Based on results from evolutionary psychology, we discuss important functions that can be served ... more Based on results from evolutionary psychology, we discuss important functions that can be served by consciousness in autonomous robots. These include deliberately controlled action, conscious awareness, self-awareness, metacognition, and ego consciousness. We distinguish intrinsic intentionality from consciousness, but argue it is also important to understanding robot cognition. Finally, we explore the Hard Problem for robots (i.e., whether they can experience subjective awareness) from the perspective of the theory of protophenomena.En s’appuyant sur les résultats de la psychologie évolutionniste, nous examinons les différentes fonctions importantes que puisse remplir la conscience dans les robots autonomes : action contrôlée, prise de conscience, conscience de soi, métacognition, conscience du moi. Nous distinguons l’intentionnalité intrinsèque de la conscience, mais soutenons également l’importance de la compréhension de la cognition robotique. Enfin, nous étudions le « Hard Prob...
This article is published under the terms of Creative Commons Licence BY 4.0 Attribution —You mus... more This article is published under the terms of Creative Commons Licence BY 4.0 Attribution —You must give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. No additional restrictions —You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
This paper proposes a brain-inspired approach to quantum machine learning with the goal of circum... more This paper proposes a brain-inspired approach to quantum machine learning with the goal of circumventing many of the complications of other approaches. The fact that quantum processes are unitary presents both opportunities and challenges. A principal opportunity is that a large number of computations can be carried out in parallel in linear superposition, that is, quantum parallelism. The challenge is that the process is linear, and most approaches to machine learning depend significantly on nonlinear processes. Fortunately, the situation is not hopeless, for we know that nonlinear processes can be embedded in unitary processes, as is familiar from the circuit model of quantum computation. This paper explores an approach to the quantum implementation of machine learning involving nonlinear functions operating on information represented topographically (by computational maps), as common in neural cortex.
The soul must take the hint from the relics our scientists have so marvelously gathered out of th... more The soul must take the hint from the relics our scientists have so marvelously gathered out of the forgotten past, and from the hint develop a new living utterance. The spark is from dead wisdom, but the fire is life.
Advances in Computational Intelligence and Robotics
Humans are becoming increasingly dependent on the ‘say-so' of machines, such as computers, sm... more Humans are becoming increasingly dependent on the ‘say-so' of machines, such as computers, smartphones, and robots. In epistemology, knowledge based on what you have been told is called ‘testimony' and being able to give and receive testimony is a prerequisite for engaging in many social roles. Should robots and other autonomous intelligent machines be considered epistemic testifiers akin to those of humans? This chapter attempts to answer this question as well as explore the implications of robot testimony for the criminal justice system. Few are in agreement as to the ‘types' of agents that can provide testimony. The chapter surveys three well-known approaches and shows that on two of these approaches being able to provide testimony is bound up with the possession of intentional mental states. Through a discussion of computational and folk-psychological approaches to intentionality, it is argued that a good case can be made for robots fulfilling all three definitions.
A separate compilation facility for Pascal is described. This facility enables the sharing of glo... more A separate compilation facility for Pascal is described. This facility enables the sharing of global data, determines the effects of changes to global data and minimizes recompilation due to global data changes.
SKI-combinator trees are a simple model of computation, whichare computationally complete (in a T... more SKI-combinator trees are a simple model of computation, whichare computationally complete (in a Turing sense), but are suggestiveof basic biochemical processes and can be used as a vehicle for understandingprocesses of biological (and prebiotic) self-organization. After a brief overview of SKI-combinator trees, we describe the resultsof a series of preliminary experiments exploring the statisticalproperties of populations of random SKI-combinator trees. We showthat in such populations a significant fraction of the trees will ...
Goethe's Faust and Cultural Memory: Comparatist Interfaces, Jul 16, 2012
Goethe's Faust strikes resonant chords in any thoughtful modern person, but for those of us ... more Goethe's Faust strikes resonant chords in any thoughtful modern person, but for those of us employed in Faustian endeavors, it is difficult not to take the drama personally. Therefore, at the risk of adding to the numerous subjective interpretations of Faust, in this chapter I will explore some of its intimations and implications for several Faustian technologies with which I am involved: artificial intelligence, autonomous robotics, artificial life, and artificial morphogenesis. Faust has relevance to science and technology beyond these specific ...
This report describes relational programming, a style of programming in which entire relations ar... more This report describes relational programming, a style of programming in which entire relations are manipulated as data, and in which programs are represented as relations. The use of relational operators on both data and programs is illustrated, and implementation issues are discussed ...
In this paper we present a neurally plausible model of robot reaching inspired by human infant re... more In this paper we present a neurally plausible model of robot reaching inspired by human infant reaching that is based on embodied artificial intelligence, which emphasizes the importance of the sensory-motor interaction of an agent and the world. This model encompasses both learning sensory-motor correlations through motor babbling and also arm motion planning using spreading activation. This model is organized in three layers of neural maps with parallel structures representing the same sensory-motor space. The motor babbling period shapes the structure of the three neural maps as well as the connections within and between them. We describe an implementation of this model and an investigation of this implementation using a simple reaching task on a humanoid robot. The robot has learned successfully to plan reaching motions from a test set with high accuracy and smoothness.
We argue that embryological morphogenesis provides a model of how massive swarms of microscopic a... more We argue that embryological morphogenesis provides a model of how massive swarms of microscopic agents can be coordinated to assemble complex, multiscale hierarchical structures. This is accomplished by understanding natural morphogenetic processes in mathematical terms, abstracting from the biological specifics, and implementing these mathematical principles in artificial systems. We have developed a notation based on partial differential equations for artificial morphogenesis and have designed a prototype morphogenetic programming language, which permits precise description of morphogenetic algorithms and their automatic translation to simulation software. Morphogenetic programming is illustrated by two examples: (1) use of a modified flocking algorithm to route dense fiber bundles between regions of an artificial cortex while avoiding other bundles; (2) use of the clock-and-wavefront model of spinal segmentation for the assembly of the segmented spine of an insect-like robot body...
Stephen Turner’s work on practice theory makes important progress toward constructing a consisten... more Stephen Turner’s work on practice theory makes important progress toward constructing a consistent narrative incorporating contemporary social theory, cognitive science, and neuroscience. The purpose in this article is not primarily to criticize this work, but rather to build on it by discussing results from related disciplines that may further enrich social theory. My article is structured as follows. From evolutionary psychology, we know the importance of comparative studies in understanding human behavior, and therefore I will argue that social theory can benefit from the study of complex adaptive biological systems, such as social insect colonies. Next I will argue that practices and other social phenomena can be understood as emergent phenomena in complex systems, and therefore that complex systems theory can illuminate the ways in which social structures emerge and evolve. In particular it helps us to understand how practices can seem like “collective objects” in spite of exis...
My goal in this paper is to recontextualize the concept of computation. I review the historical r... more My goal in this paper is to recontextualize the concept of computation. I review the historical roots of Church-Turing computation to show that the theory exists in a frame of relevance, which underlies the assumptions on which it rests and the questions it is suited to answer. Although this frame of relevance is appropriate in many circumstances, there are many important applications of the idea of computation for which it is not relevant, especially in natural computation. As a consequence we need, not so much to abandon the Church-Turing model of computation, as to supplement it with new models based on different assumptions and suited to answering different questions. In this alternative frame of relevance, more suited to natural computation, the central issues include real-time response, continuity, indeterminacy, and parallelism. Once we understand computation in a broader sense than the Church-Turing model, we can see new possibilities for using natural processes to achieve o...
We argue that embryological morphogenesis provides a model of how massive swarms of microscopic a... more We argue that embryological morphogenesis provides a model of how massive swarms of microscopic agents can be coordinated to assemble complex, multiscale hierarchical structures. This is accomplished by understanding natural morphogenetic processes in mathematical terms, abstracting from the biological specifics, and implementing these mathematical principles in artificial systems. We have developed a notation based on partial differential equations for artificial morphogenesis and have designed a prototype morphogenetic programming language, which permits precise description of morphogenetic algorithms and their automatic translation to simulation software. Morphogenetic programming is illustrated by two examples: (1) use of a modified flocking algorithm to route dense fiber bundles between regions of an artificial cortex while avoiding other bundles; (2) use of the clock-and-wavefront model of spinal segmentation for the assembly of the segmented spine of an insect-like robot body...
Artificial morphogenesis uses processes inspired by embryology to control massive swarms of micro... more Artificial morphogenesis uses processes inspired by embryology to control massive swarms of microscopic agents to assemble complex physical structures, but this requires new means for describing these processes. Here we use an example morphogenetic program to illustrate a prototype implementation of morphgen, a morphogenetic programming language. The syntax and semantics are described informally and illustrated by the example program, which is included in its entirety in an appendix. Another appendix includes a complete formal grammar for the current version of the language. Next, we describe the results of a series of experiments with the program, which simulates a continuous swarm of microscopic agents creating paths from an origin to a destination while avoiding obstacles. We present the effects of various parameters and of alternative ways of accomplishing particular purposes.
Based on results from evolutionary psychology, we discuss important functions that can be served ... more Based on results from evolutionary psychology, we discuss important functions that can be served by consciousness in autonomous robots. These include deliberately controlled action, conscious awareness, self-awareness, metacognition, and ego consciousness. We distinguish intrinsic intentionality from consciousness, but argue it is also important to understanding robot cognition. Finally, we explore the Hard Problem for robots (i.e., whether they can experience subjective awareness) from the perspective of the theory of protophenomena.En s’appuyant sur les résultats de la psychologie évolutionniste, nous examinons les différentes fonctions importantes que puisse remplir la conscience dans les robots autonomes : action contrôlée, prise de conscience, conscience de soi, métacognition, conscience du moi. Nous distinguons l’intentionnalité intrinsèque de la conscience, mais soutenons également l’importance de la compréhension de la cognition robotique. Enfin, nous étudions le « Hard Prob...
This article is published under the terms of Creative Commons Licence BY 4.0 Attribution —You mus... more This article is published under the terms of Creative Commons Licence BY 4.0 Attribution —You must give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. No additional restrictions —You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
This paper proposes a brain-inspired approach to quantum machine learning with the goal of circum... more This paper proposes a brain-inspired approach to quantum machine learning with the goal of circumventing many of the complications of other approaches. The fact that quantum processes are unitary presents both opportunities and challenges. A principal opportunity is that a large number of computations can be carried out in parallel in linear superposition, that is, quantum parallelism. The challenge is that the process is linear, and most approaches to machine learning depend significantly on nonlinear processes. Fortunately, the situation is not hopeless, for we know that nonlinear processes can be embedded in unitary processes, as is familiar from the circuit model of quantum computation. This paper explores an approach to the quantum implementation of machine learning involving nonlinear functions operating on information represented topographically (by computational maps), as common in neural cortex.
The soul must take the hint from the relics our scientists have so marvelously gathered out of th... more The soul must take the hint from the relics our scientists have so marvelously gathered out of the forgotten past, and from the hint develop a new living utterance. The spark is from dead wisdom, but the fire is life.
Advances in Computational Intelligence and Robotics
Humans are becoming increasingly dependent on the ‘say-so' of machines, such as computers, sm... more Humans are becoming increasingly dependent on the ‘say-so' of machines, such as computers, smartphones, and robots. In epistemology, knowledge based on what you have been told is called ‘testimony' and being able to give and receive testimony is a prerequisite for engaging in many social roles. Should robots and other autonomous intelligent machines be considered epistemic testifiers akin to those of humans? This chapter attempts to answer this question as well as explore the implications of robot testimony for the criminal justice system. Few are in agreement as to the ‘types' of agents that can provide testimony. The chapter surveys three well-known approaches and shows that on two of these approaches being able to provide testimony is bound up with the possession of intentional mental states. Through a discussion of computational and folk-psychological approaches to intentionality, it is argued that a good case can be made for robots fulfilling all three definitions.
A separate compilation facility for Pascal is described. This facility enables the sharing of glo... more A separate compilation facility for Pascal is described. This facility enables the sharing of global data, determines the effects of changes to global data and minimizes recompilation due to global data changes.
SKI-combinator trees are a simple model of computation, whichare computationally complete (in a T... more SKI-combinator trees are a simple model of computation, whichare computationally complete (in a Turing sense), but are suggestiveof basic biochemical processes and can be used as a vehicle for understandingprocesses of biological (and prebiotic) self-organization. After a brief overview of SKI-combinator trees, we describe the resultsof a series of preliminary experiments exploring the statisticalproperties of populations of random SKI-combinator trees. We showthat in such populations a significant fraction of the trees will ...
Goethe's Faust and Cultural Memory: Comparatist Interfaces, Jul 16, 2012
Goethe's Faust strikes resonant chords in any thoughtful modern person, but for those of us ... more Goethe's Faust strikes resonant chords in any thoughtful modern person, but for those of us employed in Faustian endeavors, it is difficult not to take the drama personally. Therefore, at the risk of adding to the numerous subjective interpretations of Faust, in this chapter I will explore some of its intimations and implications for several Faustian technologies with which I am involved: artificial intelligence, autonomous robotics, artificial life, and artificial morphogenesis. Faust has relevance to science and technology beyond these specific ...
This report describes relational programming, a style of programming in which entire relations ar... more This report describes relational programming, a style of programming in which entire relations are manipulated as data, and in which programs are represented as relations. The use of relational operators on both data and programs is illustrated, and implementation issues are discussed ...
In this paper we present a neurally plausible model of robot reaching inspired by human infant re... more In this paper we present a neurally plausible model of robot reaching inspired by human infant reaching that is based on embodied artificial intelligence, which emphasizes the importance of the sensory-motor interaction of an agent and the world. This model encompasses both learning sensory-motor correlations through motor babbling and also arm motion planning using spreading activation. This model is organized in three layers of neural maps with parallel structures representing the same sensory-motor space. The motor babbling period shapes the structure of the three neural maps as well as the connections within and between them. We describe an implementation of this model and an investigation of this implementation using a simple reaching task on a humanoid robot. The robot has learned successfully to plan reaching motions from a test set with high accuracy and smoothness.
We argue that embryological morphogenesis provides a model of how massive swarms of microscopic a... more We argue that embryological morphogenesis provides a model of how massive swarms of microscopic agents can be coordinated to assemble complex, multiscale hierarchical structures. This is accomplished by understanding natural morphogenetic processes in mathematical terms, abstracting from the biological specifics, and implementing these mathematical principles in artificial systems. We have developed a notation based on partial differential equations for artificial morphogenesis and have designed a prototype morphogenetic programming language, which permits precise description of morphogenetic algorithms and their automatic translation to simulation software. Morphogenetic programming is illustrated by two examples: (1) use of a modified flocking algorithm to route dense fiber bundles between regions of an artificial cortex while avoiding other bundles; (2) use of the clock-and-wavefront model of spinal segmentation for the assembly of the segmented spine of an insect-like robot body...
Stephen Turner’s work on practice theory makes important progress toward constructing a consisten... more Stephen Turner’s work on practice theory makes important progress toward constructing a consistent narrative incorporating contemporary social theory, cognitive science, and neuroscience. The purpose in this article is not primarily to criticize this work, but rather to build on it by discussing results from related disciplines that may further enrich social theory. My article is structured as follows. From evolutionary psychology, we know the importance of comparative studies in understanding human behavior, and therefore I will argue that social theory can benefit from the study of complex adaptive biological systems, such as social insect colonies. Next I will argue that practices and other social phenomena can be understood as emergent phenomena in complex systems, and therefore that complex systems theory can illuminate the ways in which social structures emerge and evolve. In particular it helps us to understand how practices can seem like “collective objects” in spite of exis...
My goal in this paper is to recontextualize the concept of computation. I review the historical r... more My goal in this paper is to recontextualize the concept of computation. I review the historical roots of Church-Turing computation to show that the theory exists in a frame of relevance, which underlies the assumptions on which it rests and the questions it is suited to answer. Although this frame of relevance is appropriate in many circumstances, there are many important applications of the idea of computation for which it is not relevant, especially in natural computation. As a consequence we need, not so much to abandon the Church-Turing model of computation, as to supplement it with new models based on different assumptions and suited to answering different questions. In this alternative frame of relevance, more suited to natural computation, the central issues include real-time response, continuity, indeterminacy, and parallelism. Once we understand computation in a broader sense than the Church-Turing model, we can see new possibilities for using natural processes to achieve o...
We argue that embryological morphogenesis provides a model of how massive swarms of microscopic a... more We argue that embryological morphogenesis provides a model of how massive swarms of microscopic agents can be coordinated to assemble complex, multiscale hierarchical structures. This is accomplished by understanding natural morphogenetic processes in mathematical terms, abstracting from the biological specifics, and implementing these mathematical principles in artificial systems. We have developed a notation based on partial differential equations for artificial morphogenesis and have designed a prototype morphogenetic programming language, which permits precise description of morphogenetic algorithms and their automatic translation to simulation software. Morphogenetic programming is illustrated by two examples: (1) use of a modified flocking algorithm to route dense fiber bundles between regions of an artificial cortex while avoiding other bundles; (2) use of the clock-and-wavefront model of spinal segmentation for the assembly of the segmented spine of an insect-like robot body...
Artificial morphogenesis uses processes inspired by embryology to control massive swarms of micro... more Artificial morphogenesis uses processes inspired by embryology to control massive swarms of microscopic agents to assemble complex physical structures, but this requires new means for describing these processes. Here we use an example morphogenetic program to illustrate a prototype implementation of morphgen, a morphogenetic programming language. The syntax and semantics are described informally and illustrated by the example program, which is included in its entirety in an appendix. Another appendix includes a complete formal grammar for the current version of the language. Next, we describe the results of a series of experiments with the program, which simulates a continuous swarm of microscopic agents creating paths from an origin to a destination while avoiding obstacles. We present the effects of various parameters and of alternative ways of accomplishing particular purposes.
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