A Philosophy For Creators of Artifical Psychologies
A work in perpetual progress. =)
By Alan Grimes
Definitions.
Emotion: Any subjective sensation that influences one
to preferr one thing over another or cause one to associate any connotation
to any stimuli or mental state. For example the set of sensations that
would make one preferr chocolate over vanilla is an emotion. Or that which
would induce one spend more time thinking about poetry than math.
Physical emotions: The class of all preferences to
or against any physical sensation. Also including any reflexive response.
Ideational Emotions: Emotions that stimulate one
to preferr one set of concepts or ideas. These are the emotions that influence
the types of fantasys one has.
Behavioral Emotions: That which induce one to prefrom
a script in response to a set of situations. Thes include the behaviors
of laughing, crying, smiling, and any inate behavior.
Socialization Mechanisms: Are a set of mental features
that seem to be unique to humans that cause one to acquire language and
cultural literacy.
Procreative emotions: Need I explain these? =)
Destructive emotions: Emotions that either directly
or indirectly have a harmfull impact on the one showing them. Ie: Stress
reduces immunity to disease. Rage, different from common anger, can result
in social isolation (usually in a 7x10 cell).
The philisophical significance of psychological engineering.
Of all the decisions that will go into creating the
first borg, none will have greater impact on the future of the species
than their emotions. The importance of emotions was first pointed out by
the 18th century philosopher David Hume. He overthrew the classical notion
that reason governed the emotions by showing that it was indeed the other
way around. The reader may be thinking that this is not a problem. Such
readers would suggest that all one would need to do is identify the meaning
of lyfe and calibrate the borg to fulfill it as efficiently as possible.
No Such Luck. In the 1940s Sartre discovered that
lyfe merely exists for its own sake. To give it a purpose would be to give
it an essence. Any essence could be nothing but an artifical construct
which would be nothing more than an invention of the sophist. (Funny how
sophists and philosophers have switched places over time? anyway)
That leaves us at a very tough position. As a cyberneticist
I would have to make decisions that would actually create a new essence
for the universe! Some decisions are easy. Pain means something is wrong.
When and only when something is wrong, pain is felt in proportion to the
wrongness. Things such as massochism that defeat the purpose of pain are
by direct extension a poor choice. I will discuss ideas about controlling
these factors in the nekst section.
Other issues are far more complicated. It will be
within the cyberneticists power to determine what ideals a borg would set
as goals if any, How the borg would relate to its machine parts, What kind
of social structure the cyborg will have. These decisions can't be taken
lightly. They must all be weighed and balanced. Not only that, It the question
of *who* does the weighing and balancing must also be examined. My personal
oppinion on this subject is that it should be as much as possible a question
that each borg entity faces on a day-to-day basis. In that way it will
be possible to depheat the strict determinism one finds in humans. I will
propose an idea for a psychological makeup that maximises internal chaos
and thereby the potential extropy* of that being.
*oops, new term, I'll have to fit in a definition somewhere in the next
revision if you can't figure it out.
Outline of a research study of human emotion.
I think that the best way to find a foundation for developing
an artificial psychology is to complete an examination of human psychology
by examining in great detail every stimuli that acts as a triger, the feeling
it causes, the mechanism by which it operates, and finally to locate the
gene that encodes it. This would have two great benefits: It would teach
us about what works (for the most part) and how to tinker with it.
Ideas about possible artificial instincts.
Technological insticncts: Instincts that help improve
the borg's chances of survival around technology. ie, If it is emitting
sparks, stay away from it. Or when the boiler leaks, stay in the vapour
you can see because the steam which you can't see is lethal. Cyanide should
have a really nasty taste to it. When you are in a small room and you can
see stars through the window, don't open the door unless you are wearing
your helmit.
Animal inspired social instincts: The most powerfull
insect species on earth is the termite. Why not copy it?
Recreational insticts: Various things such as nonharmfull
sexual fetishes would make lyfe a bit more interesting.
Preliminary Conclusions.
I believe the goal of the cyberneticist should not be
to dictate a cyborg's life but to stimulate it to seek new challenges and
to press the boundaries of its existance. To do this I believe that the
cyberneticist should introduce as many contradictions into the cybernetic
psychology as possible so that the cyborg is continuously faced with dilemas
and is thereby guarenteed to use the best of its intelect to find an interesting
and possibly new solution.
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Should this be of any intrest to you?
NO! =P