Neurorobotics Lecture

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Neurorobotics Lecture Neurorobotics An introduction Marc-Oliver Gewaltig In this lecture you’ll learn 1. What is Neurorobotics 2. Examples of simple neurorobots 1. attraction and avoidance 2. reflexes vs. learned behavior 3. The sensory-motor loop 4. Learning in neurorobotics 1. unsupervised learning for sensory representations 2. reinforcement learning for action learning What is Neurorobotics Neurorobotics, is the combined study of neuroscience, robotics, and artificial intelligence. It is the science and technology of embodied autonomous neural systems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurorobotics Neurorobotics: Embodied in silico neuroscience Spinal Cord Reconstructed Reflexes spinal cord/ CDPs brain models Embodiment and virtual environments Musculo-skeletal system – compliant actuators and mechanics Starting simple: Valentino Braitenberg’s Vehicles Valentino Braitenberg (1926-2011) Braitenberg, V. (1984). Vehicles: Experiments in Photo: Alfred Wegener, commons.wikimedia.org synthetic psychology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Vehicle 1 1 Vehicle 2a 1 2a Vehicle 2b 1 2a 2b Vehicle 3 1 2a 2b 3 Vehicle 3 1 2a 2b 3 Exercise How will vehicle 3 move? Generalizing the Braitenberg vehicle Exercise Using weights in {-1,+1}, which weight configurations implement the vehicles 2a, 2b, and 2c? speed light Biological and Non-biological bodies Sensors: cameras, microphones, etc Artificial brain with neurons Servo motors with wheels Biological and Non-biological bodies Sensors: cameras, microphones, etc encode Artificial brain with neurons Servo motors with wheels Biological and Non-biological bodies Sensors: cameras, microphones, etc encode Artificial brain with neurons Servo motors with wheels decode Perception Action Vision Behaviors Hearing Smell Action Central pattern generators Touch Perception Reflexes Temperature Vestibular Muscle contraction Proprioception Perception Short-term Long-term Action memory memory Drives & Working Vision Cognitive Motivation memory control Action Behaviors Sensor Reward & selection Hearing fusion punish. Smell Action Central pattern generators Touch Perception Reflexes Temperature Vestibular Muscle contraction Proprioception Perception Short-term Long-term Action memory memory Drives & Working Vision Cognitive Motivation memory control Action Behaviors Sensor Reward & selection Hearing fusion punish. SmellLearning of Action Central pattern generators Touchsensory representations Perception Reflexes Temperature Vestibular Muscle contraction Proprioception Perception Short-term Long-term Action memory memory Drives & Working Vision Cognitive Motivation memory control Action Behaviors Sensor Reward & selection Hearing fusion punish. SmellLearning of Action Central pattern generators Touchsensory representations Perception Reflexes Temperature Vestibular Muscle contraction Proprioception Perception Short-term Long-term Action memory memory Drives & Working Vision Cognitive Motivation memory control Action Behaviors Sensor Reward & selection Hearing fusion punish. SmellLearning of Action Central pattern Learninggenerators of skills Touchsensory Perception and behaviours representations Reflexes Temperature Vestibular Muscle contraction Proprioception Example: Somato-sensory maps in the cortex 1 Touch sensitive 2 Somato-sensory map on the 3 Schema of how these regions regions on the mouse mouse brain are mapped to the the mouse body somato-sensory cortex Hind limbs Trunk Forelimbs Whiskers Mouth Nose Sensory cortex limits cortical maps and drives top-down plasticity in thalamocortical circuits Zembrzycki et al. 2013 Example: Somato-sensory maps in the cortex Trunk: largest area of the body – smallest part of the cortical map Hind limbs Trunk Forelimbs Whiskers Nose: small area of the Mouth Nose body – larges area of the map The size of a somato-sensory representation in the brain corresponds to the frequency of its stimulation. Perception Short-term Long-term Action memory memory Drives & Working Vision Cognitive Motivation memory control Action Behaviors Sensor Reward & selection Hearing fusion punish. SmellLearning of Action Central pattern generators Touchsensory representations Perception Reflexes Temperature Vestibular Muscle contraction Proprioception Perception Short-term Long-term Action memory memory Drives & Working Vision Cognitive Motivation memory control Action Behaviors Sensor Reward & selection Hearing fusion punish. SmellLearning of Action Central pattern Learninggenerators of skills Touchsensory Perception and behaviours representations Reflexes Temperature Vestibular Muscle contraction Proprioception Example of behavior learning: the Morris Water Maze Example of behavior learning: the Morris Water Maze Rats learn to find a hidden Time to find platform platform – they don’t like cold water. 10 trials Foster, Morris, Dayan 2000 Different types of learning: 1. Supervised learning • learning from labelled examples 2. Unsupervised learning • learning from unknown examples 3. Reinforcement learning • Learning actions from rewards Different types of learning: 1. Supervised learning • learning from labelled examples 2. Unsupervised learning • learning from unknown examples 3. Reinforcement learning • Learning actions from rewards Supervised learning tree tree tree label tree feature 1,...,n Different types of learning: 1. Supervised learning • learning from labelled examples 2. Unsupervised learning • learning from unknown examples 3. Reinforcement learning • Learning actions from rewards Unsupervised learning Find structure in the data = • Data: D={x1,x2,x3,...} • discover different classes of stimuli (e.g. trees and non-trees) • find ‘useful’ feature basis Trees Trees Something else 2 feature Something else feature 1 Different types of learning: 1. Supervised learning • learning from labelled examples 2. Unsupervised learning • learning from unknown examples 3. Reinforcement learning • Learning actions from rewards Reinforcement-Learning: Some examples • An agent is in a state S • It can take one of several actions • Each action leads to a new state S’. • In some states, the agent is rewarded or punished. Reinforcement-Learning: Some examples • An agent is in a state S • It can take one of several actions • Each action leads to a new state S’. • In some states, the agent is rewarded or punished. • Goal: Maximize reward Reinforcement-Learning: Some examples S = State S’ = new state A = Action R= Reward Agent environment interaction Agent Environment Learning through interaction with the environment Agent Rt St At Rt+1 St+1 Environment At St St+1 Rt+1 Sensory stimulation Perceptual/Behavioural changes Stimulus, response + reward Learning synaptic plasticity Learning and synaptic plasticity Synaptic plasticity: change in connection strengths Behavioural learning and synaptic plasticity Synaptic plasticity: change in connection strengths Behavioural learning and synaptic plasticity Synaptic plasticity: change in connection strengths Axon terminal Neurotransmitter Vesicle Synaptic cleft Receptor Dendrite Learning through synaptic plasticity action potential (spike) pre time post i j Axon terminal Neurotransmitter amplitude time Before learning Vesicle Synaptic cleft Receptor Dendrite Synapse Learning through synaptic plasticity action potential (spike) pre time post i j Axon terminal Neurotransmitter amplitude time After learning Vesicle Synaptic cleft Receptor Dendrite Synapse Hebb’s postulate “When an axon of cell j repeatedly or persistently takes part in firing cell i, then j’s efficiency as one of the cells firing i is increased” Donald O. Hebb The Organization of Behavior (1949) Hebbian postulate explained: cell assemblies • Items are encoded by groups of cells, so-called assemblies Hebbian postulate explained: cell assemblies Item A • If an item is sensed or recalled, the neurons in the assembly are activated Hebbian postulate explained: cell assemblies Item A • as a result, the strength of the connection in the assembly increases Hebbian postulate explained: cell assemblies Item B Hebbian postulate explained: cell assemblies Item B Hebbian postulate explained: cell assemblies Item B Hebbian postulate explained: cell assemblies Partial activation of A... Hebbian postulate explained: cell assemblies Item A Partial activation of A... ...triggers activation of the remaining neurons ! pattern completion Hebbian learning in experiments (schematic) pre j w ij u EPSP no spike of i i post Hebbian learning in experiments (schematic) pre j w ij u EPSP no spike of i i post pre j Both neurons wij simultaneously active i post Hebbian learning in experiments (schematic) pre j w ij u EPSP no spike of i i post pre j Both neurons wij simultaneously active i post pre j EPSP wij no spike of i i post Increased amplitude ⇒ Δwij > 0 Hebbian plasticity Donald Hebb’s postulate (1949): When an axon of cell j repeatedly or persistently takes part in firing cell i, then j’s efficiency as one of the cells firing i is increased pre j wij i k post time • learns correlations (simultaneous activity) • acts locally on the neurons activated Summary: Hebbian plasticity in experiments • Synaptic changes are induced by co-activation of pre- and post-synaptic pre post neurons i • Changes persist for a long time j • Changes can lead to an increase or decrease of the post-synaptic potential Functionality • useful for learning a new behaviour • useful for development (e.g., wiring for receptive field development) • useful for activity control in network (homeostatis) • useful for coding Hebbian learning is unsupervised learning pre post i j local Reinforcement
Recommended publications
  • Neuro Informatics 2020
    Neuro Informatics 2019 September 1-2 Warsaw, Poland PROGRAM BOOK What is INCF? About INCF INCF is an international organization launched in 2005, following a proposal from the Global Science Forum of the OECD to establish international coordination and collaborative informatics infrastructure for neuroscience. INCF is hosted by Karolinska Institutet and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. INCF currently has Governing and Associate Nodes spanning 4 continents, with an extended network comprising organizations, individual researchers, industry, and publishers. INCF promotes the implementation of neuroinformatics and aims to advance data reuse and reproducibility in global brain research by: • developing and endorsing community standards and best practices • leading the development and provision of training and educational resources in neuroinformatics • promoting open science and the sharing of data and other resources • partnering with international stakeholders to promote neuroinformatics at global, national and local levels • engaging scientific, clinical, technical, industry, and funding partners in colla- borative, community-driven projects INCF supports the FAIR (Findable Accessible Interoperable Reusable) principles, and strives to implement them across all deliverables and activities. Learn more: incf.org neuroinformatics2019.org 2 Welcome Welcome to the 12th INCF Congress in Warsaw! It makes me very happy that a decade after the 2nd INCF Congress in Plzen, Czech Republic took place, for the second time in Central Europe, the meeting comes to Warsaw. The global neuroinformatics scenery has changed dramatically over these years. With the European Human Brain Project, the US BRAIN Initiative, Japanese Brain/ MINDS initiative, and many others world-wide, neuroinformatics is alive more than ever, responding to the demands set forth by the modern brain studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Intelligence Without Reason
    Intelligence Without Reason Rodney A. Brooks MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab 545 Technology Square Cambridge, MA 02139, USA Abstract certain modus operandi over the years, which includes a particular set of conventions on how the inputs and out- Computers and Thought are the two categories puts to thought and reasoning are to be handled (e.g., that together define Artificial Intelligence as a the subfield of knowledge representation), and the sorts discipline. It is generally accepted that work in of things that thought and reasoning do (e.g,, planning, Artificial Intelligence over the last thirty years problem solving, etc.). 1 will argue that these conven­ has had a strong influence on aspects of com- tions cannot account for large aspects of what goes into puter architectures. In this paper we also make intelligence. Furthermore, without those aspects the va­ the converse claim; that the state of computer lidity of the traditional Artificial Intelligence approaches architecture has been a strong influence on our comes into question. I will also argue that much of the models of thought. The Von Neumann model of landmark work on thought has been influenced by the computation has lead Artificial Intelligence in technological constraints of the available computers, and particular directions. Intelligence in biological thereafter these consequences have often mistakenly be­ systems is completely different. Recent work in come enshrined as principles, long after the original im­ behavior-based Artificial Intelligence has pro­ petus has disappeared. duced new models of intelligence that are much closer in spirit to biological systems. The non- From an evolutionary stance, human level intelligence Von Neumann computational models they use did not suddenly leap onto the scene.
    [Show full text]
  • Boden Grey Walter's
    Grey Walter’s Anticipatory Tortoises Margaret Boden Grey Walter and the Ratio Club The British physiologist William Grey Walter (1910–1977) was an early member of the interdisciplinary Ratio Club. This was a small dining club that met several times a year from 1949 to 1955, with a nostalgic final meeting in 1958, at London’s National Hospital for Neurological Diseases. The founder-secretary was the neurosurgeon John Bates, who had worked (alongside the psychologist Kenneth Craik) on servomechanisms for gun turrets during the war. The club was a pioneering source of ideas in what Norbert Wiener had recently dubbed ‘cybernetics’.1 Indeed, Bates’ archive shows that the letter inviting membership spoke of ‘people who had Wiener’s ideas before Wiener’s book appeared’.2 In fact, its founders had considered calling it the Craik Club, in memory of Craik’s work—not least, his stress on ‘synthetic’ models of psychological theories.3 In short, the club was the nucleus of a thriving British tradition of cybernetics, started independently of the transatlantic version. The Ratio members—about twenty at any given time—were a very carefully chosen group. Several of them had been involved in wartime signals research or intelligence work at Bletchley Park, where Alan Turing had used primitive computers to decipher the Nazis’ Enigma code.4 They were drawn from a wide range of disciplines: clinical psychiatry and neurology, physiology, neuroanatomy, mathematics/statistics, physics, astrophysics, and the new areas of control engineering and computer science.5 The aim was to discuss novel ideas: their own, and those of guests—such as Warren McCulloch.
    [Show full text]
  • Was a Neurologist with a Vast Knowledge Including a Solid Scientific and Engineering Training
    Scientiae Mathematicae Japonicae Online, e-2006, 861–863 861 ON LAWRENCE STARK AND BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING Shiro Usui Received March 27, 2006 Abstract. We provide a brief overview of Lawrence Stark’s fundamental contribu- tions to Biomedical Engineering. Lawrence Stark (1926–2004) was a neurologist with a vast knowledge including a solid scientific and engineering training. He pioneered in what is nowadays sometimes called Biomedical Engineering, with an emphasis on the quantitative description of human brain control of movement and vision. In this note, I would like to outline some of his main achievements. Further information may be found, e.g., in [1, 2, 3] and references therein. Stark was interested in science since early childhood. He obtained B.A. at Columbia in 1945, where he majored in English, biology and zoology in only one year and a half. During the war he enrolled in the Navy, who sent him to Albany Medical College, where he earned MD in 1948. He was later awarded Sc.D.h.c. at SUNY in 1988 and Ph.D.h.c. at Tokushima University, Japan, in 1992. He received the Morlock Award in Biomedical Engineering in 1977, and the Franklin V. Taylor Award, Systems Man and Cybernetics Society in 1989. Lawrence Stark held faculty positions at Yale, 1954–1960, as an Assistant Professor of Medicine (Neurology) and Associate Physician; at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1960–1965, as Head of the Neurology Section of the Center for Communication Sciences, Electronic Systems Laboratory and Research Laboratory for Electronics; at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle, 1965–1968, as Professor of Bioengineering, Neurology and Physiology and Chairman of the Biomedical Engineering Department at the Presbyterian St.
    [Show full text]
  • Cognitive Systems
    Cognitive Systems a cybernetic perspective on the new science of the mind Francis Heylighen Lecture Notes 2012-2013 ECCO: Evolution, Complexity and Cognition - Vrije Universiteit Brussel TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................4 What is cognition? ................................................................................................................................................4 The naive view of cognition..................................................................................................................................5 The need for a systems view ...............................................................................................................................10 CLASSICAL APPROACHES TO COGNITION ........................................................................................................11 A brief history of epistemology ..........................................................................................................................11 From behaviorism to cognitive psychology.......................................................................................................14 Problem solving ..................................................................................................................................................19 Symbolic Artificial Intelligence..........................................................................................................................25
    [Show full text]
  • Valentino Braitenberg, Neuroanatomy, and Brain Function
    Biol Cybern (2014) 108:517–525 DOI 10.1007/s00422-014-0630-6 FOREWORD Structural aspects of biological cybernetics: Valentino Braitenberg, neuroanatomy, and brain function J. Leo van Hemmen Almut Schüz Ad Aertsen · · Published online: 7 November 2014 © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 1Introduction “When a new science emerges every couple of centuries, those who are privileged enough to witness it from its very The best way of introducing ValentinoBraitenberg is by quot- beginnings to its full development during the span of their ing one of his distinctive arguments [99, p. 31]:1 own lifetime can indeed count themselves lucky. My col- leagues and I, who became fully fledged after World War II, had precisely this privilege. The science to which I refer still has no proper name, but its existence can be testified to by the matter-of-course way in which physicists, biolo- gists, and logicians discuss issues that do not fall into any of the categories of physics, biology or logic. Their consen- sus is not so much interdisciplinary (which does not bring us much more than admiration from people who don’t know much about it) as decidedly neodisciplinary, i.e., based on anewlanguageandterminologythatconvincesallsides and that is already so well established that it hardly needs to be discussed any further. Some call this new discipline informatics, others information science; it may sometimes be narrowed down to neuroinformatics or ’technical infor- matics.’ The term cybernetics, which does not meet with 1 The referencing in this Foreword is twofold. For the Foreword itself, universal approval, has, nonetheless, a good chance of assert- the Harvard style referring to authors by year is used whereas for the ing itself in the long run.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 7: Uphill Analysis, Downhill Synthesis?
    - 71 - Chapter 7: Uphill Analysis, Downhill Synthesis? 7.1 INTRODUCTION The previous chapter used the construction, observation, and analysis of toy ro- bots to provide a concrete example of the three basic steps that are required in synthetic psy- chology. The first step is the synthesis of a working system from a set of architectural compo- nents. The second step is the study of this system at work, looking in particular for emergent properties. The third step is the analysis of these properties, with the goal of explaining their ori- gin. This general approach was given the acronym SEA, for synthesis, emergence, and analysis. The demonstration project that was presented in Chapter 6 provides a concrete example of these three basic steps, but is not by its very nature a particularly good example of synthetic psychology. In terms of advancing our introduction of synthetic psychology, the “thoughtless walkers” that we discussed at best raise some important issues that need to be addressed in more detail. These issues were mentioned near the end of Chapter 6. The purpose of the current chapter is to go beyond our toy robots to consider two related issues in more detail. First, we are going to be concerned with the attraction of the synthetic ap- proach. Why might a researcher choose it instead of adopting the more common analytic ap- proach? Second, we are going to consider claims about the kind of theory that the synthetic ap- proach will produce. Specifically, one putative attraction of the synthetic approach is that theories that emerge from synthetic research are considerably less complex than those that are generated from analytic research.
    [Show full text]
  • Artificial Intelligence in Science Fiction Body, Mind, Soul-The 'Cyborg Effect': Artificial Intelligence in Science Fiction
    ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN SCIENCE FICTION BODY, MIND, SOUL-THE 'CYBORG EFFECT': ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN SCIENCE FICTION BY DUNCAN LUCAS, B.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts McMaster University ©Copyright by Duncan Lucas, August 2002 MASTER OF ARTS (2002) McMaster University (English) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: Body, Mind, Soul-The 'Cyborg Effect': Artificial Intelligence in Science Fiction AUTHOR: Duncan Lucas, B.A. (McMaster University) SUPERVISOR: Professor Joseph Adamson NUMlBER OF PAGES: v, 185 11 Abstract: Though this project is about representations of artificial intelligence (AI) in science fiction (SF), no discussion of 'artificial' intelligence could ever take place without considering 'real' intelligence. Consequently, at core and by default, this project is about human intelligence. Artificial intelligence throws into relief the essence of being human as a tripartite construction of body, mind, and their synergistic combination, by creating an intelligent, dialogical, and interrogative entity as a comparative Other. Chapters one and two address two basic questions: What is science fiction? What is artificial intelligence? These evolve additional questions: How do science :fiction writers delineate the physical and intellectual capabilities and capacities of humans versus machines (in the broadest sense), their comparative behaviours, and thereby, consider humanl methods for understanding our universe and our place in it? What place do SF writers imagine machine intelligence taking in our world? What are the ethical, moral, and social implications for human verus machine inteHigence? Chapters three and four consider how authors construct Als, what physical forms they might take, and the relative importance of the body versus the mind.
    [Show full text]
  • Some Reflections on Cybernetics and Its Scientific Heritage
    Scientiae Mathematicae Japonicae Online, e-2006, 667–677 667 SOME REFLECTIONS ON CYBERNETICS AND ITS SCIENTIFIC HERITAGE Aldo de Luca Received March 6, 2006 Abstract. The scientific research program of Cybernetics, originated by Norbert Wiener, was mainly concerned with the communication and control whether in living organisms or machines. The main aim was to get useful and essential information on the functioning of the brain on which to construct later a science of the mind. This requires methods and knowledge borrowed from different disciplines including Physics, Biology, and Humanities. The great novelty of Cybernetics was the introduction of a new entity called ‘information’ of fundamental importance in the theory of communi- cation. However, several different formalizations of the intuitive notion of information exist which depend on the ‘context’, i.e., the characteristic features of the ‘source’, of the ‘channel’, and of the ‘receiver’. The context is of a particular relevance in the study of biological systems where there exist sophisticated coding mechanisms which are essential to the information processing, and underlie the high level functions of human mind. At present, still lacking is a theory of information and coding that could be usefully employed for the study of complex biological systems. This was the main reason for the decline of Cybernetics. 1 Introduction What Cybernetics is or was ? In the book “Introduction to Cybernetics” by Luigi Ricciardi and myself [1], at the beginning of the seventies, we refrained from giving a definition of Cybernetics and went straight onto some topics of the book which was meant to be only an introduction to Cybernetics itself.
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Development of the Computational Unit for an Artificial Axon Network a Dissertation Submitt
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Development of the Computational Unit for an Artificial Axon Network A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Physics by Hector Garcia Vasquez 2018 c Copyright by Hector Garcia Vasquez 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Development of the Computational Unit for an Artificial Axon Network by Hector Garcia Vasquez Doctor of Philosophy in Physics University of California, Los Angeles, 2018 Professor Giovanni Zocchi, Chair The subject of consciousness is a debated and open question on all levels of inquiry. There is no general consensus for its definition, nor is there agreement in the minimum number of computational units required to produce a conscious experience or to perform the simplest stimulus-response tasks. The unknowns persists down to the interaction between two neu- rons. When one neuron fires, competing theories exist for how a downstream neuron uses this signal. A novel, experimental system was developed in the Zocchi lab [AZ16] to explore these questions with a constructivist approach. We call this system the Artificial Axon (AA), and it is the first artificial system to produce an action potential with a voltage-gated ion channel outside of the cell. The long-term direction for the Artificial Axon in our lab is toward a large network of Axons to probe the surface of consciousness with a \brain-like" system. There are many challenges to overcome before such a network is realized. However, we are approaching the end of early development for this system. My experimental work with the Artificial Axon is in the development of the computational unit for this future network.
    [Show full text]
  • Robotics and Neuroscience Review
    Current Biology 24, R910–R920, September 22, 2014 ª2014 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.07.058 Robotics and Neuroscience Review Dario Floreano1,*, Auke Jan Ijspeert2, and Stefan Schaal3 under study become physical models to test hypotheses. In the following sections we will examine to what extent neuro- science and robotics have resulted in novel insights and In the attempt to build adaptive and intelligent machines, devices in the specific fields of invertebrates, vertebrates, roboticists have looked at neuroscience for more than and primates. half a century as a source of inspiration for perception and control. More recently, neuroscientists have resorted Invertebrates to robots for testing hypotheses and validating models of Invertebrates produce more stereotyped behaviours and are biological nervous systems. Here, we give an overview of easier to manipulate than most vertebrates, making them the work at the intersection of robotics and neuroscience suitable candidates for embodiment of neuronal models in and highlight the most promising approaches and areas robots [7]. where interactions between the two fields have generated significant new insights. We articulate the work in three Perception sections, invertebrate, vertebrate and primate neurosci- Insect behaviour largely depends on external stimulation of ence. We argue that robots generate valuable insight into the perceptual apparatus, which triggers basic reactions the function of nervous systems, which is intimately linked such as attraction and evasion. Mobile robots have been to behaviour and embodiment, and that brain-inspired often used to understand the neural underpinnings of taxis, algorithms and devices give robots life-like capabilities.
    [Show full text]
  • Riegler, [email protected] Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
    Accepted for publication in Cybernetics & Systems, special issue on “Belief systems in science and engineering,” edited by Josué Antonio Nescolarde-Selva, José Luis Usó- Doménech and Hugh Gash. Knowledge and Belief: Some Clarifications Alexander Riegler, [email protected] Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium ABSTRACT The notions of knowledge and belief play an important role in philosophy. Unfortunately, the literature is not very consistent about defining these notions. Is belief more fundamental than knowledge or the other way around? Many accounts rely on the widely accepted strategy of appealing to the intuition of the reader. Such an argumentative methodology is fundamentally flawed as it lets the problems of common sense reasoning in through the front door. Instead, I suggest that philosophical arguments should be based on formal-computational models to (a) reduce the ambiguities and uncertainties that come with intuitive arguments and reasoning, and (b) capture the dynamic nature of many philosophical concepts. I present a model of knowledge and belief that lends itself to being implemented on computers. Its purpose is to resolve terminological confusion in favor of a more transparent account. The position I defend is an anti-realist naturalized one: knowledge is best conceived as arising from experience, and is fundamental to belief. INTRODUCTION In orthodox epistemology, knowledge is defined as justified true belief (JTB). This view has been challenged for either being too broad and incomplete, or for being too restrictive because it does not cover different varieties of knowledge, or for referring to epistemically questionable notions. This heterogeneity of often diametrically opposed claims suggests that the discussion so far may have relied too much on appeals to intuition.
    [Show full text]