Modelling stigmergy: Evolutionary framework for system Design

Stigmergy is an evolutionary phenomenon of self-organised collective problem-solving mechanism in nature among simple agents (ants, termites, fireflies and so on). Stigmergy is a simple, robust and self- regulatory framework of modelling emergent global order by localised actions of distributed agents without any central planning, control and direct communication. The phenomenon of stigmergy is also prevalent in numerous bottoms up “computational or non-computational” coordination among human agents with complex cognitive capabilities. Heylighen envisioned the great potential of stigmergy in the emergence of the global brain (i.e. coordinated actions and the collective intelligence of ‘human mind and the artefact’) capable of resolving some of the complex problems that we are witnessing today such as pollution, water scarcity, climate change and so on. However, stigmergy among human agents is still underdeveloped and demands further attention to investigate the potential in harnessing the collective intelligence of human agents in complex problem-solving. To study the phenomenon of stigmergy among human agents, we have designed the game as a research tool for studying holistic aspects of self- organised complex problem-solving. In this paper, we aim to present the potential of stigmergy as a system design framework for modelling self-organised complex problem solving by harnessing the collective intelligence of distributed human agents

Radix Intelligence: A new definition and integrative model of intelligence

This paper introduces Radix Intelligence, a new definition and integrative model of intelligence developed within the overarching system of Psychobionomy (Petrides, 2019). Following a discussion of misconceptions and pitfalls plaguing existing models of intelligence, with emphasis on the IQ literature, I point at Radix Intelligence as the primal energy underpinning mind activity in its entirety. All existence unfolds according to the laws of Radix Intelligence, whose nature is collective, impersonal, and non-local. Within the confines of the personalized human mind, the self-construct, a latent structure within the Thinking stage of the Psychobionomic system, refracts the unitary flow of Radix Intelligence into a manifold of major traits, including trait cognitive, trait emotional, and trait social intelligence, among others. In the context of elucidating Radix Intelligence, I offer a radical reinterpretation of the so-called “crud factor” and also touch on the issue of common method variance. Theoretical implications of Radix Intelligence are discussed with reference to the need for dynamic integration across the whole field of differential psychology, and practical implications with dual reference to the potential for establishing a new field of subconscious psychometrics and the pressing urgency for the individual to transition from a psychology of becoming to a psychology of being

Time, terror and the technological imagination : Frankenstein's fictional legacy in the scientific age : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

There is a long-standing belief that there is an opposing discourse between science and the humanities in relation to the future of humankind. Attitudes towards the environment have changed radically in the last 200 years from a natural view to one where we dominate and re-order our environment to suit ourselves and to further the material self-interests of human beings, regardless of cultural and ecological consequences. In order for human beings to properly understand what is happening and why, we must begin to restore the balance between our relationship with Nature and our new technological worldview. The Introduction firstly addresses issues relating to the changing relationship between human beings and their environment over the last two centuries, and how literature and film have accurately predicted our collective future. It is my objective to illustrate how Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has remained one of the most potent pieces of literature foreshadowing the future of humankind, and the timeless quality of the theme of the controller out of control. The main text focuses on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and how the novel embodied humankind's growing anxieties and fears about our technological ambivalence, and I give an overview of how Frankenstein has paved the way for further literary and cinematic predictions of our future in artificial and synthesised environments dominated by the new frontier of genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and beyond, and how these technologies will impact on our cultural worldview and the future evolution of humankind

BEYOND MIRACLES: THE DISCOVERY OF THE UNIFIED FIELD AND ITS PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS TO PREVENT CRIME, TERRORISM, AND INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT

The lawst, most profound discoveries of quantum physics provide deep insight into ultimate reality, and how we create our own day-to-day reality. \'('e must now harness this cuning-edge knowledge to create a peaceful, harmoniolls, more enlightened world. For this purpose, intellectual discllssion is not enough. Only direct, repeatahle experience of ultimate reality can create the deep, lasting transformations in the individual and sockty so urgently needed today. Recent breakthroughs in quantum physics reveal the ultimate reality: the "unified field"-the field of universal intelligence at the hasis of mind and matter. The unified field is the fountainhead of all the laws of nature-the source of all the order displayed throughout the vast cosmos. Human awareness can directly experience and access this field of universal intelligence using advanced meditation techniques derived from the ancient Vedic wisdom. This fundamental experience of "pure consciousness" represents a fourth major state of consciousness, distinct from waking. dreaming and deep sleep. In this higher state of consciousness, human awareness becomes aligned with cosmic intelligence: thoughts and actions become powerfully dfective-life supporting and globally enriching. Such "enlightened" individuals are peacemakers by nawre. radiating peace and harmony throughout their environment. New research reveals that enlighrenment, the full developmcnr of human potential. is our birthright-a spontaneous byproduct of integrated brain functioning. New research also reveals the existence of longrange "field effects" of consciollsness generated through collective meditation. More than 50 studies have shown that such field effects of consciousness have a profound impact on society as a whole, defusing acute socieral stress. violence and conflict, and providing a practical fi)undation for pt'rmanent world peace. \'(,'e are thus on the threshold of a global transfilrmation to a post-dual, unified field-bast-d civilization of affluence and peace based on the knowledge, and direct experience, of the core unity of lite in higher states of consciousness

BEYOND MIRACLES: THE DISCOVERY OF THE UNIFIED FIELD AND ITS PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS TO PREVENT CRIME, TERRORISM, AND INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT

The lawst, most profound discoveries of quantum physics provide deep insight into ultimate reality, and how we create our own day-to-day reality. \'('e must now harness this cuning-edge knowledge to create a peaceful, harmoniolls, more enlightened world. For this purpose, intellectual discllssion is not enough. Only direct, repeatahle experience of ultimate reality can create the deep, lasting transformations in the individual and sockty so urgently needed today. Recent breakthroughs in quantum physics reveal the ultimate reality: the "unified field"-the field of universal intelligence at the hasis of mind and matter. The unified field is the fountainhead of all the laws of nature-the source of all the order displayed throughout the vast cosmos. Human awareness can directly experience and access this field of universal intelligence using advanced meditation techniques derived from the ancient Vedic wisdom. This fundamental experience of "pure consciousness" represents a fourth major state of consciousness, distinct from waking. dreaming and deep sleep. In this higher state of consciousness, human awareness becomes aligned with cosmic intelligence: thoughts and actions become powerfully dfective-life supporting and globally enriching. Such "enlightened" individuals are peacemakers by nawre. radiating peace and harmony throughout their environment. New research reveals that enlighrenment, the full developmcnr of human potential. is our birthright-a spontaneous byproduct of integrated brain functioning. New research also reveals the existence of longrange "field effects" of consciollsness generated through collective meditation. More than 50 studies have shown that such field effects of consciousness have a profound impact on society as a whole, defusing acute socieral stress. violence and conflict, and providing a practical fi)undation for pt'rmanent world peace. \'(,'e are thus on the threshold of a global transfilrmation to a post-dual, unified field-bast-d civilization of affluence and peace based on the knowledge, and direct experience, of the core unity of lite in higher states of consciousness

Minds Online: The Interface between Web Science, Cognitive Science, and the Philosophy of Mind

Alongside existing research into the social, political and economic impacts of the Web, there is a need to study the Web from a cognitive and epistemic perspective. This is particularly so as new and emerging technologies alter the nature of our interactive engagements with the Web, transforming the extent to which our thoughts and actions are shaped by the online environment. Situated and ecological approaches to cognition are relevant to understanding the cognitive significance of the Web because of the emphasis they place on forces and factors that reside at the level of agent–world interactions. In particular, by adopting a situated or ecological approach to cognition, we are able to assess the significance of the Web from the perspective of research into embodied, extended, embedded, social and collective cognition. The results of this analysis help to reshape the interdisciplinary configuration of Web Science, expanding its theoretical and empirical remit to include the disciplines of both cognitive science and the philosophy of mind

Mandevillian Intelligence: From Individual Vice to Collective Virtue

Mandevillian intelligence is a specific form of collective intelligence in which individual cognitive shortcomings, limitations and biases play a positive functional role in yielding various forms of collective cognitive success. When this idea is transposed to the epistemological domain, mandevillian intelligence emerges as the idea that individual forms of intellectual vice may, on occasion, support the epistemic performance of some form of multi-agent ensemble, such as a socio-epistemic system, a collective doxastic agent, or an epistemic group agent. As a specific form of collective intelligence, mandevillian intelligence is relevant to a number of debates in social epistemology, especially those that seek to understand how group (or collective) knowledge arises from the interactions between a collection of individual epistemic agents. Beyond this, however, mandevillian intelligence raises issues that are relevant to the research agendas of both virtue epistemology and applied epistemology. From a virtue epistemological perspective, mandevillian intelligence encourages us to adopt a relativistic conception of intellectual vice/virtue, enabling us to see how individual forms of intellectual vice may (sometimes) be relevant to collective forms of intellectual virtue. In addition, mandevillian intelligence is relevant to the nascent sub-discipline of applied epistemology. In particular, mandevillian intelligence forces us see the potential epistemic value of (e.g., technological) interventions that create, maintain or promote individual forms of intellectual vice

Human Computation and Convergence

Humans are the most effective integrators and producers of information, directly and through the use of information-processing inventions. As these inventions become increasingly sophisticated, the substantive role of humans in processing information will tend toward capabilities that derive from our most complex cognitive processes, e.g., abstraction, creativity, and applied world knowledge. Through the advancement of human computation - methods that leverage the respective strengths of humans and machines in distributed information-processing systems - formerly discrete processes will combine synergistically into increasingly integrated and complex information processing systems. These new, collective systems will exhibit an unprecedented degree of predictive accuracy in modeling physical and techno-social processes, and may ultimately coalesce into a single unified predictive organism, with the capacity to address societies most wicked problems and achieve planetary homeostasis.Comment: Pre-publication draft of chapter. 24 pages, 3 figures; added references to page 1 and 3, and corrected typ