Dr Syed Mustafa Ali @ The Open University
On Thinking "Whoever sets out on the path of thinking knows least of all concerning the matter that - behind and over beyond him, as it were - determines his vocation and moves him toward it."Martin Heidegger in Pathmarks (1967) On Creativity "When the creators vanish from the nation, when they are barely tolerated as an irrelevant curiousity, an ornament, as eccentrics having nothing to do with real life; when authentic conflict ceases, converted into mere polemics, into the machinations and intrigues of man within the realm of the given, then the decline has set in."Martin Heidegger in An Introduction to Metaphysics (1959)	I am a lecturer in the Computing Department at The Open University. I gained my Ph.D in (what was then) the Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics at Brunel University in 1999. My supervisors were Robert Zimmer and Mike Elstob (retired) and my external examiner was Peter Cariani of Harvard University. The title of my dissertation was:  The Concept of Poiesis and Its Application in a Heideggerian Critique of Computationally Emergent Artificiality The thesis is available for viewing (in .PDF format). Here is the abstract. RESEARCH Currently, I have suspended research activities in order to concentrate on teaching. Previous research areas include the following (in no particular order of interest): · Philosophy of technology · Philosophy of emergence · Semiotics · Poietics · Ontology (Heidegger, Whitehead) · Philosophy of mind (pansychism, emergentism) · Artificial intelligence · Artificial life · Computational physics · Cellular automata These are my papers and some of my presentations. RANTS Click here for a collection of rants on life, the universe and everything ...  LINKS Here are links to some things I am interested in. PERSONAL During the period 7-17 April 2000, I attended the following conference: Here are some of the people I met at the conference and here are some pictures of Tucson. URL: http://mcs.open.ac.uk/sma78/  Page maintained by Syed Mustafa Ali  Please e-mail any comments to Mustafa Last Modified: 25/08/04
On Being Being is the emptiest and at the same time a surplus. Being is the most common and at the same time unique. Being is the most intelligible and at the same time concealment. Being is the most worn-out and at the same time the origin. Being is the most reliable and at the same time the non-ground. Being is the most said and at the same time a keeping silent. Being is the most forgotten and at the same time rembrance. Being is the most constraining and at the same time liberation. Martin Heidegger in Basic Concepts (1941)