38 3 A Patternist Philosophy of Mind

38 3 A Patternist Philosophy of Mind e Evolution , conceived as a general process via which patterns within a large population thereof are differentially selected and used as the basis for formation of new patterns, based on some “fitness function” that is generally tied to the goals of the agent — Example: If trying to build a blocks structure that will surprise Bob, an agent may simulate several procedures for building blocks structures in its “mind’s eye”, assessing for each one the expected degree to which it might surprise Bob. The search through procedure space could be conducted as a form of evolution, via an algorithm such as MOSES. e Autopoiesis: the process by which a system of interrelated patterns maintains its integrity, via a dynamic in which whenever one of the patterns in the system begins to decrease in intensity, some of the other patterns increase their intensity in a manner that causes the troubled pattern to increase in intensity again — Example: An agent’s set of strategies for building the base of a tower, and its set of strategies for building the middle part of a tower, are likely to relate autopoietically. If the system partially forgets how to build the base of a tower, then it may regenerate this missing knowledge via using its knowledge about how to build the middle part (i.e., it knows it needs to build the base in a way that will support good middle parts). Similarly if it partially forgets how to build the middle part, then it may regenerate this missing knowledge via using its knowledge about how to build the base (i.e. it knows a good middle part should fit in well with the sorts of base it knows are good). — This same sort of interdependence occurs between pattern-sets containing more than two elements — Sometimes (as in the above example) autopoietic interdependence in the mind is tied to interdependencies in the physical world, sometimes not. e Association. Patterns, when given attention, spread some of this attention to other pat- terns that they have previously been associated with in some way. Furthermore, there is Peirce’s law of mind [Pei34], which could be paraphrased in modern terms as stating that the mind is an associative memory network, whose dynamics dictate that every idea in the memory is an active agent, continually acting on those ideas with which the memory associates it. — Example: Building a blocks structure that resembles a tower, spreads attention to mem- ories of prior towers the agents has seen, and also to memories of people the agent knows have seen towers, and structures it has built at the same time as towers, structures that resemble towers in various respects, etc. e Differential attention allocation / credit assignment. Patterns that have been valu- able for goal-achievement are given more attention, and are encouraged to participate in giving rise to new patterns. — Example: Perhaps in a prior instance of the task “build me a surprising structure out of blocks,” searching through memory for non-blocks structures that the agent has played with has proved a useful cognitive strategy. In that case, when the task is posed to the agent again, it should tend to allocate disproportionate resources to this strategy. e Pattern creation. Patterns that have been valuable for goal-achievement are mutated and combined with each other to yield new patterns. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_012954