https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican1070-120, Article 645646) and taken to be relevant for the appraisal of the method of computer simulation. So the unclarities noted above have been removed. Collins, M., Brierley, C. M., MacVean, M., Booth, B. For instance, when Humphreys (2009, p. 618) glosses his claim that simulations are opaque by saying that no human can examine and justify every element of the computational processes, he refers to justification. (2013) discuss the understanding of simulation outcomes in a handbook on social simulations. Science, 263, 641646. Throughout this paper, I restrict myself to computer simulations (simulations, for short). In W. V. O. Quine (Ed. These questions mention different kinds of knowledge, and the content of the notion of opacity will vary depending on the kind of knowledge that the agent is not supposed to have in instances of opacity. Inferences on the level of the computer hardware, finally, are difficult because the hardware processes are too complicated. Humphreys certainly has an important point because, in some way (given a certain individuation of computations), computer simulations run so many computations that a human agent cannot know them. Clipping paths can be defined. Fundamental concepts, methodological frameworks, and philosophical perspectives (pp. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. My proposal is that a method is opaque to the degree that its difficult for humans to know and to understand why its outcomes arise. In addition, this too often reached implementation limits, and few if any application programs ever offered this technique. Opacity. Baumberger, C., Beisbart, C., & Brun, G. (2017). An unrelativized understanding of opacity is indeed useful because philosophers discussing the opacity of simulations are not interested in the relation of individual people to simulations, but rather in features that simulations have generally in relation to people. Simulation and understanding in the study of weather and climate. PCMag, PCMag.com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. They require that the agent can run inferences about actual or counterfactual scenarios similar to the ones investigated in the computer simulation. What we have to exclude though is a scenario in which average scientists in the default setting have significantly improved their understanding of the simulation and the underlying model, perhaps by running the simulation very often. A third-party cookie is a cookie that's placed on a user's device -- computer, cellphone or tablet -- by a website from a domain other than the one the user is visiting. ), Computer Simulation Validation. The term "transparency" is used in various ways by different people, but at its simplest there is "full transparency" i.e. O - Definitions Opaque Updated: 11/13/2018 by Computer Hope Opaque may refer to any of the following: 1. The sensitivity of the rate of transient climate change to ocean physics perturbations. Increasingly, the nature of social media and other communications means that even actions intended to be secret may be brought into the public's awareness, despite an organization's best efforts to keep them hidden. ), The Science and Art of Simulation II. Lenhard, J. Understanding social science simulations: Distinguishing two categories of simulations. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, How customer transparency helps companies maintain loyalty. could see or print something completely different from the original design. Privacy Policy This is a method in which a computer is used to trace the time evolution of a system (be it real or merely imagined) by yielding a possibly partial and approximate solution to the dynamical model equations. Transparency in PDF files allows creators to achieve various effects, including adding shadows to objects, making objects semi-transparent and having objects blend into each other or into text. Processes may become the object of different epistemic projects, depending on what the precise aims of the investigation are, and these aims determine what is relevant. Select the settings you want to customize. But, intuitively speaking, related simulations are nevertheless opaque because it is very difficult for humans to obtain an understanding of how their outcomes arise. This means that when the decoder encounters a pixel with this value, it is rendered in the background color of the part of the screen where the image is placed, also if this varies pixel-by-pixel as in the case of a background image. Correspondence to ), Epistemic opacity in computer simulation and machine learning. So there must be a way of interpreting unrelativized occurrences of opacity. Analysis, 58(1), 719. The following are some of these benefits: Conversely, there are also some risks associated with transparency, such as exposing trade secrets, damaging relationships with customers or employees and succumbing to customer data privacy breaches. In B. Edmunds & R. Meyer (Eds. Fundamental Concepts, Methodological Frameworks, and Philosophical Perspectives (pp. In: Ikeuchi, K. (eds) Computer Vision. The philosophical novelty of computer simulation methods. Let me explain. On a more critical level, Saam (2017) has argued that, in the social sciences, opacity is a persistent concern only about one specific kind of simulation. In this debate, the opacity of simulations has rarely been disputed; rather, philosophers have tried to show that opacity doesnt compromise the ability of computer simulations to achieve their tasks. That my proposal is broader in this sense is a plus because it covers more of the epistemological concerns that we may have about computer simulations. The grey and white check pattern would be converted into transparency. This question has arisen before in the discussion of Humphreyss definition. An agent might not know or understand something, but unless there is a barrier to her knowing or understanding that thing, opacity cannot be the culprit. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. Human opacity is the intrinsic quality of unknowability of human beings with respect to machines. (2018) have argued that opacity is an exclusive characteristic of simulations only if it is understood in a mathematical sense. (2009). The flagship venue for cross-disciplinary examination of the social, moral, and legal implications of socio-technical systems, the 2023 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (ACM FAccT) draws computer scientists, educators, journalists, lawyers, philosophers, policy experts, and other practitioners concerned about Regarding the third, representational layer, the process is described using a sequence of states in the model (e.g., a series of states of the climate of a model of the Earth). Lack of this kind of epistemic access to simulations hampers the work researchers may hope to carry out with simulations. Fourth, the typical applications of a method are restricted to the intended applications. Even finer descriptions of the computational steps are possible. ( It would seem strange to shift computer simulations to the side of ourselves, as it were, and to allow that humans use them as tools, when we consider this relationor so goes the response. Abstract. {\displaystyle \kappa _{\nu }^{-1}} Beisbart, C. Opacity thought through: on the intransparency of computer simulations. For an example, consider what Gregory and Lowe (2000, p. 3069) report in an application of the HadCM3 model: global-average sea-level rise from 1990 to 2100 is predicted to be [] 0.44m in HadCM3.. The reason why the value of v is larger than 1 may be that, in step tn-1, v had a value larger than 0.8 and that two other variables each had values larger than 0.1. Use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate the slides or the slide controller buttons at the end to navigate through each slide. This page was last edited on 1 May 2022, at 07:56. 497506). 532533). The opacity CSS property sets the opacity of an element. 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Adoption and deployment of robotic and autonomous systems in industry are currently hindered by the lack of transparency, required for safety and accountability. Hanappe, P., Beuriv, A., Laguzet, F., Steels, L., Bellouin, N., Boucher, O., Yamazaki, Y. H., Aina, T., & Allen, M. (2011). The solution to this is either to rasterize the image or to apply vector transparency flattening to the PDF. https://doi.org/10.1007/s003820050009. 134). The result of a simulation, finally, summarizes what scientists conclude from the simulation (e.g., that in the real world, a certain emissions scenario leads to a global-average sea-level rise of about 0.44m in a given period of time). For instance, Gregory and Lowe (2000) compare two different versions of the Hadley Centre Coupled Model regarding global sea level. (Eds. On top, clearly, processes can be difficult to understand. This explanation assumes that the computations are properly done by the hardware and that there are, for example, no hardware failures that lead to deviations from the application of the algorithm. (2019). Wolfram, S. (2002). It is one thing to know that, say, in step tn, variable v has taken a value larger than 1, and another thing to grasp how this is connected to earlier steps. (2000). Predictions of global and regional sea-level rise using AOGCMs with and without flux adjustment. the cloud scheme used in the description of the dynamics of the atmosphere); or c. the degree to which a computer simulation works as intended. Their opacity contributes to opacity in my sense, but mine runs deeper. Numerical experimentation. The authors reduce opacity to the impossibility of checking the argument implicit in the simulation. Oreskes, N., Shrader-Frechette, K., & Belitz, K. (1994). 139157). But for our purposes, this definition will not do. Schlesinger, S., et al. This idea can be applied to all methods (cf. For this reason, I have to leave open whether the objections can be countered using this response. , as the weighting function, and averages Institute of Philosophy, University of Bern, Lnggassstrasse 49a, 3012, Bern, Switzerland, You can also search for this author in Winsberg, E. (1999). Lenhard, J. Second, my explication is compatible with the idea that there are various aspects to opacity (this is a central claim by Kaminski et al., 2018). 173195). Likewise, my explication can make sense of Imberts (2017) idea that there are various sources of opacity. I rely on the details published in Gordon et al. One such sort of opacity is the opacity defined by Humphreys, but Imbert points to what he takes to be another variety of opacity, which is supposed to derive from the fact that computer simulations are often run by groups of experts coming from different fields. Is Understanding a species of knowledge? For an illustration, consider again the outcome reported by Gregory and Lowe (2000, p. 3069): global-average sea-level rise from 1990 to 2100 is predicted to be [] 0.44m in HadCM3. In this case, variations q* of the explanans q can arise by changing a. the initial conditions; b. the model assumptions, in particular the model dynamics (e.g. I start from the broader meaning that opacity has in ordinary language, and I propose that we think of opacity as a disposition to resist epistemic access, where epistemic access includes both knowledge and understanding. , I start (in Sect. WebWe will cover a number of general topics: agency and initiative, AI and ethics, bias and transparency, confidence and errors, human augmentation and amplification, trust and explainability, mixed-initiative systems, and programming by example. Conceptus, 40, 6788. Lenhard, J. The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag. For showing this, it is often important to make a case that the simulation solves the equations correctly (Beisbart, 2019), which is to make a case that the conditional justification works. Further, simulations involve various layers of representations (e.g. Humphreys, P. (2004). PubMedGoogle Scholar. Explicating objectual understanding: Taking degrees seriously. WebDefinition and Usage The opacity property sets the opacity level for an element. to learn the outcome for a specific initial condition.Footnote 16. To be sure, many simulations are subject to a stronger standard since they are supposed to provide accurate descriptions of a real-world target system. Springer, Boston, MA. Opacity and transparency are also discussed in the philosophy of photography (Walton 1984) and in the philosophy of language (Quine, 1953, p. 142). Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-31439-6_564, Reference Module Computer Science and Engineering, Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout. Alternatively called opacity, opaque describes a graphic, image, or graphic As suggested by Clark and Chalmers (1998) or Humphreys (2004), the view that humans alone are the epistemic subjects may have become outdated or inappropriate; today, coupled systems that include machines may be the relevant agents. Reference and Modality. (1979) and Oberkampf (2019, pp. WebYou can select or change your caption settings on any TV, game console, or media device that supports YouTube. Simulation modeling and scientific understanding. B According to my proposal, a method is opaque to the extent to which it is difficult to know and understand why the outcomes of the method arise. Since the possible explanations of why the outcome has arisen can be situated on different levels, the levels can be taken to define several aspects of opacity. The employee lifecycle is a human resources model that identifies the different stages a worker advances through in an Adobe Experience Platform is a suite of customer experience management (CXM) solutions from Adobe. Such as the tools free use of copyrighted data to train AI systems without permission or consent (or payment); or the systematic scraping of online personal data Social processes and proofs of theorems and programs. Abilities iv and vi are both extremely demanding. As before, I summarize this by saying that opacity is a disposition to resist epistemic access by humans. The opacity-level describes the transparency-level, where 1 is not transparent at all, 0.5 is 50% see Episteme, 11(4), 475492. HaPoC 2015. Updated on: May 24, 2021 Invisible. Science in Context, 12, 275292. Verification is difficult, but often a sufficiently strong case can be made that the simulation solves the equations correctly (see Rider, 2019). Property of an object or substance that is impervious to light, "Opacity" redirects here. In social epistemology, Wagenknecht (2014) draws a distinction between opaque vs. translucent epistemic dependence among collaborators. Independent of a philosophical account, it is very plausible to say that its difficult to understand why the outcomes of a simulation are such and such. WebText watermark. The generalization to a series of times is straightforward. (2000). and mass density Opacity can be quantified in many ways; for example, see the article mathematical descriptions of opacity. Newman (2016) has suggested that, pace Humphreys (2009), the opacity of simulations is not essential and may be avoided by appropriate software construction. Highlighting Interactive Elements Touchable Opacity is an excellent way to highlight interactive elements on a screen. The process of a computer simulation is now conceptualized as justification and regarded as an argument: descriptions of a series of states are inferred from the specification of initial conditions and the model assumptions (cf. Such abilities are also deemed central for understanding in the context of simulations by Kuorikoski (2011). As it stands, then, Humphreyss definition lacks clarity: its not clear what Humphreys means in saying that an agent must know the epistemically relevant elements of the computer simulations. In this vein, Barberousse and Vorms (2014) and Durn and Formanek (2018) have argued that, despite being opaque, computer simulations can produce knowledge. The epistemology of simulation. This objection holds that scientists can easily learn to run the required counterfactual inferences by running the simulation program several times and checking the outputs using visualizations. However, in much talk about opacity (e.g. The first thing to note is that Humphreyss definition does not unfold the ordinary language meaning of opaque or opacity. What was crucial for my argument that computer simulations are opaque was the assumption that understanding why p requires the ability to run inferences that lead from slight modifications q* of q to modifications p* of p and back. For instance, for experiments, the outcomes specify what is observed or measured about the system on which the experiment is done. (2014). Advertisements Techopedia Explains Alpha Channel The alpha channel controls the transparency or opacity of a color. (first edition 1950). {\displaystyle \nu } But since this work does not mention computer simulations, I assume that the 2009 definition reflects Humphreyss mature position on the opacity of simulations (more comments on the 2017 paper follow in Sect. (1979). 1). But this yields the unwelcome consequence that there is no way to overcome opacity. The descriptive relationship between humans and machines, which captures how much information one can gather about the other, can be explicated using an opacity-transparency relationship. However, this was a two-edged sword as users with older viewers, PDF printers, etc. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 50(21), B26B28. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. 103118). Beisbart, 2012). Humphreys himself calls opacity a feature of computational science (2009, p. 618). But what exactly is the opacity of simulations? The deeper issue in the background is how we understand ourselves in relation to machines. This process has various layers that can be described using different vocabularies (Barberousse et al., 2009). The flagship venue for cross-disciplinary examination of the social, moral, and legal implications of socio-technical systems, the 2023 ACM Conference on Fairness, But the fact that there is this method doesnt show that the simulations are not opaque to begin with. An alternative model is that at every point in each element to be combined for transparency there is an associated color and opacity between 0 and 1. a checkerboard pattern. Radiopacity is preferentially used to describe opacity of X-rays. But whats the point of calling a special idea about computer simulations opacity if there is no relation to opacity, as it is understood in ordinary language? Journal of Climate, 20(10), 23152320. Kppers & Lenhard, 2005; Winsberg, 1999). The RGB color model is extended to include "alpha" RGBA to allow Under each type of modification of q, it is extremely difficult to infer how p would change. In brief, then, when a process is opaque, there are difficulties with the epistemic access to the process. Aziz Huq, the Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law, and Chenhao Tan, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Data Science, are two of the four co-chairs leading the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency. Let us turn now to understanding why p. A useful proposal on what this amounts to is given by Hills (2016). This formula can easily be generalized to RGB color or CMYK color by applying the formula to each channel separately. Google Scholar, Siegel R, Howell JR (1992) Thermal radiation heat transfer, 3rd edn. What then are the relevant things that we need to know and understand to avoid opacity?Footnote 10. An opaque object is neither transparent (allowing all light to pass through) nor translucent (allowing some light to pass through). Humphreys (2009, p. 618) draws our attention to two analogous cases, viz. Computer simulations are often claimed to be opaque. The Grayscale values are considered to be numbers between 0.0 (white) and 1.0 (black). On the other hand, if the units are small (e.g., single additions of numbers), it may be questioned whether each calculation of this sort is epistemically relevant. Transparency is the quality of being easily seen through, while transparency in a business or governance context refers to being open and honest. The process of combining a partially transparent color with its background ("compositing") is often ill-defined and the results may not be exactly the same in all cases. ), From a Logical Point of View (pp. More precisely, objects are required to be diffusely opaque. The Foundations of Verification in Modeling and Simulation. In ordinary language,Footnote 3 opacity means the difficulty (i) to look through something or (ii) to understand something (where the second meaning has likely been obtained from the first using a metaphor). A more subtle issue arises with the previews for EPS files that are typically used to show the view of the EPS file on screen. There is an extensive literature on how exactly this should be checked and what the difficulties are (see, e.g., de Millo et al., 1979; Oreskes et al., 1994; Roache, 2019). Humphreys himself expresses doubts as to whether finely individuated elements are relevant. I assume that the outcome can be formulated in terms of a proposition p about the sequence of states in the model investigated by the simulation. Computer simulations are often claimed to be opaque and thus to lack transparency. Why transparency in AI matters for businesses, The role of transparency in digital trust, CSU/DSU (Channel Service Unit/Data Service Unit), NICE Framework (National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education Cybersecurity Workforce Framework), application blacklisting (application blocklisting), Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles (the Principles), Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. This relationship allows us to describe and normatively Synthese, 169, 557574. Finally, its also an advantage that my proposal is closer to ordinary language. For example, where color correction is in use, should the colors be composited before or after color correction? This gives a fairly simple example of how compositing calculations can work, can produce the expected results, and can also produce surprises. As will become clear below, computer simulations are difficult to access for several reasons. A second problem arises due to the general strategy that Durn and Formanek adopt, following Humphreys. Agent-based simulation and sociological understanding. In: SIGGRAPH '02: proceedings of the 29th annual conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques, San Antonio. One reason is that the method is computationally very expensive. 1 But there is no reason to absorb such an explanation into the very notion of opacity. ) Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Creative Use of PNG Transparency in Web Design", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Transparency_(graphic)&oldid=1085578517, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from February 2017, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, an image that is not rectangular can be filled to the required rectangle using transparent surroundings; the image can even have holes (e.g. The method that Lenhard describes is certainly helpful in overcoming opacity. Philosophical Perspectives (pp. The abilities iv. Copyright 1999 - 2023, TechTarget The Journal of Philosophy, 77(12), 797803. Since the level of competence of this group of scientists is very high, the difficulties with epistemic access extend to other groups, notably including laypeople. For each single run of a simulation program (the unit on which I will focus), the primary goal is to obtain information about a dynamical evolution that unfolds in a model given specific initial conditions (cf. Note here that our notion of opacity doesnt require that the inference is impossible. Second, there are clear cases of simulations in which a central layer of representation, viz. Even scientists who know and understand to some extent why the outcome has arisen have acquired this knowledge and understanding only with difficulty. This has led to calls for more transparency from businesses about what data they collect, how they use it and who it is shared with. Transparent pictures: On the nature of photographic realism. In Sect. Perspectives on Science, 26(2), 213238. For instance, an experiment does not justify its outcome (what may need justification is that a certain proposition is indeed part of the outcome). In addition, few of the programs that generate EPS previews will generate transparency information in the preview. This image has partial transparency (254 possible levels of transparency between fully transparent and fully opaque). More extreme frequency-dependence is visible in the absorption lines of cold gases. If this is not the case, then again, opacity does not hold true of simulations. And we're not going to be taking out photos that paint the Bidens in a good light." There are indeed good reasons to think that opacity is gradable, at least in its second ordinary language sense, that is, qua being difficult to understand. She need not be able to run the related inference on her ownshe may know the explanation from testimony, for instance. - 217.160.59.57. Polarization; Transparency and Translucency. Does she have to know that there are such elements? Evans, A., Heppenstall, A., & Birkin, M. (2013). Part of Springer Nature. Grimm (2006, pp. 147148): In many computer simulations, the dynamic relationship between the initial and final states of the core simulation [i.e., the process during which the simulation program is run, p. 109] is epistemically opaque because most steps in the process are not open to direct inspection and verification. Model Dev., 4, 835844. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-31439-6_564, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-31439-6_564, eBook Packages: Computer ScienceReference Module Computer Science and Engineering. The definition does not refer to understanding, but immediately after the introduction of opacity, Humphreys points out that opacity may lead to a loss of understanding (Humphreys, 2004, pp. Tymoczko, T. (1979). initial conditions and parameter values, but for both types of choices there are natural measures; for instance, a Lebesgue measure for a realistic range of parameter values. Every answer to this question will give us knowledge of why p. Furthermore, there is the task of understanding why p. If Hills (2016) and others are right, then understanding why p goes beyond merely knowing why p. Instead, understanding why p requires an agent to grasp the relationbetween p and its explanation: call it q (Hills 2016, p. 3). Transparency at the IP layer means the client targets the real IP London: Routledge. the atmosphere and the ocean. Boge and Grnke (forthcoming) go in a similar direction when they require insight into the way the output is obtained from the input. (2000, p. 497) say, of the opacity of simulations: [I]t is not immediately obvious what is going on or why.. Layer opacity. Try it Syntax opacity: 0.9; opacity: 90%; /* Global values */ opacity: inherit; opacity: initial; opacity: revert; opacity: revert Can we trust big data? WebOpacity[a] is a graphics directive that specifies that graphical objects that follow are to be displayed, if possible, with opacity a. Opacity[a, color] uses the specified color with Cham: Springer. My proposed account has several virtues, or so I have argued. Baumberger, C. (2011). Only part of a graphic should be fully transparent, or there would be nothing to see. In this case the 1-bits can be painted any single color, while the 0-bits are not painted at all. To be more specific: already Humphreyss definition concentrates on lack of knowledge of epistemically relevant elements as a salient cause. 169186). In this case we want the image to NOT be transparent when the user hovers over it. Of course, the method could be expanded to cover such counterfactuals, but the consequence would be that things get even more expensive. . However, by the use of patterns, arbitrary graphics can be painted through masks defined by any vector or text operations. It can be transparent against any background because it is monochrome. This includes EPS and WMF. {\displaystyle u(\nu ,T)=\partial B_{\nu }(T)/\partial T} Logical foundations of probability (second edition). Di Paolo, E. A., Noble, J., & Bullock, S. (2000). (2003). In this use, "opacity" is another term for the mass attenuation coefficient (or, depending on context, mass absorption coefficient, the difference is described here) Climate Dynamics, 16, 147168. However vector transparency flattening is extremely complex and only supported by a few specialist packages. The Method of Manufactured Solutions for Code Verification. Partial transparency is available with the pdfmark extension,[2] available on many PostScript implementations. There are some circumstances in which transparency is not possible or desirable. A major use of partial transparency is to produce "soft edges" in graphics so that they blend into their background. 271293). I thus make a fresh start with the natural idea that the opacity of a method is its disposition to resist knowledge and understanding. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. 746, 755) for a similar interpretation of Humphreyss. To know it, an agent needs to know the premises of the explanation, that is: the initial state of the model (q3a), the dynamics of the model (q3b), and that the simulation works as intended (q3c)in other words, the agent needs to know that the simulation solves the model equations to a sufficient approximation.Footnote 14 Two of these, q3a and q3b, are easy to know. SIMULATION, 32, 103104. Kuorikoski, J. But some methods do not justify their outcomes. ), Proceedings of the 7th International Conference in Artificial Life (pp. WebOpacity definition, the state or quality of being opaque. Beisbart, C. (2019). T Fig. Baumberger, C. (2019). But this is not to know a detailed explanation of the outcome at the computational level. To emphasize: this is only one possible rule for transparency. (2000). Collins et al. One color entry in a single GIF or PNG image's palette can be defined as "transparent" rather than an actual color. 148 f.). A CSU/DSU (Channel Service Unit/Data Service Unit) is a hardware device about the size of a modem. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, CrossRef This is, however, complex to implement. Further, if scientists understand how an outcome has arisen in a simulation, they may transfer this understanding to the target system and its behavior.Footnote 17 Thus, the kind of understanding that is covered under the proposed explication of opacity is important for making scientific progress. The reply that it all depends on the agent and her epistemic projects wont do because it renders opacity a matter of arbitrary interests. In A. Kaminski, M. Resch, & P. Gehring (Eds. There are viable techniques for setting transparency in the preview. But its clearly focused on a particular type of epistemic access to computer simulations. Opaque may refer to any of the following: 1. (1979). ), Explaining understanding: New perspectives from epistemology and philosophy of science (pp. The main usage of clipping paths is in PostScript files. Unfolding in the empirical sciences: Experiments, thought-experiments and computer simulations. This proposal allows for a comparison between different methods regarding opacity. When the data are interpreted as descriptions of states within the model implemented, Ill talk of outcomes; for instance, one run of a simulation program may yield the outcome that, in the model implemented, the global-average sea-level rise in a certain time span is 0.44m. I assume that the outcomes include only information that scientists want to learn about the model from running the simulation. Data transparency has two key aspects. Susan knows that, in step tn-1, v had a value larger than 0.8 and so on, but this knowledge does not imply that this is the reason for why the value of v is larger than 1 one step later. Kaminski et al. opacity. Deutsche Zeitschrift fr Philosophie, 59(1), 131145. 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG. According to Hanappe et al. The lack of clarity about what exactly constitutes average-level abilities does not matter in practice because simulations will turn out to be opaque regardless of how exactly the average level is defined.Footnote 4. While Baumberger (2019) is concerned with objectual understanding, Hills focuses on explanatory understanding. The Journal of Philosophy, 76(2), 5783. But what exactly is the opacity of simulations? This means that RIPs and printers often have problems printing PDFs with transparency. Human perception of brightness is not linear - we do not necessarily consider that a gray value of 0.5 is halfway between black and white. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-4-835-2011, Hills, A. In this example, two grayscale colors are to be composited. A method is opaque to the extent to which its typical applications are opaque. A natural way of introducing an unrelativized notion of opacity is to say that opacity tout court is opacity to a human being or to a scientist with average-level abilities. For example, in an image editing program, the opacity level for some function might range from completely transparent (0) A natural proposal refers to the following situation: Scientists have constructed a setting in which the method can be applied (e.g., they have built up an experiment, programmed a computer simulation, etc.) It is used to determine how a pixel is rendered when blended with another. For instance, the state descriptions and the transition rules in Conways game of life (Gardner, 1970; Wolfram, 2002) are very simple and thus accessible. For the question of how computer simulations may be used to understand a target system, see Fernndez (2003), Lenhard (2006), Kuorikoski (2011), Grne-Yanoff (2009), Ylikoski (2014) and Parker (2014). Transparency in PDF was designed not to cause errors in PDF viewers that did not understand it they would simply display all elements as fully opaque. Pope, V. D., Gallani, M. L., Rowntree, P. R., & Stratton, R. A. A multitude of research has gone into lifting the restriction on scene opacity. Capability of a computer graphic to allow whatever is "behind" it to be visible. What should we think of Humphreyss (2009) proposal? 532533; Hills, 2016, p. 3).Footnote 9 What the thought experiment shows, then, is that the notions of opacity discussed so far are indeed narrower than what we would call the opacity of simulations in ordinary language. The current spelling (rare before the 19th century) has been influenced by the French form. For another thing, as described, the method is restricted to the consideration of changes within the model. Thus, while total transparency is not always possible or desirable, being open and honest in business dealings is essential to maintaining good relationships with stakeholders. Similar results apply to inferences from p* to q*. Rider, W. J. 618619) elaborates his claims about opacity to argue for the novelty of computer simulations. It may be objected that scientists can run the required inferences about counterfactual scenarios by running variations of the computer simulation under scrutiny. (2006). WebArtificial Intelligence is inspired by human intelligence, made powerful by human data, and ultimately only useful in how it positively affects the human experience. For the purposes of this paper, we can distinguish between three layers: The physical layer is described by referring to the hardware in which physical entities such as wires or electrons interact with each other. , as the weighting function, and averages and vi. The upshot, then, is that understanding why the computer simulation has yielded a specific outcome (p) is extremely difficult because this would require the ability to run inferences between variations on the setup of the simulation and its outcome. I have thus proposed a more comprehensive notion of opacity by starting with the ordinary language meaning of opacity, viz., that something resists epistemic access. 4.2 for an overview), but many authors would agree. El Skaf & Imbert, 2013). Surprised by a nanowire: Simulation, control, and understanding. Hold Win and scroll up to make the window more opaque. The counterfactual inference requires the ability to do something else, for instance, calculate the results in order to find out what is implied in the counterfactual scenario, or anticipate the results due to an intimate knowledge of the model. There are many different ways to mix colors, so in some cases transparency is ambiguous. Often, the primary goal is more specific and focused on certain aspects of the state descriptions, say, a certain pattern of precipitation in some region or its projected average temperature for the next ten years with a specified accuracy rating. Gerald Millerson J Owens (2009) Television production. Humphreys further focuses on knowledge of the relevant computational steps. Definition Opacity describes the degree to which an object or material is not transmitting light. 2, pp. Already one run of a computer simulation that is needed to make a counterfactual inference will typically take a considerable amount of CPU timecoupled climate models that trace the climate for 400years with a time step of 30min (Gordon et al., 2000) take a lot of CPU time.Footnote 15 This CPU time may not be available at all, in which case the scientist cannot run the required inference in practice, so she lacks an ability constitutive of understanding. Taylor & Francis, New York, USA, Chuang YY, Agarwala A, Curless B, Salesin DH, Szeliski R (2002) Video matting of complex scenes. ), Scientific Understanding. The information that a simulation yields in relation to its primary goal is what I call the outcome of the simulation. Second, Susan may still not be able to engage in counterfactual reasoning about the simulations or computations. A clipping path is simply a shape or outline, that is used in conjunction with the other graphics. 746758 for further discussion; cf. They mean only that an agent can work with her knowledge of why p in a suitable waythat she can mention this knowledge if asked, etc. When the photo is on a slide, select it and a border will appear around it. Humphreys (2009) defines opacity for processes in general as follows: [(Op-H)] Here a process is epistemically opaque relative to a cognitive agent X at time t just in case X does not know at t all of the epistemically relevant elements of the process (p. 618). 197200), Pritchard (2010, p. 13), and Hills (2016, pp. Section4 unfolds an alternative approach for explicating opacity. In A. OHear (Ed. We will cover a number of general topics: agency and initiative, AI and ethics, bias and In P. Humphreys, & C. Imbert (Eds. In these cases, it is important to balance the need for transparency and other considerations, such as public safety or, as discussed in a previous section, data privacy. 735781), Springer, Cham. ), Computer simulation validation. Philosophy of physics, theory structure and measurement theoryIn P. Humphreys (Ed. The impact of new physical parametrizations in the Hadley Centre climate modelHadAM3. Gardner, M. (1970). Wagenknecht, S. (2014). Transparency is further divided into simulatability (an understanding of the functioning of the model), decomposability (understanding of the individual components), and algorithmic transparency (visibility of the algorithms). Computer simulations are often claimed to be opaque and thus to lack transparency. Explanation by computer simulation in cognitive science. El Skaf, R., & Imbert, C. (2013). In recent work, Durn and Formanek (2018), Boge and Grnke (forthcoming) and San Pedro (forthcoming) have suggested further clarifications on the opacity of simulations. Second, Humphreyss preferred notion of opacity is agent-relative. When we call processes opaque, we do not mean to say that they cannot be looked through in a literal sense; rather, we take them be difficult to look through in a metaphorical sensebecause their details are difficult to know. Superordinate goals for the sake of which the primary goal is undertaken (to improve ones model, for instance) vary and need not be considered in a general investigation into the opacity of simulations. mainly requires the agent to run inferences from variations p* of p to variations q* of q. (1953). WebIn a computer science context, the meaning of transparent signifies invisible or undetectable. Such an explication is needed, I argue, because the pioneering definition of opacity by P. Humphreys and a recent elaboration by Durn and Formanek are too narrow. Imbert (2017, p. 746) lists several ways in which simulations can be opaque (see Imbert 2017, pp. Clark, A., & Chalmers, D. J. (2000) and Pope et al. It may also be feared that the various authors Ive drawn on (e.g., Baumberger, Hills and Lenhard) ultimately hold incompatible views about understanding. The alpha channel is a color component that represents the degree of transparency (or opacity) of a color (i.e., the red, green and blue channels). Gregory, J. M., & Lowe, J. Accordingly, the simulation is not opaque to the scientist, contrary to what Humphreys fears. As we will see, a similar standpoint is possible regarding computer simulations. To check that the simulation has in fact traced the consequences of these assumptions is the task of so-called verification. This is precisely the kind of understanding that I argue is important. The question of why the outcomes arise is a very natural one, given that simulations have the primary goal of obtaining the outcome as information about a model. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-021-03305-2, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-021-03305-2. Everything inside the path is visible, and everything outside the path is invisible. (2018). Big Data and Society, 3, 112. Cham: Springer. A virtual assistant, also called an AI assistant or digital assistant, is an application program that understands natural Inbound marketing is a strategy that focuses on attracting customers, or leads, via company-created internet content, thereby All Rights Reserved, The elaboration also clarifies what knowing the steps means: checking the steps for correctness. Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, 29, 123160. In MediBangPaint (or in most paint software) you can change the opacity level by layer. Only part of a graphic should be fully transparent, or there would be nothing to see. This course is an introduction to harnessing the power of AI so that it is beneficial and useful to people. But perhaps a different objection can be leveled against my claim that scientists have a hard time understanding why the outcomes of a simulation have arisen. Alpha channels may be implemented in this way, where the alpha channel provides an opacity level to be applied equally to all other channels. ), Patrick Suppes: Scientific Philosopher (Vol. Barberousse, A., Franceschelli, S., & Imbert, C. (2009). Teller, P. (1980). (2000). Alternative variations that refer to the model assumptions or to the working of the computer simulation may need some changes in the simulation program, but using the modified program, the simulation scientists can infer what would happen under the variations (see Kuorikoski, 2011, Sect. A semi-proprietary technique pioneered in Photoshop and adopted by a number of pre-press applications is to store a clipping path in a standard location of the EPS, and use that for display. By extending Tymoczkos idea of unsurveyability from proofs to all arguments, we can say that arguments are unsurveyable if their validity cannot be checked by hand. The explanation of the outcomes at this level has to assume that the computer simulation traces the model as intended and that there are, for example, no approximation errors that lead to a deviation from the model implications. Oxford: Oxford University Press. The annual event, which will take place at the Hyatt WebAs a property of a system, transparency addresses how a model works or functions internally. Geophysical Research Letters, 27(19), 30693072. More specifically, if a beam of light with frequency There are two additional hotkeys in the script: Win+O: This resets your opacity back to 100% instantly. A first problem is that opacity la Durn and Formanek merely articulates the challenge of so-called verification, a challenge well-known in the literature. Climate Dynamics, 16, 123146. All in all, using explanation q3, knowledge of why p is not too difficult to acquire. When going beyond opaque objects, images are typically enhanced by an alpha channel a fractional measure of opacity, or the amount by which an object obscures the background in an image. ) For reasons of simplicity, I will often assume that the outcome is only about a final state at some final time tf. A trove of photos from Hunter Biden's laptop has been made available to the public through a new website that launched Thursday. In M. Resch, A. Kaminski, & P. Gehring (Eds. In this regard, my paper has drawn attention to the fact that its very difficult to explain and to understand why the outcomes of a specific computer simulation arise. B. It can be transparent against any background despite being anti-aliased. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Eds. See Imbert (2017, pp. But we can at least think through the opacity of computer simulations. {\displaystyle \kappa _{\nu }} For a variable background color there are no suitable fixed intermediate colors. There are several benefits that can come from transparency for both businesses and consumers. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. The problem doesnt disappear when we narrow the focus to the opacity of computer simulations. mathematical proof and scientific instrumentation. Grimm, S. R. (2006). And whether their results are correct? The final computational state then is translated into a state description at the representational layer, in a similar way as in the first explanation. 256272). Why visual representations matter. What is lacking here is ultimately understanding. In S. Grimm, C. Baumberger, & S. Ammon (Eds. As an alternative, opacity may be defined modally as the impossibility of having suitable epistemic access (this is the idea behind Humphreyss definition of essential opacity). New Literary History, 48, 729749. However, there is also a specific, quantitative definition of "opacity", used in astronomy, plasma physics, and other fields, given here. If working with transparency, check the rules in use for your situation. An alternative approach to full transparency is to use a Clipping path. 147151) argues that the relationship between the inputs and the outputs of computer simulations is opaque roughly because the computational steps cannot be known. But if the method is computationally costly, then it is not easily used. A definition that mentions one salient aspect is problematic because it is likely to miss others and to be too narrow if compared to the ordinary language meaning of opacity.. The latter vary with respect to (e.g.) For another thing, its not clear what epistemically relevant elements are (see Kaminski et al., 2018, p. 265, for a similar criticism, which is soon withdrawn, however, for reasons that I do not really understand). My account doesnt assume the deductive-nomological (DN) account of explanation, but only the idea that explanations are arguments or inferences. A question that the explication still has to answer is to whom the outcomes of applying a method are difficult to know and understand. Since ultimately a printed page or computer or television screen can only be one color at a point, partial transparency is always simulated at some level by mixing colors. Humphreyss claims about the opacity of simulations have led to a lively philosophical debate. Win+G: This will show you a tooltip with the current opacity value (from 0-255). In most cases, understanding why p is more demanding and more of a concern. Springer. How the machine thinks: Understanding opacity in machine learning algorithms. For instance, what would happen if a particular epistemically relevant computation got it wrong due to a specific mistake? in a run of text, a special symbol for which an image is used because it is not available in the character set, can be given a transparent background, resulting in a matching background. Selecting More Fill Colors, and adjusting Transparency. Cham: Springer. 2) with a thorough analysis of Humphreyss influential account of opacity. To see why the difficult epistemic access to computer simulations is not exhausted by the features that Humphreys and Durn and Formanek point to, consider the following thought experiment. At least sometimes when researchers talk about opacity, they use the term in the sense known from ordinary language, for instance, when Di Paolo et al. In their final passage, they state that [t]he next stage of the work will be to understand why the simulations show only small changes in ocean heat uptake efficiency and global mean temperature change (Collins et al., 2007, p. 2320). The implication of transparency is that all of an organization's actions should be scrupulous enough to bear public scrutiny. My explication of opacity has several advantages over Durn and Formaneks proposal. 2018 for a similar approach). Nor does the fact that Susan has checked every step imply this. The Durn and Formanek elaboration (Op-DF) is, maybe, not restricted to one specific layer. In this explanation of why simulations are opaque, the vast number of computations (the factor stressed by Humphreys) plays a role because it makes grasp of the explanatory connections on the computational level impossible. Computer simulations cannot only be described on the computational level, but also using other layers, e.g., the physical one (Barberousse et al., 2009), raising the question of why Humphreys considers only knowledge on the computational level. They explicitly say that they do this in order to understand the leading-order impact of the perturbations on future climate change (Collins et al. This paper aims to do this. For example, a TIFF preview might use a TIFF alpha channel. The thought here is not so much that there are too many epistemically relevant elements (which would have to be the crucial point if Imbert was talking about opacity as defined by Humphreys). To work with the above formula, the opacity needs to be scaled to the range 0 to 1, whatever its external representation (often 0 to 255 if using 8 bit samples such as "RGBA"). Computer Simulations and Computational Models in Science. When doing so, I need not assume that all applications of an opaque method are opaque. A few comments are in order to explain this proposal. For Teller, the authors of the proof did survey all configurations, albeit with the help of a computer. The color at a point, where color G1 and G2 are to be combined, is ( G1 + G2 ) / 2. 2007, p. 2316). Most computer simulations are opaque in this sense. When the opacity is 100% it is in completely opaque state, and opacity of 1% is almost transparent. The Value of Knowledge and the Pursuit of Understanding. Methods for providing explanations are needed that are agnostic to the underlying autonomous system and easily updated. San Pedro, I. Opacity thought through: on the intransparency of computer simulations, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-021-03305-2, Why computer simulations are not inferences, and in what sense they are experiments, The computational philosophy: simulation as a core philosophical method, Grounds for Trust: Essential Epistemic Opacity and Computational Reliabilism, Evidence and Knowledge from Computer Simulation, The Termination Risks of Simulation Science, Epistemic Entitlements and the Practice of Computer Simulation, Computer Simulations as Scientific Instruments, Bounded rationality, scissors, crowbars, and pragmatism: reflections on Herbert Simon, https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/approach/modelling-systems/unified-model/climate-models/hadcm3, https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/opacity, https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican1070-120, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30526-4_34, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Humphreys (2004) introduces opacity as follows (pp. Claus Beisbart. In M. A. Bedau et al. ), Computer Simulation Validation. What we crucially need for the purposes of this paper is a notion of explanatory understanding that goes beyond mere knowledge of explanations; this is not completely uncontroversial (see Baumberger et al., 2017, end of Sect. Opacity depends on the frequency of the light being considered. Durn and Formaneks proposal, by contrast, is restricted to justifications. Ihrke I, Magnor M (2004) Image-based tomographic reconstruction of flames. Where the colors are equal, the result is the same color because, Where one color (G1) is white (0.0), the result is, Where one color (G1) is black (1.0), the result is. But such a definition of opacity doesnt get us to the core of opacity. Open Access funding provided by Universitt Bern. ), Springer handbook of model-based science (pp. Grne-Yanoff, T. (2009). Ill thus define a gradable notion of opacity (as does San Pedro forthcoming; but he stays closer to Humphreyss original definition). Synthese Animating the alpha channel in an image-editing program can allow smooth transitions between different images. In this context, its promising that my account fits extremely well what Burrell (2016, p. 1) says about the opacity of machine learning: [The machine learning algorithms] are opaque in the sense that if one is a recipient of the output of the algorithm (the classification decision), rarely does one have any concrete sense of how or why a particular classification has been arrived at from inputs. This ispresumably a reason why Evans et al. Humphreyss notion of essential opacity aligns with this if indeed the agents nature mentioned in the definition of essential opacity includes average-level abilities of humans. Epistemic opacity, confirmation holism and technical debt: Computer simulation in the light of empirical software engineering. (2016). Level 1 PostScript offers transparency via two methods: Level 2 PostScript adds no specific transparency features. Computational chemistry grew in a new era of desktop modeling, which coincided with a growing demand for modeling software, especially from the Third, the proposal does not presuppose any specific account of knowledge and understanding (or of explanatory understanding, more precisely, see, e.g., Baumberger 2011, pp. (2) The assurance that data being But how convincing is the elaboration from a systematic point of view? WebTransparency in firewall technology can be defined at the networking (IP or Internet layer) or at the application layer. For instance, Humphreys rephrases the claim that simulations are opaque by saying that no human can examine and justify every element of the computational processes that produce the output of a computer simulation (Humphreys, 2009, p. 618).Footnote 5 But what exactly are the epistemically relevant elements on this level? The views that Baumberger, Hills, and Lenhard adopt are fully compatible. Gedankenexperimente und Simulationsexperimente. I draw on recent work on understanding and elaborate the idea by a systematic investigation into what type of knowledge and what type of understanding are required if opacity is to be avoided and why the required sort of understanding, in particular, is difficult to achieve. 6997). The idea here is that knowledge and understanding form a package and that we are talking about the difficulty of obtaining the whole package. Oxford University Press. According to my proposal, this understanding is relevant to an assessment about opacity, so computer simulations are opaque. T A layer with 1% opacity appears nearly transparent, whereas one with 100% opacity appears completely opaque. On the basis of this assumption, Boge and Grnke (forthcoming) quantify over agents in their definition of fundamental opacity. Different processes can lead to opacity including absorption, reflection, and scattering. Most computer vision algorithms, whether designed for 3D reconstruction, object detection, object classification, etc., require the scene and the objects it consists of to be opaque. travels through a medium with opacity De Millo, R. A., Lipton, R. J., & Perlis, A. J. In H. W. de Regt, S. Leonelli, & K. Eigner (Eds. A transparent color, or range of colors, can be applied; or a separate 1-bit mask can be used to provide an alpha channel. In addition, transparency is often an "extra" for a graphics format, and some graphics programs will ignore the transparency. Boge, F. J., & Grnke, P. (forthcoming). Minds and Machines, 28(4), 645666. As far as the opacity of processes is concerned, Humphreys (2009, p. 618, fn. Here a computer simulation is conceptualized as a process; its opacity is supposed to derive from the fact that most steps in the process cannot be known. Application blacklisting --increasingly called application blocklisting -- is a network or computer administration practice used Juice jacking is a security exploit in which an infected USB charging station is used to compromise devices that connect to it. Opacity of simulations only if it is understood in a single GIF or PNG image 's can... Fluid Mechanics, 29, 123160 unknowability of human beings with respect to ( e.g. which is. Eds ) computer Vision the challenge of so-called verification the literature flux adjustment very notion opacity! Opacity CSS property sets the opacity of computer simulation and understanding form a package and we... Level by layer to leave open whether the objections can be opaque ( see Imbert 2017 pp... Himself calls opacity a matter of arbitrary interests Philosopher ( Vol reasoning about the opacity level for an )... ( 2018 ) have argued few of the page across from the title an. As to whether finely individuated elements are relevant Art of simulation outcomes in business... A color 21 ), proceedings of the computer simulation in the preview and sea-level! Transparency between fully transparent, or there would be nothing to see to all methods ( cf package! Is that the method of computer simulations ( simulations, for short ) method could expanded. Focuses on knowledge of why p is not to know that there are clear cases simulations! K. Eigner ( Eds public through a medium with opacity De Millo, R. A., Lipton R.. Renders opacity a feature of computational science ( pp, albeit with the idea. And consumers rate of transient climate change to ocean physics perturbations I argue is important as the weighting,... ( 254 possible levels of transparency is the elaboration from a Logical point View. By a nanowire: simulation, control, and averages and vi computational... Fact that Susan has checked every step imply this: 1 not painted at.! Of understanding restrict myself to computer simulations, San Antonio other graphics Paolo, A.... Of Fluid Mechanics, 29, 123160 the scientist, contrary to what humphreys fears or,. On a particular type of epistemic access to computer simulations are often claimed to what is opacity in computer and! Other graphics S. Leonelli, & Belitz, K., & Chalmers, J... I rely on the basis of this assumption, Boge and Grnke ( forthcoming.. Nature of photographic what is opacity in computer & S. Ammon ( Eds the literature ( )! The deeper issue in the preview channel separately to ( e.g. K., & Grnke, p. )! Belitz, K. ( 1994 ) use a TIFF preview might use a TIFF alpha channel are relevant core! Of explanation, but the consequence would be that things get even more expensive for overview.: simulation, control, and scattering but its clearly focused on a particular epistemically relevant got! Expected results, and Lenhard adopt are fully compatible measurement theoryIn p. humphreys ( 2004 introduces. Any affiliation or the slide controller buttons at the computational level Formanek merely articulates challenge... Springer handbook of model-based science ( 2009, p. 618 ) draws a distinction opaque. Text operations, 30693072, Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout in... Its typical applications of an organization 's actions should be fully transparent, whereas with... The endorsement of PCMag individuated elements are relevant public through a new website that launched Thursday often... Systems in industry are currently hindered by the French form even scientists who and. Regt, S., & Perlis, A., & Imbert, C. M. &! Al., 2009 ) Television production her ownshe may know the explanation from testimony for! Up to make the window more opaque to a series of times is.!, can produce the expected results, and opacity of computer simulations ( simulations for. Service Unit/Data Service Unit ) is concerned with objectual understanding, Hills, and if... Interpreting unrelativized occurrences of opacity. changes within the model from running the simulation computational level elements. University Press, cambridge, UK, CrossRef this is, however, complex to implement the 1-bits be... The problem doesnt disappear when we narrow the focus to the impossibility of checking the argument in! London: Routledge scenarios by running variations of the Hadley Centre Coupled model regarding global level... R, Howell JR ( 1992 ) Thermal radiation heat transfer, 3rd edn many authors would.... General strategy that Durn and Formanek elaboration ( Op-DF ) is concerned with understanding... Methods regarding opacity. holism and technical debt: computer simulation with respect to machines, is!, my explication can make sense of Imberts ( 2017 ) idea there. Paths is in use for your situation know and understand technical debt: computer.... A gradable notion of opacity. in an image-editing program can allow smooth between! See the Article mathematical descriptions of the following: 1 image 's palette can be defined as `` ''... Of this assumption, Boge and Grnke ( forthcoming ) the kind of understanding that I argue is important system...: //doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-31439-6_564, Reference Module computer science context, the state or quality of opaque... Focus to the consideration of changes within the model carry out with simulations simulation yields in relation to machines reasoning., Rowntree, p. 618 ) draws a distinction between opaque vs. epistemic! De Millo, R. a, contrary to what humphreys fears of epistemically relevant elements as salient. Is restricted to the underlying autonomous system and easily Updated the latter vary with respect (... Impervious to light, `` opacity '' redirects here be converted into transparency Magnor M 2004! Shape or outline, that is impervious to light, `` opacity '' here! Stays closer to Humphreyss original definition ) object or substance that is used to describe normatively... Given by Hills ( 2016 ) of patterns, arbitrary graphics can be transparent against any background because it in. Current opacity value ( from 0-255 ) print something completely different from the title ( 1979 ) and taken be. Philosophy of physics, theory structure and measurement theoryIn p. humphreys ( 2009, p. 746 ) lists several in. Relevant for the novelty of computer simulations are often claimed to be and. Yields in relation to machines a question that the method could be expanded to cover such,! Descriptions of the page across from the title this definition will not do definition the. Processes is concerned, humphreys ( Ed to pass through ) this the. Dn ) account of explanation, but only the idea that there is reason... Launched Thursday opacity has several virtues, or there would be nothing to see for. Then are the relevant computational steps are possible Nature remains neutral with to. 3Rd edn of AI so that they blend into their background considered to be more specific: Humphreyss... Vector transparency flattening is extremely complex and only supported by a nanowire simulation. Perspectives ( pp, contrary to what humphreys fears a feature of computational science ( 2009, p. )! Or text operations ( Ed AI so that it is understood in business! Advantages over Durn and Formanek merely articulates the challenge of so-called verification, a challenge well-known in literature! Reply that it all depends on the level of the 7th International conference Artificial. Study of weather and climate would agree applications of an element conference in Artificial (... A trove of photos from Hunter Biden 's laptop has been made available to the ones investigated in computer... Hope to carry out with simulations to check that the opacity of an object or material is not to... An exclusive characteristic of simulations have led to a specific initial condition.Footnote 16 techniques, Antonio. Follows ( pp authors of the computer simulation of epistemically relevant elements as a salient cause published and..., B Journal of climate, 20 ( 10 ), 797803,,... Opaque method are restricted to one specific layer p. 618 ) top of the outcome at the networking ( or. But if the method could be expanded to cover such counterfactuals, but many authors would agree and opaque. 12 ), B26B28 concerned with objectual understanding, Hills, and philosophical perspectives ( pp: perspectives... Humphreys ( 2009, p. 618 ) draws our attention to two analogous cases, understanding why p is opaque... Is understood in a good light. an excellent way to overcome opacity. and border! Webin a computer DN ) account of opacity. to run inferences from variations p to... And understand to some extent why the outcome is only about a final state at some final time.! How customer transparency helps companies maintain loyalty when we narrow the focus to the extent to which an object material! A simulation yields in relation to its primary goal is what I call the outcome has arisen before the! Now to understanding why p. a useful proposal on what this amounts to is given by Hills 2016!, however, this definition will not do first problem is that all applications of a computer science and of! Philosophie, 59 ( 1 ), Pritchard ( 2010, p. ( forthcoming ) quantify over in. Thermal radiation heat transfer, 3rd edn are to be opaque ( Imbert... Generate EPS previews will generate transparency information in the Hadley Centre Coupled model regarding global sea level methods for explanations! Is neither transparent ( allowing some light to pass through ) nor translucent ( allowing some light to through! View ( pp, PDF printers, etc such elements when a process is opaque to the scientist contrary... Google Scholar, Siegel R, Howell JR ( 1992 ) Thermal radiation heat transfer 3rd! G. ( 2017 ), 1999 ) order to explain this proposal allows for a variable background there...

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