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Networks and consciousness. Donald Steiny. Overall. Won’t even try to solve AI More about problems than solutions Introduce the idea of networks and how they relate to some of the problems in this area. Today. Review of behaviorism Review of cognitive psychology
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Networks and consciousness Donald Steiny
Overall • Won’t even try to solve AI • More about problems than solutions • Introduce the idea of networks and how they relate to some of the problems in this area
Today • Review of behaviorism • Review of cognitive psychology • Review of systems and the AI paradigm • Discussion of relational thinking and networks • Examples of how networks lead to new descriptions • Some potential applications
The idea • No such thing as cause and effect – Hume • Not a property of things. • Just a consequence of repeated observations • A matter of faith – the fallacy of induction • The solution? • Scientific laws are based on repeated observation • Psychology could become “scientific.”
But … • It is not possible to recognize a balanced set of symbols without memory. Aaabbbbaaa It is, however, possible to precisely describe the memory required by push down store automata, which lead to computer languages like C and Pascal. This lead to “mental processes” and cognitive psychology
Meanwhile • Shannon and Weaver • Formulation of information and redundancy • Norbert Weiner – Cybernetics • Feedback • Control • Representation of everything as symbols and a complete science of symbols
And in economics • Revealed preferences • Failure of micro explanations • Coase and Williamson • Behavioral explanations • Bounded rationality (Simon) • Heuristics and biases (Kahneman) • Still at dyad level • Macro structures are epiphenomena
Systems • Systems • Have inputs and outputs • They transform their inputs • They have a boundary • They have subsystems • They are part of a larger systems • Inputs/Outputs can be viewed as symbols
But … • Symbols are always dependent on context. What Bateson called a frame was extensively developed by Erving Goffman. • He’s a student • ASCII interpreted as EBCDIC
Over in sociology land • Harvard Department of Social Relations • Talcott Parsons • Functionalist sociology • The dream of a unified paradigm • Harrison White • Network sociology • Methods that assume heterogeneity • The middle range of action
Atomic Actors • Where is action located? • What is space? • Cartesian space locates action at a point • Minds • Consciousness • Etc • Atomic theories • Rational action • Systems theory
Networks as spaces • Analogy: each of are members of multiple networks. • This is similar to an n-dimensional space, the difference being that any point can be in an arbitrary intersection of dimensions. • Over time the configuration of dimensions switches so points are generally not in a fixed set of dimensions.
Identity • Each network provides a frame of reference • Different things are salient in each network.
What is a person? • When you talk to me who are you talking to? • My immortal soul? • My lips? • A story you tell yourself? • Folk psychology is key • Is an action mine or your interpretation of it? How could we know? How could we remember? • “a god” existing at the confluence of networks.
Style • Holds us together across identities • Helps choose our stories or actions • Persons are styles • Napoleon • Bill Clinton • War/fashion • Sets the tone for our actions
What about a company? • Or a country or “big business” or anything that causes things. • Back to the old problem that behaviorism had • These live in our heads so the same problem of making repeated observations about people applies to larger structures
Social roles • Preexisting (structure) • Fairly fixed • Live in everyone’s heads • Held in place by control.
Stories and accountings • We account for, explain what we observe • The swinging rope experiement • Hume’s cause – Wittgenstein’s intention • Standard sets of stories are both guides for action explanations – Durkheim/Heddigger • We are tied together into networks by these rhetorics • Common sense is an underlying accounting
Our location • Is point of view • Determines what we can access as accountings. • Is affected by control pressures from others (our interpretations are in the light of others)
Social networking • New security models use networks: Granovetter diagrams • We have multiple identities, seeing it on line makes it salient • Facebook security model problem • Assumes single identity
Culture and meaning • Culture is the set of available accountings and the control effort to adopt it. • Meaning is carried across network domains as we go from pointing.
A source of - disciplines • Like situated cognition (Hutchens) • The way we work together • Very hard to see, no ties • Influenced by style • Chinese making a company • Finns making a company • Silicon Valley making a company • Source of stories and accountings (ties)
The problem of action • Magical thinking • Fundamental Attribution Error • The great man hypothesis • Creativity and innovation as combinations of borrowing and salience • Accountings and stories • Beliefs and values are explanations, not causes
How does this relate to AI • The problem is more complex than it is made out to be • Reducing reality to symbols won’t work