Myths and Legends of the Baldwin Effect

This position paper argues that the Baldwin effect is widely misunderstood by the evolutionary computation community. The misunderstandings appear to fall into two general categories. Firstly, it is commonly believed that the Baldwin effect is concerned with the synergy that results when there is an evolving population of learning individuals. This is only half of the story. The full story is more complicated and more interesting. The Baldwin effect is concerned with the costs and benefits of lifetime learning by individuals in an evolving population. Several researchers have focussed exclusively on the benefits, but there is much to be gained from attention to the costs. This paper explains the two sides of the story and enumerates ten of the costs and benefits of lifetime learning by individuals in an evolving population. Secondly, there is a cluster of misunderstandings about the relationship between the Baldwin effect and Lamarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics. The Baldwin effect is not Lamarckian. A Lamarckian algorithm is not better for most evolutionary computing problems than a Baldwinian algorithm. Finally, Lamarckian inheritance is not a better model of memetic (cultural) evolution than the Baldwin effect

Social Situatedness: Vygotsky and Beyond

The concept of ‘social situatedness’, i.e. the idea that the development of individual intelligence requires a social (and cultural) embedding, has recently received much attention in cognitive science and artificial intelligence research. The work of Lev Vygotsky who put forward this view already in the 1920s has influenced the discussion to some degree, but still remains far from well known. This paper therefore aims to give an overview of his cognitive development theory and discuss its relation to more recent work in primatology and socially situated artificial intelligence, in particular humanoid robotics

Meta-Learning by the Baldwin Effect

The scope of the Baldwin effect was recently called into question by two papers that closely examined the seminal work of Hinton and Nowlan. To this date there has been no demonstration of its necessity in empirically challenging tasks. Here we show that the Baldwin effect is capable of evolving few-shot supervised and reinforcement learning mechanisms, by shaping the hyperparameters and the initial parameters of deep learning algorithms. Furthermore it can genetically accommodate strong learning biases on the same set of problems as a recent machine learning algorithm called MAML "Model Agnostic Meta-Learning" which uses second-order gradients instead of evolution to learn a set of reference parameters (initial weights) that can allow rapid adaptation to tasks sampled from a distribution. Whilst in simple cases MAML is more data efficient than the Baldwin effect, the Baldwin effect is more general in that it does not require gradients to be backpropagated to the reference parameters or hyperparameters, and permits effectively any number of gradient updates in the inner loop. The Baldwin effect learns strong learning dependent biases, rather than purely genetically accommodating fixed behaviours in a learning independent manner

Validation of an Instrument for Assessing Conceptual Change with Respect to The Theory of Evolution By Secondary Biology Students

This pilot study evaluated the validity of a new quantitative, closed-response instrument for assessing student conceptual change regarding the theory of evolution. The instrument has two distinguishing design features. First, it is designed not only to gauge student mastery of the scientific model of evolution, but also to elicit a trio of deeply intuitive tendencies that are known to compromise many students’ understanding: the projection of intentional agency, teleological directionality, and immutable essences onto biological phenomena. Second, in addition to a section of conventional multiple choice questions, the instrument contains a series of items where students may simultaneously endorse both scientifically normative propositions and intuitively appealing yet unscientific propositions, without having to choose between them. These features allow for the hypothesized possibility that the three intuitions are partly innate, themselves products of cognitive evolution in our hominin ancestors, and thus may continue to inform students’ thinking even after instruction and conceptual change. The test was piloted with 340 high school students from diverse schools and communities. Confirmatory factor analysis and other statistical methods provided evidence that the instrument already has strong potential for validly distinguishing students who hold a correct scientific understanding from those who do not, but that revision and retesting are needed to render it valid for gauging students’ adherence to intuitive misconceptions. Ultimately the instrument holds promise as a tool for classroom intervention studies by conceptual change researchers, for diagnostic testing and data gathering by instructional leaders, and for provoking classroom dialogue and debate by science teachers

Genetic epistemology and the sociology of knowledge

Bibliography: leaves 263-286.This study originates in certain shortcomings in the sociology of knowledge and in sociological theory generally. Among such shortcomings are: an unnecessarily restricted conception of knowledge, the neglect of contemporary findings in biology and psychology, and the oversocialized conception of humankind and knowledge. This study aims to correct certain of these shortcomings through redefining knowledge and developing part of a comprehensive theory of knowledge which unites the biology of knowledge, the psychology of knowledge and the sociology of knowledge. Piaget's genetic epistemology and Popper's and Lorenz's evolutionary epistemology provide much of the material which inspired this study and which is developed in it. It is argue that the sociology of knowledge has not yet seriously encountered these disciplines and would benefit from such an encounter. Ethology, developmental psychology, cybernetics, and anthropology are other sources of information used. Knowledge is defined as assimilated information. It is argued that knowledge is assimilated in three basic contexts: that of the species, the individual organism, and the collectivity. These yield, respectively, innate knowledge, learnt knowledge, and social knowledge. Knowledge, thus, is viewed as evolving phylogenetically, ontogenetically, and socio-genetically. Various theses are proposed and arguments and facts supporting them presented in the course of developing the theory of knowledge. The following are among the theses proposed: Life is a knowledge process. Human knowledge and knowledge processes can be illuminated by studying the intellectual development of animals and children. Human knowledge and reality are biologically, psychologically, and sociologically constructed. All humans are born with an innate learning schema. This schema is responsible for human life and culture. It plays an important part in determining the pattern and content of culture. Truth is, in part, biologically determined. Society depends on many forms of non-social knowledge. The understanding of culture requires an understanding of the varieties and forms of nonsocial knowledge which make culture possible. The study constitutes a contribution to knowledge in various ways. Rather than considering the relationship between biology and behaviour as is customary, this study considers the relationship between biology and knowledge. Certain new concepts are introduced and a theory of knowledge is outlined which integrates the biology of knowledge, the psychology of knowledge and the sociology of knowledge. The study demonstrates that humankind's biological nature plays a vital role in socialization and in the production of culture. It thus serves to correct oversocialized views of humankind. The study reveals that reality is phylogenetically, ontogenetically and sociogenetically constructed; it is the result of the evolution and operation of biological, psychological and sociological factors

The ontogenesis of narrative : from moving to meaning

Narrative, the creation of imaginative projects and experiences displayed in expressions of movement and voice, is how human cooperative understanding grows. Human understanding places the character and qualities of objects and events of interest within stories that portray intentions, feelings, and ambitions, and how one cares about them. Understanding the development of narrative is therefore essential for understanding the development of human intelligence, but its early origins are obscure. We identify the origins of narrative in the innate sensorimotor intelligence of a hypermobile human body and trace the ontogenesis of narrative form from its earliest expression in movement. Intelligent planning, with self-awareness, is evident in the gestures and motor expressions of the mid-gestation foetus. After birth, single intentions become serially organised into projects with increasingly ambitious distal goals and social meaning. The infant imitates others’ actions in shared tasks, learns conventional cultural practices, and adapts his own inventions, then names topics of interest. Through every stage, in simple intentions of foetal movement, in social imitations of the neonate, in early proto-conversations and collaborative play of infants and talk of children and adults, the narrative form of creative agency with it four-part structure of ‘introduction’, ‘development’, ‘climax’ and ‘resolution’ is present. We conclude that shared rituals of culture and practical techniques develop from a fundamental psycho-motor structure with its basic, vital impulses for action and generative process of thought-in-action that express an integrated, imaginative and sociable Self. This basic structure is evident before birth and invariant in form throughout life. Serial organisation of single, non-verbal actions into complex projects of expressive and explorative sense-making become conventional meanings and explanations with propositional narrative power. Understanding the root of narrative in embodied meaning-making in this way is important for practical work in therapy and education, and for advancing philosophy and neuroscience