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SUMMARY:Can We Please Say What We Mean By Program? - Nick Wiggershaus
DTSTART;TZID=US/Central:20260717T171000
DTEND;TZID=US/Central:20260717T174000
DTSTAMP:20260726T081410Z
UID:pretalx-iacap-2026-HBPULL@pretalx.iacapconf.org
DESCRIPTION:Computer Programs are one the most central entities of computi
 ng. Yet\, it remains unclear what kind of thing we are talking about. Are 
 programs best understood as mathematical entities\, physical processes\, l
 inguistic constructions\, or social practices? In this talk\, I offer a co
 nceptual diagnosis for the ongoing metaphysical ambiguity surrounding such
  entities. Specifically\, I argue that a central reason why we struggle to
  pin down their ontological nature lies in their unclear definition: a clo
 ser look at the etymology of programs reveals that their polysemic charact
 er is grounded in the pluralistic nature of computer science qua disciplin
 e\, including traits from mathematics\, the empirical sciences\, and engin
 eering. While the resulting linguistic ambiguity is largely innocuous\, I 
 submit that it is one of the root causes for why we historically and prese
 ntly struggle in our metaphysical inquiries of programs. Ontological debat
 es about whether they are abstract or concrete tend to stumble upon unnoti
 ced shifts in reference. What looks like a disagreement about metaphysics 
 can often be deflated to a conflation of referents under a shared label.
LOCATION:Executive Conference Room
URL:https://pretalx.iacapconf.org/iacap-2026/talk/HBPULL/
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