Experimental philosophy, metaphysics, goo ...

I've hinted that computers give us a chance to experimentally test metaphysical hypotheses, fundamental ideas about the Universe and where we fit. It occurred to me this week that at this intersection of computer science and philosophy is a sort of experimental philosophy.

Well, it turns out the term has been taken since 2006, and it's not quite what I'm talking about. Here's from the facebook group:

Experimental Philosophy is a new philosophical movement that aims to return philosophy to questions about the way human beings ACTUALLY think and feel. Instead of simply pondering abstract questions from the armchair, experimental philosophers go out and run systematic experiments on the intuitions of ordinary people. So far, research in experimental philosophy has developed to address questions involving philosophy of action (inc. hotly debated free will issues), philosophy of mind, epistemology, moral philosophy, philosophy of language, philosophy of law, and so on.

In other words, x-phi (as it's abbreviated) is about polling people, not simulating them. That's interesting, but it doesn't seem suited to studying metaphysics.

So how about experimental metaphysics? That's already taken too. It's the intersection of metaphysics and quantum physics. Also a fine study, and closer to mine, but not quite there.

What I want is the intersection between artificial intelligence and metaphysics. Initial searching lands me in ooey-gooey tranhumanism land. Eek! Can we do better? Feed back to Chad Whitacre.