Evolution of Communication and Language in Embodied Agents - ReadingSample

If artificial organisms are constructed with the goal to better understand the behaviour of real organisms, artificial organisms that resemble human beings should possess a communication system with the same properties of human language. This chapter tries to identify nine such properties and for each of them to describe what has been done and what has to be done. Human language: (1) is made up of signals which are arbitrarily connected to their meanings, (2) has syntax and, more generally, its signals are made up of smaller signals, (3) is culturally transmitted and culturally evolved, (4) is used to communicate with oneself and not only with others, (5) is particularly sophisticated for communicating information about the external environment, (6) uses displaced signals, (7) is intentional and requires recognition of intentions in others, (8) is the product of a complex nervous system, (9) influences human cognition. Communication presupposes a shared worldview which depends on the brain, body, and adaptive pattern of the organisms that want to communicate, and this represents a critical challenge also for communication between robots and us. 1 Understanding the Behavior of Real Organisms by Constructing Artificial Organisms Traditional theories of behavior are expressed by using the words of the common language and this poses a problem because the words of the common language tend to have unclear and ambiguous meanings, and it is difficult to derive detailed and noncontroversial empirical predictions from verbally formulated theories. The availability of computers makes it possible to explore another way of formulating theories of behavior and, more generally, scientific theories. A theory becomes the blueprint for constructing an artefact, which can be a computer simulation or a physical device controlled by a computer (robot). To the extent that the artefact behaves like some real organism, one can conclude that the theory incorporated in the artefact is a good theory of the behavior of the organism. There are at least two advantages to expressing theories of behavior as artefacts. First, theories necessarily have to be formulated in an operational and unambiguous way because otherwise the artefact D. Parisi ( ) Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, CNR, Rome, Italy e-mail: [email protected] S. Nolfi, M. Mirolli (eds.), Evolution of Communication and Language in Embodied Agents, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-01250-1_2, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010 13