[ExI] Meaningless Symbols

Ben Zaiboc bbenzai at yahoo.com
Sun Jan 10 23:53:57 UTC 2010


Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:
 
> 2010/1/11 Ben Zaiboc <bbenzai at yahoo.com>:

> > If you hooked Google up to a robotic (or virtual)
> body, and gave it the means to sense the environment, and
> move the body, and hooked up words to actions, then it would
> be capable of understanding (assigning meaning to) the
> words, because they would now have a context.
> 

> It gets a bit tricky when you talk about a virtual body in
> a virtual
> environment. There may be a mapping between what happens in
> the
> computer when it follows an instruction to move two metres
> to the left
> and moving two metres to the left in the real world, but
> there is no
> basis for saying that this is what the symbols in the
> computer "mean",
> since there are also other possible mappings.

The meaning of 'two metres to the left' is tied up with signals that represent activating whatever movement system you use (legs, wheels etc.), feedback from that system, confirmatory signals from sensory systems such as differences of visual signals (that picture on the wall is now nearer for instance (as defined by such things as a change in its apparent size)), adjustments in your environment maps, etc, etc., that all fall into the appropriate category. 

Whether this information is produced by a 'real body' in the 'real world' or a virtual body in a virtual world makes absolutely no difference (after all, we may well be simulations in a simulated world ourselves. Some people think this is highly likely).  I imagine it would lead to a pretty precise meaning for whatever internal signal, state or symbol is used for "two metres to the left".

Once such a concept is established in the system in question, it can be available for use in different contexts, such as imagining someone else moving two metres to their left, recognising that an object is two metres to your left, etc.  

It seems to me that in a system of sufficient complexity, with appropriate senses and actuators, 'two metres to the left' is jam-packed with meaning.

Ben Zaiboc


      



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