Studying sign processes in the emergence of communication

Communication depends on the production and interpretation \ud of representations, but the study of representational processes \ud underlying communication finds little discussion in \ud computational experiments. Here we present an experiment \ud on the emergence of both interpretation and production of \ud multiple representations, with multiple referents, where \ud referential processes can be tracked. Results show the \ud dynamics of semiotic processes during the evolution of \ud artificial creatures and the emergence of a variety of semiotic \ud processes, such as sign production, sign interpretation, and \ud sign-object-interpretant relations

The Emergence of Symbol-Based Communication in a Complex System of Artificial Creatures

We present here a digital scenario to simulate the emergence of self-organized symbol-based communication among artificial creatures inhabiting a virtual world of predatory events. In order to design the environment and creatures, we seek theoretical and empirical constraints from C.S.Peirce Semiotics and an ethological case study of communication among animals. Our results show that the creatures, assuming the role of sign users and learners, behave collectively as a complex system, where self-organization of communicative interactions plays a major role in the emergence of symbol-based communication. We also strive for a careful use of the theoretical concepts involved, including the concepts of symbol, communication, and emergence, and we use a multi-level model as a basis for the interpretation of inter-level relationships in the semiotic processes we are studying

Emergence of Self-Organized Symbol-Based Communication \ud in Artificial Creatures

In this paper, we describe a digital scenario where we simulated the emergence of self-organized symbol-based communication among artificial creatures inhabiting a \ud virtual world of unpredictable predatory events. In our experiment, creatures are autonomous agents that learn symbolic relations in an unsupervised manner, with no explicit feedback, and are able to engage in dynamical and autonomous communicative interactions with other creatures, even simultaneously. In order to synthesize a behavioral ecology and infer the minimum organizational constraints for the design of our creatures, \ud we examined the well-studied case of communication in vervet monkeys. Our results show that the creatures, assuming the role of sign users and learners, behave collectively as a complex adaptive system, where self-organized communicative interactions play a \ud major role in the emergence of symbol-based communication. We also strive in this paper for a careful use of the theoretical concepts involved, including the concepts of symbol and emergence, and we make use of a multi-level model for explaining the emergence of symbols in semiotic systems as a basis for the interpretation of inter-level relationships in the semiotic processes we are studying

Symbols are not uniquely human

Modern semiotics is a branch of logics that formally defines symbol-based communication. In recent years, the semiotic classification of signs has been invoked to support the notion that symbols are uniquely human. Here we show that alarm-calls such as those used by African vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops), logically satisfy the semiotic definition of symbol. We also show that the acquisition of vocal symbols in vervet monkeys can be successfully simulated by a computer program based on minimal semiotic and neurobiological constraints. The simulations indicate that learning depends on the tutor-predator ratio, and that apprentice-generated auditory mistakes in vocal symbol interpretation have little effect on the learning rates of apprentices (up to 80% of mistakes are tolerated). In contrast, just 10% of apprentice-generated visual mistakes in predator identification will prevent any vocal symbol to be correctly associated with a predator call in a stable manner. Tutor unreliability was also deleterious to vocal symbol learning: a mere 5% of “lying” tutors were able to completely disrupt symbol learning, invariably leading to the acquisition of incorrect associations by apprentices. Our investigation corroborates the existence of vocal symbols in a non-human species, and indicates that symbolic competence emerges spontaneously from classical associative learning mechanisms when the conditioned stimuli are self-generated, arbitrary and socially efficacious. We propose that more exclusive properties of human language, such as syntax, may derive from the evolution of higher-order domains for neural association, more removed from both the sensory input and the motor output, able to support the gradual complexification of grammatical categories into syntax

A Computational Semiotic Approach for Soft Computing

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to introduce a unified framework for soft computing based on the computational semiotics approach. Derived from semiotics, a classic discipline in human sciences, computational semiotics provides a mathematical foundation for the concept of knowledge and for knowledge processing that is suitable for intelligent systems design and implementation. As a result, a new perspective to study and to develop intelligent systems emerges. The theory introduces the mathematical definition of objects, object systems and object networks. They are used to model the different types of knowledge used in building intelligent systems. Particularly in this paper, we focus on the use of computational semiotics framework to construct fuzzy systems, neural networks and evolutive systems. The paper also addresses soft computing system in an unified manner

Das praças gregas à ágora virtual: um panorama histórico da democracia digital

A Democracia Digital é o resultado do uso das novas Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação pelos setores democráticos em prol de uma participação cidadã mais ativa e direta nas decisões públicas. Porém, seu surgimento está relacionado à construção histórica do conceito de democracia e para, que seja possível compreende-la, faz necessário situa-la sócio-historicamente. Este artigo apresenta um panorama da democracia desde seu surgimento até os dias atuais, mostrando como a Democracia Digital surge como resposta a um contexto de crise das instituições democráticas apresentando soluções tecnológicas que visam o resgate de uma sociedade mais justa e igualitária211324Digital Democracy is the result of the use of new Information and Communication Technologies by democratic sectors in favor of more active and direct citizen participation in public decisions. However, its emergence is related to the historical construction of the concept of democracy and, to understand it, is necessary to situate socio-historically. This article presents an overview of democracy since its inception to the present day, showing how Digital Democracy is a response to a crisis context of democratic institutions introducing technological solutions that aim the rescue of a more just and equalitarian societ

UMA VISÃO ALTERNATIVA AO MONISMO DE TRIPLO ASPECTO PARA OS CONCEITOS DE SENTIMENTO E CONSCIÊNCIA

Em seu artigo “O Conceito de Sentimento no Monismo de Triplo Aspecto”, publicado nesta edição especial da Kínesis, o Prof. Alfredo Pereira Jr. nos apresenta sua visão de como o sentimento seria o aspecto fundamental na determinação da consciência. Para a construção de seu argumento, o Prof. Pereira Jr. se serve de evidências da neurociência que sugerem que as células gliais do cérebro (principalmente os astrócitos), formariam uma rede paralela à rede formado pelos neurônios, por onde fluiriam ondas de cálcio, que o Prof. Pereira Jr. relaciona diretamente à noção de sentimento. Essas ondas de cálcio (instanciando os sentimentos), seriam responsáveis por apontar os neurônios, na rede neuronal do cérebro, que carregariam informação cognitiva, e que, em sendo apontados, trariam essa informação cognitiva à consciência. Dessa maneira, os sentimentos (na forma das ondas de cálcio fluindo pelas células gliais) fariam o papel de direcionadores do foco de atenção sobre o universo de informações cognitivas fluindo nos neurônios cerebrais, selecionando parte dessa informação cognitiva que seria então promovida à consciência

On The Generalized Deduction, Induction And Abduction As The Elementary Reasoning Operators Within Computational Semiotics

We first elaborate on the definition of an elementary unit of knowledge, called here knowledge unit. Then we define three knowledge operators, knowledge extraction, knowledge generation and knowledge selection, aimed at being the elementary ways of reasoning. These are compared to the traditional deduction, induction and abduction reasoning operators, resulting in the proposal that our knowledge operators could be viewed as generalized interpretations of the standard deduction, induction and abduction reasoning procedures. We finalize by proposing them as the building blocks for universal intelligent systems.79580