115 research outputs found
The Origins of Self
The Origins of Self explores the role that selfhood plays in defining human society, and each human individual in that society. It considers the genetic and cultural origins of self, the role that self plays in socialisation and language, and the types of self we generate in our individual journeys to and through adulthood.
Edwardes argues that other awareness is a relatively early evolutionary development, present throughout the primate clade and perhaps beyond, but self-awareness is a product of the sharing of social models, something only humans appear to do. The self of which we are aware is not something innate within us, it is a model of our self produced as a response to the models of us offered to us by other people. Edwardes proposes that human construction of selfhood involves seven different types of self. All but one of them are internally generated models, and the only non-model, the actual self, is completely hidden from conscious awareness. We rely on others to tell us about our self, and even to let us know we are a self
Combining MAS and P2P Systems: The Agent Trees Multi-Agent System (ATMAS)
The seamless retrieval of information distributed across networks has been one of the key goals of many systems. Early solutions involved the use of single static agents which would retrieve the unfiltered data and then process it. However, this was deemed costly and inefficient in terms of the bandwidth since complete files need to be downloaded when only a single value is often all that is required.
As a result, mobile agents were developed to filter the data in situ before returning it to the user. However, mobile agents have their own associated problems, namely security and control. The Agent Trees Multi-Agent System (AT-MAS) has been developed to provide the remote processing and filtering capabilities but without the need for mobile code. It is implemented as a Peer to Peer (P2P) network of static intelligent cooperating agents, each of which control one or more data sources.
This dissertation describes the two key technologies have directly influenced the design of ATMAS, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems and Multi-Agent Systems (MAS). P2P systems are conceptually simple, but limited in power, whereas MAS are significantly more complex but correspondingly more powerful. The resulting system exhibits the power of traditional MAS systems while retaining the simplicity of P2P systems.
The dissertation describes the system in detail and analyses its performance
Artificial societies and information theory: modelling of sub system formation based on Luhmann's autopoietic theory
This thesis develops a theoretical framework for the generation of artificial societies. In particular
it shows how sub-systems emerge when the agents are able to learn and have the ability
to communicate.
This novel theoretical framework integrates the autopoietic hypothesis of human societies, formulated
originally by the German sociologist Luhmann, with concepts of Shannon's information
theory applied to adaptive learning agents.
Simulations were executed using Multi-Agent-Based Modelling (ABM), a relatively new computational
modelling paradigm involving the modelling of phenomena as dynamical systems of
interacting agents. The thesis in particular, investigates the functions and properties necessary
to reproduce the paradigm of society by using the mentioned ABM approach.
Luhmann has proposed that in society subsystems are formed to reduce uncertainty. Subsystems
can then be composed by agents with a reduced behavioural complexity. For example in
society there are people who produce goods and other who distribute them.
Both the behaviour and communication is learned by the agent and not imposed. The simulated
task is to collect food, keep it and eat it until sated. Every agent communicates its energy state
to the neighbouring agents. This results in two subsystems whereas agents in the first collect
food and in the latter steal food from others. The ratio between the number of agents that
belongs to the first system and to the second system, depends on the number of food resources.
Simulations are in accordance with Luhmann, who suggested that adaptive agents self-organise
by reducing the amount of sensory information or, equivalently, reducing the complexity of the
perceived environment from the agent's perspective. Shannon's information theorem is used
to assess the performance of the simulated learning agents. A practical measure, based on the
concept of Shannon's information
ow, is developed and applied to adaptive controllers which
use Hebbian learning, input correlation learning (ICO/ISO) and temporal difference learning.
The behavioural complexity is measured with a novel information measure, called Predictive
Performance, which is able to measure at a subjective level how good an agent is performing
a task. This is then used to quantify the social division of tasks in a social group of honest,
cooperative food foraging, communicating agents
The Origins of Self: An Anthropological Perspective
The Origins of Self explores the role that selfhood plays in defining human society, and each human individual in that society. It considers the genetic and cultural origins of self, the role that self plays in socialisation and language, and the types of self we generate in our individual journeys to and through adulthood.
Edwardes argues that other awareness is a relatively early evolutionary development, present throughout the primate clade and perhaps beyond, but self-awareness is a product of the sharing of social models, something only humans appear to do. The self of which we are aware is not something innate within us, it is a model of our self produced as a response to the models of us offered to us by other people. Edwardes proposes that human construction of selfhood involves seven different types of self. All but one of them are internally generated models, and the only non-model, the actual self, is completely hidden from conscious awareness. We rely on others to tell us about our self, and even to let us know we are a self.
Developed in relation to a range of subject areas – linguistics, anthropology, genomics and cognition, as well as socio-cultural theory – The Origins of Self is of particular interest to students and researchers studying the origins of language, human origins in general, and the cognitive differences between human and other animal psychologies
Gender differences in spatial ability within virtual reality
EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
Combining MAS and P2P systems : the Agent Trees Multi-Agent System (ATMAS)
The seamless retrieval of information distributed across networks has been one of the key goals of many systems. Early solutions involved the use of single static agents which would retrieve the unfiltered data and then process it. However, this was deemed costly and inefficient in terms of the bandwidth since complete files need to be downloaded when only a single value is often all that is required. As a result, mobile agents were developed to filter the data in situ before returning it to the user. However, mobile agents have their own associated problems, namely security and control. The Agent Trees Multi-Agent System (AT-MAS) has been developed to provide the remote processing and filtering capabilities but without the need for mobile code. It is implemented as a Peer to Peer (P2P) network of static intelligent cooperating agents, each of which control one or more data sources. This dissertation describes the two key technologies have directly influenced the design of ATMAS, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems and Multi-Agent Systems (MAS). P2P systems are conceptually simple, but limited in power, whereas MAS are significantly more complex but correspondingly more powerful. The resulting system exhibits the power of traditional MAS systems while retaining the simplicity of P2P systems. The dissertation describes the system in detail and analyses its performance.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
Digital Innocence
Screens mediate an ever-increasing part of our experience today. While the space within our screens is indispensable - as perceptually ‘real’ as embodied experience itself - this space tends to exclude the hands and body in favour of the eye and mind. This bifurcation does not recognize or allow for the integration of body and mind that is both fundamental to our well-being and vital to the process of making things. Moreover, immersion within our screens dulls an awareness of ourselves in relation to them.
This thesis is an exploration of the immense potential that resides in the space between our hands and screens. Through a series of themed meditations and experimental set-ups, my research aims to prove that reconciliation between digital and embodied mediation can simultaneously offer enchantment to both our bodies and our minds, and furthermore, that the empowered hand is essential for the maturation of digital technologies
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