Providing Self-Aware Systems with Reflexivity

We propose a new type of self-aware systems inspired by ideas from higher-order theories of consciousness. First, we discussed the crucial distinction between introspection and reflexion. Then, we focus on computational reflexion as a mechanism by which a computer program can inspect its own code at every stage of the computation. Finally, we provide a formal definition and a proof-of-concept implementation of computational reflexion, viewed as an enriched form of program interpretation and a way to dynamically "augment" a computational process.Comment: 12 pages plus bibliography, appendices with code description, code of the proof-of-concept implementation, and examples of executio

Una guida alla lettura

Guida alla lettura dell'edizione italiana del libro di J. Bell "Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics

The notion of loop in the study of consciousness

The notion of loop seems to be ubiquitous in the study of organisms, the human mind and symbolic systems. With the possible exception of quantum-mechanical approaches, the treatments of consciousness we are acquainted with crucially appeal to the concept of loop. The uses of loops in this context fall within two broad classes. In the first one, loops are used to express the control of the organism’s interaction with the environment; in the second one, they are used to express self-reference. Both classes are tied with investigations which aim at accounting for symbolic capabilities, and ultimately for subjectivity. Neurophysiological research detects loops in the animal nervous system since its very inception (e.g., all the work on the reflex arc). Recently, Gray proposed a model purporting to explain the mechanism supporting the contents of consciousness in the human CNS, in ways that are practically indistinguishable from models formulated within the cybernetical point of view. Both types of models apply loops in strikingly similar ways. While there is no conclusive evidence that loops are necessary to support consciousness, they are nonetheless as good a candidate as today can be found for inclusion in the list of essential ingredients for subjectivity to arise. In the first two sections we discuss the above mentioned uses by means of significant examples. In the third section, we compare Gray’s recent model to MacKay’s early cybernetical model of a selfobserving system, in the setting of a broader discussion on loops for consciousness

A Kolmogorov Complexity-based Genetic Programming Tool for String Compression

By following the guidelines set in one of our previous papers, in this paper we face the problem of Kolmogorov complexity estimate for binary strings by making use of a Genetic Programming approach. This consists in evolving a population of Lisp programs looking for the "optimal" program that generates a given string. By taking into account several target binary strings belonging to different formal languages, we show the effectiveness of our approach in obtaining an approximation from the above of the Kolmogorov complexity function. Moreover, the adequate choice of "similar" target strings allows our system to show very interesting computational strategies. Experimental results indicate that our tool achieves promising compression rates for binary strings belonging to formal languages. Furthermore, even for more complicated strings our method can work, provided that some degree of loss is accepted. These results constitute a first step in using Kolmogorov complexit..