The natural connectivity of autonomous systems

Battle, Steve

Abstract

The concept of enaction, or embodied cognition, de- scribed by Varela et al., aims to resolve the the dilemma of Cartesian mind-body dualism by re-casting these categories as complementary explanations of the same phenomena. This paper explores Varela’s symbolic/operational abstractions of these domains and the coupling between them, as applied to autonomous, enactive robots. As observers we may describe the behaviour of a robot symbolically, in terms of its function in the world. On the other hand, the autonomous robot can also be described in purely operational terms, as an operationally-closed behaviour that persists through self-regeneration. Its meaning and purpose arise almost as side-effects of being in the world. This paper explores the predictive possibilities of operational closure, specifically about the mapping between these symbolic and operational domains. We find that formalising an operationally closed system in terms of natural connectivity reveals a positive correlation with learning observed autonomous behaviour.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: 2019 AISB Convention
• Start Date: Apr 16, 2019
• End Date: Apr 18, 2019
• Deposit Date: May 14, 2021
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/5347216