science PhD programme. But it was 1986, and the 'new' connectionism was just being born. I was sure that bringing a more biological flavour into AI made sense, so wanted to study that. But the necessary formalism for neural network modelling is the mathematics of optimisation, not formal logic as with classical AI. …