EVALUATING EVOLUTIONARY MECHANISMS BY SIMULATION

ABSTRACT A three year research project is investigating evolutionary processes in electronic markets. Three fundamental evolutionary mechanisms are innovation, imitation and improvement of existing procedures. As part of the initial investigation, simulation experiments have been performed to investigate the relative impact and cost of these three evolutionary mechanisms. The design of those simulation experiments is described here together with a description of the implementation and some preliminary results. The simulation was implemented in Java and is available over the Internet as an applet. The experiments are based on a relative demand function that peaks early and then tends to zero over time. So the markets to which these results apply are those in which fashion and 'fad' are significant factors, such as the market for electronic goods

Are there alternative adaptive strategies to human pro-sociality? The role of collaborative morality in the emergence of personality variation and autistic traits

Selection pressures to better understand other’s thoughts and feelings are seen as a primary driving force in human cognitive evolution. Yet might the evolution of social cognition be more complex than we assume, with more than one strategy towards social understanding and developing a positive pro-social reputation? Here we argue that social buffering of vulnerabilities through the emergence of collaborative morality will have opened new niches for adaptive cognitive strategies and widened personality variation. Such strategies include those that that do not depend on astute social perception or abilities to think recursively about other’s thoughts and feelings. We particularly consider how a perceptual style based on logic and detail, bringing certain enhanced technical and social abilities which compensate for deficits in complex social understanding could be advantageous at low levels in certain ecological and cultural contexts. ‘Traits of autism’ may have promoted innovation in archaeological material culture during the late Palaeolithic in the context of the mutual interdependence of different social strategies, which in turn contributed to the rise of innovation and large scale social networks

How Do We Explain ‛Autistic Traits’ in European Upper Palaeolithic Art?

Traits in Upper Palaeolithic art which are also seen in the work of talented artists with autism, including an exceptional realism, remain to be explained. Debate over explanations has been heated, ranging from such art having been created by individuals with autism spectrum conditions, to being influenced by such individuals, to being a product of the use of psychotropic drugs. Here we argue that 'autistic traits' in art, such as extreme realism, are the product of local processing bias or detail focus. The significance of local processing bias has implications for our understanding of Upper Palaeolithic society

Autism spectrum conditions affect preferences in valued personal possessions

Although autism has been characterised as a disorder certain selective advantages of autism have been identified which may represent a selective trade-off for reduced ‘folk psychology’ and provide a potential explanation for the incorporation of autism genes in the human evolutionary past. Such potential trade-off skills remain to be explored in terms of selectively advantageous or disadvantageous behaviours in the distant past however. Here we present the results of an analysis of the relationship between AQ (autism quotient) and attitudes to valued personal possessions on the basis of a study of 550 participants. We find that individuals with autism have a reduced tendency to value and preserve objects as reminders of relationships/attachment figures and place a greater value on the direct practical function of their personal possessions. The latter strategy may have been more selectively advantageous in certain contexts whilst less advantageous in others in the distant evolutionary past

Should Autism Spectrum Conditions Be Characterised in a More Positive Way in Our Modern World?

In a special issue that focuses on complex presentations related to Autism, we ask the question in this editorial whether an Autism Spectrum Condition without complexity is a disorder, or whether it represents human diversity? Much research into Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASCs) over the years has focused on comparisons between neuro-typical people and people with Autism Spectrum Conditions. These comparisons have tended to draw attention to ‘deficits’ in cognitive abilities and descriptions of behaviours that are characterised as unwanted. Not surprisingly, this is reflected in the classification systems from the World Health Organisation and the American Psychiatric Association. Public opinion about ASC may be influenced by presentations in the media of those with ASC who also have intellectual disability. Given that diagnostic systems are intended to help us better understand conditions in order to seek improved outcomes, we propose a more constructive approach to descriptions that uses more positive language, and balances descriptions of deficits with research finding of strengths and differences. We propose that this will be more helpful to individuals on the Autism Spectrum, both in terms of individual self-view, but also in terms of how society views Autism Spectrum Conditions more positively. Commentary has also been made on guidance that has been adjusted for people with ASC in relation to the current COVID-19 pandemic

Combine vector quantization and support vector machine for imbalanced datasets

In cases of extremely imbalanced dataset with high dimensions, standard machine learning techniques tend to be overwhelmed by the large classes. This paper rebalances skewed datasets by compressing the majority class. This approach combines Vector Quantization and Support Vector Machine and constructs a new approach, VQ-SVM, to rebalance datasets without significant information loss. Some issues, e.g. distortion and support vectors, have been discussed to address the trade-off between the information loss and undersampling. Experiments compare VQ-SVM and standard SVM on some imbalanced datasets with varied imbalance ratios, and results show that the performance of VQ-SVM is superior to SVM, especially in case of extremely imbalanced large datasets.IFIP International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Theory and Practice - Integration of AI with other TechnologiesRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Three technologies for automated trading

Three core technologies are needed for automated trading: data mining, intelligent trading agents and virtual institutions in which informed trading agents can trade securely both with each other and with human agents in a natural way. This paper describes a demonstrable prototype that integrates these three technologies and is available on theWorldWideWeb. This is part of a larger project that aims to make informed automated trading a reality.IFIP International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Theory and Practice - Agents 2Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI