A personal view of the International Conference and Workshop on
New Trends in Cognitive Science held in Vienna in May 1999.

Hi, my name is David Davenport. I am a lecturer in computer engineering at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. My research interests center around understanding how the human mind works, however, I am not an expert in this field, more an enthusiastic amateur.

For me this conference was an incredible opportunity to meet and interact with some of the world's leading experts, including, Brian C. Smith, David Israel, John Haugeland, Jack B. Copeland, Adrian Cussins, Stevan Harnad and Phil Agre. We had four days of intense discussion. Since we were almost all staying at the same hotel, the days generally started with breakfast together at around 7:30am. The discussion continued during the short walk to the conference hall located in the main university building, through the morning session, through lunch together, through the afternoon session, through dinner together at one of the restaurants on the walk back to the hotel, and often continued in the hotel lobby, generally finishing at around 1 or 2 in the morning!

Personally, that one street from the hotel to the university was the only part of Vienna I managed to see. Indeed, the "highlight" of the week was when we ventured across the road to eat at (of all places!) a Turkish restaurant. Actually, the first evening we did go somewhere else for the conference reception, which was very nice, but I don't have a clue where it was! I also saw a little of the city in the taxi/bus ride between the airport and the hotel. My impression was that Vienna is very old and beautiful and orderly (at least compared to Turkish cities.) Anyway, it has been there a long time and will undoubtedly be there for some time to come, so maybe one day I will return there to explore it properly. I do not regret spending all my time talking to people because that is what I went there for and I learnt a lot!

Anyway, enough of my rambling, below are a few pictures that I and Xander Schrijen snapped. I hope you enjoy them. They take a while to download, but for those who attended the conference I think the wait will be worthwhile and should bring back happy memories. Please email me if you would like prints of the originals.

Intense discussion during the conference reception Xander Schrijen, Brian Smith, John Haugeland, Joan and David Israel listen to...

Julie This young lady (the same age as my own daughter), impressed me enormously. She sat through many of the presentations and was actually interested in them. If only my graduate students were that keen!

More scenes from the conference reception
Steven Harnad & Catherine Breslin	Rainer, ?? Matthais & Colleen

	...what, Ron Chrisley you disagree? David Israel ..."conducts" his talk, persuasively. ...forces home his point to John Haugeland!

The University of Vienna
Dating back some 600 years the main university building just exudes history, culture and learning. Along this corridor and the one on the other side of the courtyard, are the busts of professors who taught there. The list reads like Who's Who of science!

On the Philosophers Stairs
After watching the film about Godel's life and work, we visited the spot at which one of his friends, another member of the Vienna Circle, ??, was shot dead. The (living) philosophers are, Jack Copeland, Brian Smith, John Haugeland, Rainer Born, David Israel, Matthias Scheutz and ??

David ...still talking! Actually, he's a great guy, always polite, enthusiastic and very knowledgable. I love him! Looking on in amusement are Samir Chopra, Catherine Breslin, Steven Harnad and John Haugeland.

...still talking, this time in the Turkish Restaurant (on the other side of the street!) David Israel, Brian Smith, me (David Davenport), & Jack Copeland. Xander's taking the photo!

Brian Smith ...summing up

is that David Israel again, this time holding back the waters of the Red Sea on Brian's overhead drawing?

and a last meal together with our hosts.

Matthias Scheutz, Xander Schrijen, David Israel, Colleen Scheutz, Ron Chrisley & Jake Copeland.

I would like to once again thank our hosts, in particular, Matthias Scheutz and his wife Colleen, for all their hard work in organising the event and also for making it so enjoyable.

Finally, I would also like to thank the Hotel Atlanta which proved to be very comfortable, with friendly helpful staff who, luckily for me/us, spoke English! (Incidently, while watching a documentary film on Kurt Godel -made by our Austrian hosts- we learnt that he had once stayed in this very building! Now, I wonder who did stay in his room?)

Coming soon...

more photos -anyone?
my presentation online?
technical review?