ftp://ftp.eeng.dcu.ie/pub/alife/bmcm9401/contents.txt http://www.eeng.dcu.ie/~alife/bmcm9401/contents.txt This file contains an ASCII version of the table of contents, including subsection names and page numbers. See also or which is the ``front'' matter - cover page, table of contents etc., and which contains short abstracts or introductions extracted from each of the full papers. B.McMullin, 17th August 1994. --------------------- Preface .............................................................. 1 1 Autopoiesis and a Biology of Intentionality Francisco J. Varela ................................................ 4 1.1 Introduction ................................................. 5 1.2 Cognition and Minimal Living Systems ......................... 5 1.2.1 Autopoiesis as the skeletal bio-logic ........................ 5 1.2.2 Identity of the living and its world ......................... 6 1.3 Perception-action and basic neuro-logic ...................... 8 1.3.1 Operational closure of the nervous system .................... 8 1.3.2 Cognitive self and perceptual world .......................... 10 1.3.3 Intentionality and neuro-logic ............................... 11 1.4 Organism's double dialectics ................................. 13 2 The Causal and Symbolic Explanatory Duality as a Framework for Understanding Vision Noel Murphy ........................................................ 15 2.1 Introduction ................................................. 16 2.2 Epistemological Background ................................... 16 2.2.1 Cognitivitism ................................................ 16 2.2.2 Connectionism ................................................ 17 2.2.3 Enaction ..................................................... 18 2.3 The Control/Autonomy Duality ................................. 18 2.4 Descriptions and Explanations ................................ 19 2.5 The Causality of Systems ..................................... 20 2.6 Universals in Perception ..................................... 21 2.7 Conclusions .................................................. 25 3 Relativistic Ontologies, Self-Organization, Autopoiesis, and Artificial Life Part I---The Philosophical Foundations David Vernon and Dermot Furlong .................................... 26 3.1 Prologue ..................................................... 27 3.2 Autonomy and the Limitations of Scientific Ontology .......... 28 3.2.1 Autonomy ..................................................... 28 3.2.2 Foundations of scientific ontology ........................... 28 3.2.3 Relativistic onotology: Realism and Idealism combined ........ 30 3.2.4 The conclusion ............................................... 32 3.3 Constructivism and The Implications for Autonomous Systems ... 32 3.3.1 Perception and Cognition ..................................... 32 3.3.2 And Action ................................................... 33 3.3.3 The Contrast with Conventional Perspectives .................. 33 3.4 Systematics and Relativistic Ontologies ...................... 34 3.4.1 Bennett's Natural Philosophy ................................. 34 3.4.1.1 Function, Being, and Will .................................... 34 3.4.1.2 Phenomena .................................................... 35 3.4.1.3 The Framework Determining-conditions ......................... 35 3.4.1.4 The Stratification of Existence .............................. 36 3.4.2 The Spectrum of Autonomy ..................................... 37 3.5 Recapitulation ............................................... 39 4 Relativistic Ontologies, Self-Organization, Autopoiesis, and Artificial Life Part II---A Scientific Development David Vernon and Dermot Furlong .................................... 41 4.1 Designing Autonomous Systems ................................. 42 4.1.1 Autopoiesis .................................................. 42 4.1.2 The Calculus of Indications .................................. 43 4.1.3 Relating Autopoiesis and the Calculus of Indications ......... 46 4.1.4 Realization of Autopoietic Systems ........................... 47 4.1.5 Structural Requirements of Realisation of Autopoietic Organisation ................................ 48 4.1.5.1 Definition of the Domain of Discourse ........................ 48 4.1.5.2 A structure to facilitate non re-entrant relations ........... 49 4.1.5.3 A structure to facilitate re-entrant relations ............... 49 4.1.6 The Development Environment: An Autopoietic Simulator ........ 51 4.1.6.1 The Camera System ............................................ 51 4.1.6.2 The Robot System ............................................. 51 4.1.6.3 The Transputer-based Computer System ......................... 51 4.1.6.4 Implementation Issues for the Realisation of Autopoietic Structure ................................... 52 4.1.7 Initial Experiments and System Verification .................. 53 4.2 Self-Renewing, Autopoietic, Systems .......................... 55 4.2.1 Realizing the Autopoietic System ............................. 55 4.3 Recapitulation---Again ....................................... 63 5 Perception, Adaptation and Learning Alvaro Moreno, Juan Julian Merelo and Arantza Etxeberria ........... 65 5.1 Introduction ................................................. 66 5.2 The origin of perception ..................................... 66 5.3 Adaptation and Cognition ..................................... 67 5.4 Cognition as function ........................................ 68 5.5 Basic ideas on the modelization of a cognitive system ........ 68 5.6 Conclusions .................................................. 70 6 Artificial Darwinism: The Very Idea! Barry McMullin ..................................................... 71 6.1 Introduction ................................................. 72 6.2 Von Neumann's Theory of Automata ............................. 72 6.2.1 Von Neumann's Problem Pv ..................................... 72 6.2.2 Alan Turing: the A_T-system .................................. 74 6.2.3 On ``Universal'' Construction ................................ 75 6.2.4 Von Neumann's Solution ....................................... 76 6.2.4.1 The Kinematic Model .......................................... 76 6.2.4.2 Some Notation ................................................ 77 6.2.4.3 The Core Argument ............................................ 78 6.2.4.4 A Minor Blemish(?) ........................................... 80 6.2.4.5 Loose Ends(?) ................................................ 81 6.3 A New Problem Situation ...................................... 83 6.3.1 Pa : The Problem of Autonomy ................................. 83 6.3.1.1 An Initial Formulation ....................................... 83 6.3.1.2 Digression: The VENUS System ................................. 85 6.3.1.3 Pa Restated .................................................. 85 6.3.2 The Genetic Algorithm ........................................ 86 6.3.3 Constraining the Interactions: The Tierra System ............. 88 6.3.4 Autopoiesis: The Organisation of the Living? ................. 90 6.3.5 The Holland alpha-Universes .................................. 92 6.4 Conclusion ................................................... 92 7 Reality Paradigms, Perception, and Natural Science The Relevance of Autopoiesis Dermot Furlong and David Vernon .................................... 95 7.1 Delightful Irreverences from Beyond the Pale ................. 96 7.2 Further Irreverences of a More Devious Nature ................ 97 7.3 Facts, Theories, and Veritable Treason ....................... 99 7.4 And Just Where Liveth the `Spirit's Connections'? ............ 110 8 Constructivist Artificial Life, and Beyond Alexander Riegler .................................................. 121 8.1 Statement of the Problem and Situation of Research ........... 122 8.1.1 Description of the Scientific Problem ........................ 122 8.1.2 Outline of the Disciplines ................................... 123 8.1.2.1 Artificial Intelligence & Cognitive Science .................. 123 8.1.2.2 Artificial Life .............................................. 124 8.1.2.2.1 Bottom-Up .................................................. 124 8.1.2.2.2 Emergence .................................................. 124 8.1.2.2.3 Goallessness ............................................... 125 8.1.2.3 Radical Constructivism ....................................... 125 8.1.2.3.1 Epistemological Constructivism ............................. 126 Mechanistic Explanations ................................... 126 Viability .................................................. 126 Ascription ................................................. 126 No Teleonomy ............................................... 127 The Question of Material ................................... 127 8.1.2.3.2 Psychological Constructivism ............................... 127 8.2 Outline of a Constructivist Artificial Life Implementation ... 128 8.2.1 Design of the cognitive systems .............................. 128 8.2.1.1 A sensory apparatus .......................................... 128 8.2.1.2 Effectors .................................................... 129 8.2.1.3 The `black box' in between ................................... 129 8.2.1.3.1 Learning mechanisms ........................................ 129 8.2.2 Design of the environment .................................... 131 8.2.3 Modelling the interaction between cognitive systems and their environment ...................... 131 8.2.4 Interface and Control Device ................................. 131 8.3 Purpose, Intended Methodology, and Implications of a Constructivist Artificial Life Model ......................... 131 8.3.1 Purpose ...................................................... 131 8.3.2 Step One: Radical Constructivist Artificial Life---RACAL ..... 132 8.3.2.1 Autopoiesis .................................................. 132 8.3.2.2 The importance of background modelling for ALife ............. 132 8.3.2.3 Consequences ................................................. 133 8.3.3 Step Two: Technical Cognitive Science---TKW .................. 134 8.3.3.1 Cognitive domain ............................................. 134 8.3.3.2 External and internal worlds ................................. 134 8.3.4 Reasons for the Evolution of Cognitive Sciences into TKW ..... 135 8.3.4.1 Knowledge Representation ..................................... 135 8.3.4.2 A Methodological Issue for TKW ............................... 135 8.3.5 Technical Results to be expected ............................. 136 9 Reconstructing AI Conor Doherty ...................................................... 137 9.1 Thinking Machines ............................................ 138 9.2 Symbolic AI .................................................. 138 9.3 Insufficiency of Symbolic AI ................................. 139 9.3.1 Epistemological Insufficiency ................................ 139 9.3.2 Ontological Insufficiency .................................... 141 9.4 Numerical AI ................................................. 142 9.5 Incremental AI ............................................... 143 9.6 Conclusion ................................................... 143 References ........................................................... 145 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ | Barry McMullin, Autonomous Systems Group, | McMullin@EENG.DCU.IE | | School of Electronic Engineering, | Voice: +353-1-704-5432 | | Dublin City University, Dublin 9, IRELAND. | FAX: +353-1-704-5508 | ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++