Colin Klein

I am a Professor in the School of Philosophy at the Australian National University. I am a lead investigator on The Major Transitions in The Evolution of Cognition project funded by TWCF. I am also a lead CI in the Digital Trust Research Group , a member of the ANU Centre for Philosophy of the Sciences, and a section editor for the The Open Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science.     

Before ANU, I taught at Macquarie University, and before that I spent a year as a visiting research fellow in the Centre for Consciousness at the ANU. My first job was at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  I did my undergraduate degree at Franklin and Marshall College and my PhD at Princeton University. For moderately up-to-date information on my work and current projects, please scroll down or else click on one of the topics below.

Books

Active Work

Forthcoming

• "Phenomenal interface theory: a model for basal consciousness" (with Andrew Barron) forthcoming in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B | Final Draft
• "Computational Individuation: Isomorphism, not Indeterminacy" forthcoming in Analysis | Final draft

In Progress

• "Represented structure versus representational structure: A challenge for interpreting LLMs" Current draft
• "Transformers and the format of thought" - a (much) longer version of the above. email for draft
• "Krohn-Rhodes cascaded decomposition of automata for the mathematically unsophisticated" - email for draft (though this is still pretty rough)
• ngramminator: A tool for cross-text comparison, focusing on classical Chinese. - email if you want to give it a try!

Philosophy of Cognitive Neuroscience

Theory

• “Comparing cognition across major transitions using the hierarchy of formal automata” (2024) Colin Klein and Andrew Barron. WIREs Cognitive Science e1680 Online Version
• “Cognitive Ontology” (2024) The Open Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science Online Version
• "Transitions in Cognitive Evolution" (2023) Andrew B Barron, Marta Halina, and Colin Klein. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 290. Published Version
• "Explaining Neural Transitions through Resource Constraints" (2022) Philosophy of Science  89(5): 1196 - 1202 Published Version | Final Draft
• "What is the job of the job description challenge? A case study from body representation" Colin Klein and Peter Clutton. (2021) in Neural Mechanisms: New Challenges in Philosophy of Neuroscience ed Fabrizio Calzavarini & Marco Viola. Dordrecht: Springer. pp 449–465. Published version
• "Do we represent peripersonal space?"(2021) in The World at our Fingertips: A Multi- disciplinary Exploration of Peripersonal Space ed F. de Vignemont, H.Y. Wong, A. Serino, and A. Farné. Oxford: Oxford University Press.   Final Draft
• "A Humean challenge to predictive coding" (2020) in The Philosophy and Science of Predictive Processing ed Dina Mendonca, Manuel Curado, and Steven Gouveia. Bloomsbury Press.   Final Draft
• "Mechanisms, resources, and background conditions" (2018) Biology and Philosophy 33:36 Published Version | Final draft
• What do Predictive Coders Want?"  (2018) Synthese 95(6): 2451-2557. Final Draft | Published Version
• Peter Clutton, Stephen Gadsby & Colin Klein "Taxonomising delusions: content or aetiology?" (2017) Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 22(6): 508-527. Published paper | Archive Link
• Esther Klein and Colin Klein "Did the Chinese have a change of heart?" (2012) Cognitive Science 36(2): 179-82. Published Version
• "Kicking the Kohler Habit," Philosophical Psychology (2007) Vol. 20, No. 5, pp. 609-619. Penultimate Draft
• Anthony Chemero, Colin Klein, and Will Cordeiro. "Events as Changes in the Layout of Affordances." (2003) Ecological Psychology.  15(1), 19-28. Published Version

Neuroimaging-specific

• "Decoding the Brain: Neural Representation and the Limits of Multivariate Pattern Analysis in Cognitive Neuroscience." (with J. Brendan Ritchie and David M. Kaplan) BJPS (2019) Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 581-607.
• "Interpreting the dimensions of neural feature representations revealed by dimensionality reduction'' Erin Goddard, Colin Klein, Samuel G Solomon, Hinze Hogendoorn, and Thomas A Carlson. (2018) Thomas A Carlson, Erin Goddard, David M Kaplan, Colin Klein, J. Brendan Ritchie. Neuroimage 180(A): 88–100 Published paper
• "Ghosts in machine learning for cognitive neuroscience: Moving from data to theory" Thomas Carlson, Erin Goddard, David M. Kaplan, Colin Klein, Brendan Ritchie. (2018) Thomas A Carlson, Erin Goddard, David M Kaplan, Colin Klein, J. Brendan Ritchie. Neuroimage 180(A): 88–100 Published Paper
• "Brain Regions as Difference-Makers" (2017) Philosophical  Psychology 30(1-2): 1-20.  Published Paper  | Final Draft
• "What is a cognitive ontology, anyway?" (2017) Annelli Janssen, Colin Klein, and Marc Slors. Philosophical Explorations 20:2 (123-128) Archive version
• "The Brain at Rest: What it's Doing and Why That Matters" Philosophy of Science (2014) 81(5): 974-985 Published Paper | Final Draft
• "Cognitive Ontology and Region- versus Network-oriented Analyses" Philosophy of Science (2012) 79(5): 952-960. Final Draft
• "The Dual Track theory of Moral Decision-Making: A Critique of the Neuroimaging Evidence"  Neuroethics (2011) Vol. 4, pp 143-162. Published Version | Final Draft
• “Philosophical Issues in Neuroimaging” (2010) Philosophy Compass 5(2), pp. 186-198. Published Version
• "Images are not the Evidence of Neuroimaging" British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (2010) Vol. 61, pp. 265-278. Published Version | Penultimate Draft
• Chris Mole and Colin Klein "Confirmation, Refutation and The Evidence of fMRI"  In Foundational Issues in Human Brain Mapping (2010), pp99-112. MIT press

Pain Perception

• "Transduction, calibration, and the penetrability of pain" (2024) Ergo 10: 50. Published Version
• “Is Pain Asymbolia a Deficit or a Syndrome? Historical Reflections on an Ongoing Debate.” (2023) Colin Klein and Alexandre Duval. Belgrade Philosophical Annual (special issue in honor of Nikola Grahek) 36/02 p41-57. Published Version
• Michelle Liu and Colin Klein "Pain and Spatial Inclusion: Evidence from Mandarin" Analysis (2020).  80(2): 262–272 Final Draft | Published Version
• "Imperativism and Pain Intensity" (2019) (with Manolo Martínez) in The Philosophy of Pain: Unpleasantness, Emotion, and Deviance. ed. David Bain, Michael Brady, and Jennifer Corns, Routledge Final Draft
• "Pain, Care, and The Body: A Response to de Vignemont" (2017) Australasian Journal of Philosophy 95(3):588-593 Older Draft | Published Paper
• "Pain signals are predominantly imperative" (2016) (with Manolo Martínez) Biology and Philosophy 31:283–298.Published Version| Final Draft
• What Pain Asymbolia Really Shows" Mind (2015) Published Paper | Final Draft
• "The Penumbral Theory of Masochistic Pleasure" The Review of Philosophy and Psychology (2014) 5(1): 41-55 Published Paper | Final Draft
• "Imperatives, Phantom Pains, and Hallucination by Presupposition" Philosophical Psychology (2012) 25(6): 917-928. Published Paper | Final Draft
• "Response to Tumulty on Pain and Imperatives" (2010) The Journal of Philosophy Vol. CVII, No. 10, pp 554-557. Final Draft
• "An Imperative Theory of Pain," The Journal of Philosophy (2007) Vol. CIV, No. 10, pp 517-532. Penultimate Draft

Consciousness

The Evolution of Consciousness

• "Evolutionary Transition Markers and the Origins of Consciousness” (2022) Marta Halina, David Harrison, and Colin Klein. Journal of Consciousness Studies 29(3-4): 62-77. Published Version
• Andrew Barron and Colin Klein. "What insects can tell us about the origins of consciousness" (2016) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113(18): 4900–4908. Personal Version | Online Version
• Colin Klein and Andrew Barron "Reply to Adamo, Key et al., and Schilling and Cruse: Crawling around the hard problem of consciousness" (2016) Online Version
• Klein, Colin and Barron, Andrew B. (2016) "Insects have the capacity for subjective experience." Animal Sentience 2016.100 Published Paper | Replies to commentary

AI and consciousness

• "Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence: Insights from the Science of Consciousness" (2023) Butlin, Long, et al. arXiv whitepaper

The Hard Problem

• “Explanation in the Science of Consciousness: From the Neural Correlates of Consciousness (NCCs) to the Difference Makers of Consciousness (DMCs)” (2020) Colin Klein, Jakob Hohwy, and Tim Bayne. Philosophy and the Mind Sciences 1(II), 4. Published Version
• Colin Klein and Andrew Barron "First-person interventions and the meta-problem of consciousness" (2020) Journal of Consciousness Studies 27:5-6 82-90.  Final Draft | Published Version
• Colin Klein and Andrew Barron "How Experimental Neuroscientists Can Fix the Hard Problem of Consciousness" (2020) Colin Klein and Andrew Barron Neuroscience of Consciousness 6(1): niaa009 Final Draft

Human Consciousness

• "Consciousness, Intention, and Command Following in the Vegetative State" (2017) The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 68(1): 27-54 Final Draft | Online Version
• “Variability, convergence and dimensions of consciousness” (2015) Colin Klein and Jakob Hohwy. In Behavioral Methods In Consciousness ed. Morten Overgaard, Oxford: Oxford University Press: 249–264. OUP Book Page

Computation, Reduction, and Realization

Computation

• “Exploratory analysis and the expected value of experimentation” (2024) Philosophy of Science 91(5): 1109-1117 Published Version
• "Computing in the Nick of Time" (2022) J Brendan Ritchie and Colin Klein. Ratio Published Version
• "Polychrony and the process view of computation" (2020) Philosophy of Science 87(5): 1140–1149. Published version
• Computation, consciousness, and 'Computation and consciousness'" (2019) In Routledge Handbook of the Computational Mind, ed. Mark Sprevak and Matteo Colombo, 297–309. Final Draft
• "Olympia and Other O-Machines" Philosophia (2015) 43(4): Final Draft | Published Version
• "Two Paradigms for Individuating Implementation" The Journal of Cognitive Science (2012) 13(2): 167-179. Final Draft
• "Dispositional Implementation Solves the Superfluous Structure Problem" Synthese (2008) Vol. 165, No. 2, pp. 141-153. Penultimate Draft | Published Version

Reduction and Realization

• "Psychological Explanation, Ontological Commitment, and the Semantic view of Theories " New Waves in Philosophy of Mind (2014) ed. Mark Sprevak and Jesper Kallestrup. New York, Palgrave Macmillan: 208-225. Publisher Website | Final Draft
• "Multiple Realizability and the Semantic View of Theories" Philosophical Studies. (2013) 163(3): 683-695. Published paper | Penultimate Draft
• "Reduction without Reductionism: A Defence of Nagel on Connectability" Philosophical Quarterly (2009) Vol. 59, No. 234, pp. 39-53. Published version
• "An Ideal Solution to Disputes about Multiply Realized Kinds," Philosophical Studies (2008) Vol. 140, No. 2, pp. 161-177. Penultimate Draft

Social Epistemology

Online Work

• "Polarization and trust in the evolution of vaccine discourse on Twitter during COVID- 19” Ignacio Ojea Quintana, Ritsaart Reimann. Marc Cheong, Mark Alfano, Colin Klein. (2022)   PLOS ONE Published Version
• "The affiliative use of emoji and hashtags in the Black Lives Matter movement." (2023) Mark Alfano, Ritsaart Reimann, Ignacio Quintana, Marc Cheong & Colin Klein. in Social Science Computer Review Current Draft
• “Attention and counter-framing in the Black Lives Matter movement on Twitter” Colin Klein, Ritsaart Reimann, Ignacio Ojea Quintana, Marc Cheong, Marinus Ferreira, and Mark Alfano. (2022) Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 9:367 Published paper
• “Technologically scaffolded atypical cognition: The case of YouTube’s recommender system” Mark Alfano, Amir Ebrahimi Fard, J Adam Carter, Peter Clutton, Colin Klein. Synthese 199, pp835–858 Published Version
• "Pathways to conspiracy: The social and linguistic precursors of involvement in Reddit's conspiracy theory forum." (2019) Colin Klein, Peter Clutton, and Adam Dunn. PLOS ONE 14(11): e0225098. Published Version
• Mark Alfano and Colin Klein (2019) ”Trust in a Social and Digital World.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 8 (10): 1-8. https://wp.me/p1Bfg0-4tk.
• "Topic modeling reveals distinct posting patterns within an online conspiracy forum." Colin Klein, Peter Clutton, Vince Polito (2018) Frontiers in Psychology 9:189. Published Version

More Traditional

• “A Tragic Coalition of the Rational and Irrational: A threat to collective responses to COVID-19” (2022) Marinus Ferreira, Marc Cheong, Colin Klein, and Mark Alfano. Philosophical Psychology Online First
• The Coordination Dilemma For Epidemiological Modelers"(2021) Ignacio Ojea Quintana, Sarita Rosenstock, and Colin Klein. Biology and Philosophy.36:54 Published Version | Preprint
• "Putting the ‘social’ back in social psychology" (2020) in Current Controversies in Philosophy of Cognitive Science, ed ed. Simon Cullen, Sarah-Jane Leslie, and Adam Lerner. Routledge. Published Version
• Esther Klein and Colin Klein “Wang Chong’s epistemology of testimony”  (2016) Asia Major Third Series, 29(2): 115–147. Website

Ethics

• “Investigating gender and racial biases in DALL-E Mini Images” (2024) Marc Cheong, Ehsan Abedin, Marinus Ferreira, Ritsaart Willem Reimann, Shalom Chalson, Pamela Robinson, Joanne Byrne, Leah Ruppanner, Mark Alfano and Colin Klein ACM Journal on Responsible Computing 1(2)13: 1–20. Published version
• “Mapping Topics in 100,000 Real-life Moral Dilemmas” (2022) Tuan Dung Nguyen, Georgiana Lyall, Alasdair Tran, Minjeong Shin, Nicholas Carroll, Colin Klein, and Lexing Xie. F Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2022) 16(1), 699-710. Published Version
• "The Ethical Gravity Thesis: Marrian Levels and the Persistence of Bias in Automated Decision-making Systems" (2021) Atoosa Kasirzadeh & Colin Klein Proceedings of the 2021 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES '21) Final draft 
• Jessica Isserow and Colin Klein (2017) "Hypocrisy and Moral Authority" Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 12(2): 191-222. Published version

Software and Technical Reports

• wisdom-of-crowds: A Python package for social-epistemological network profiling. Paper forthcoming in Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Complex Networks Github repo
• "Automated clustering of COVID-19 anti-vaccine discourse on Twitter" Quintana et al. arXiv link

Occasional papers

• "Predictive Processing: Avoiding the elephant in the room" - Response to Sun and Firestone (2020). PsyArXiv link
• "Confidence Intervals on Implicit Association Test Scores Are Really Rather Large" - an attempt to estimate 95% CIs on IAT scores. They are probably larger than you think. (if anyone has access to raw data, please get in touch!)PsyArXiv Link

Public Engagement

• “Why ChatGPT isn’t conscious – but future AI systems might be”
• "How close is too close?" (with Frédérique de Vignemont)
• "Don’t (just) blame echo chambers. Conspiracy theorists actively seek out their online communities"
• "The ‘painless woman’ helps us see how anxiety and fear fit in the big picture of pain" | (Translated to Indonesian)
• "Why we need more than just data to create ethical driverless cars" (With Seth Lazar)
• "Online conspiracy theorists are more diverse (and ordinary) than most assume"
• "Gay-identifying AI tells us more about stereotypes than the origins of sexuality"
• "What it is like to be a bee: insects can teach us about the origins of consciousness"

Workshops, Conferences, and Professional Service

Past Workshops

• The Australasian Society for Philosophy and Psychology (ASPP).  December 2023, Australian National University
• Foundations of Computation 20-21 July 2023, The Australian National University
• Neural Representation and Neural Computation 5-6 September, The Australian National University.
• The First Annual Meeting of the Australasian Society for Philosophy and Psychology (ASPP).  5-7 December 2018, Macquarie Unviersity, Sydney.
• Animal Sentience: Pushing the Boundaries" 17 August 2018, The Australian National University (sponsored by the Centre for Philosophy of the Sciences)
• Conspiracy theories, delusions and other 'troublesome' beliefs 10-11 August 2017, Macquarie University
• Reshaping the mind: New work on cognitive ontology 9-10 June 2016, Macquarie University
• The Feeling of Suffering 18-19 February 2016, Macquarie University (Jointly sponsored and run by the John Templeton Foundation via the Value of Suffering Project and the Centre for Agency, Values, and Ethics (CAVE) at Macquarie University)
• Predictive Coding, Delusions, and Agency 15 May 2015, Macquarie University (Sponsored by the Research Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics (CAVE) at Macquarie University)

Current Professional Service

• I helped found The Australasian Society for Philosophy and Psychology. and have served in various capacities.
• I am a section editor for the Open Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science