A model of the emergence and evolution of integrated worldviews

It \ud is proposed that the ability of humans to flourish in diverse \ud environments and evolve complex cultures reflects the following two \ud underlying cognitive transitions. The transition from the \ud coarse-grained associative memory of Homo habilis to the \ud fine-grained memory of Homo erectus enabled limited \ud representational redescription of perceptually similar episodes, \ud abstraction, and analytic thought, the last of which is modeled as \ud the formation of states and of lattices of properties and contexts \ud for concepts. The transition to the modern mind of Homo \ud sapiens is proposed to have resulted from onset of the capacity to \ud spontaneously and temporarily shift to an associative mode of thought \ud conducive to interaction amongst seemingly disparate concepts, \ud modeled as the forging of conjunctions resulting in states of \ud entanglement. The fruits of associative thought became ingredients \ud for analytic thought, and vice versa. The ratio of \ud associative pathways to concepts surpassed a percolation threshold \ud resulting in the emergence of a self-modifying, integrated internal \ud model of the world, or worldview

Distributed Model-Based Diagnosis using Object-Relational Constraint Databases

This work presents a proposal to diagnose distributed systems utilizing model-based diagnosis using distributed databases. In order to improve aspects as versatility, persistence, easy composition and efficiency in the diagnosis process we use an Object Relational Constraint Database (ORCDB). Thereby we define a distributed architecture to store the behaviour of components as constraints in a relational database to diagnose a distributed system. This work proposes an algorithm to detect which components fail when their information is distributed in several databases, and all the information is not available in a global way. It is also offered a proposal to define, in execution time, the allocation of the sensors in a distributed system.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología DPI2003-07146-C02-0

Undefining Man: A Case for Symbolic Animal Communication via Refutation of Kenneth Burke\u27s Definition of Man

There have been tendencies in various fields to use communication as a way of differentiating humans and other species. Even when individuals are confronted with empirical evidence to the contrary, many still hold onto the notion that humans are in a communicative position clearly divergent in all ways from animals. This thesis will utilize Kenneth Burke\u27s Definition of Man as a launching point to support a claim that animals utilize their conscious cognitive abilities to communicate symbolically

The Essential Facilities Doctrine Under United States Antitrust Law

The issue of essential facilities has attracted renewed attention in Europe in recent years because of the controversy between IMS Health Inc. and NDC Health Corporation, two competitors in pharmaceutical data services in Germany . . . After an extensive investigation, the European Commission (EC) ordered that IMS grant access to the 1860 brick structure on commercially reasonable terms, and the EC decision is now on appeal in the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg. One issue that emerged in that litigation is whether a decision by European authorities to grant access to the alleged essential facility, especially one whose market power derived in part from a copyright, would open a gap between European and U.S. antitrust law. In response to that contention, the authors of this piece filed a statement in the Court of First Instance describing U.S. law on the subject. We argued that the EC\u27s ruling is consistent with U.S. jurisprudence on the subject of essential facilities. The remainder of this article consists of a revised version of the Court of First Instance filing

LIDA: A Working Model of Cognition

In this paper we present the LIDA architecture as a working model of cognition. We argue that such working models are broad in scope and address real world problems in comparison to experimentally based models which focus on specific pieces of cognition. While experimentally based models are useful, we need a working model of cognition that integrates what we know from neuroscience, cognitive science and AI. The LIDA architecture provides such a working model. A LIDA based cognitive robot or software agent will be capable of multiple learning mechanisms. With artificial feelings and emotions as primary motivators and learning facilitators, such systems will ‘live’ through a developmental period during which they will learn in multiple ways to act in an effective, human-like manner in complex, dynamic, and unpredictable environments. We discuss the integration of the learning mechanisms into the existing IDA architecture as a working model of cognition