From: Sent: To: Subject: jeffrey E. <[email protected]> Wednesday, August 24, 2016 4:53 PM Re: in a two player game what if one player BELIVE= there is an observer but there is not. the payoff matrix shou=d change.? On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 12:48 PM, =om <mailto > wrote: > On Aug 24, 2016, at 06:09, jeffrey E. <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> wrote: > do you believe a bunch of chemicalls has a goal, ? It depends a bit on how we use the words; do you think that a bunch of chem=cals can do mathematics or be money? I think it makes sense to say "y=s". A goal is part of a causal model that we use to describe a agent that can c=mmit to pursuing a world state. Outside of this model, the word has no mea=ing. Within the model, it makes the behavior of some bunches of chemicals =omewhat predictable on a particular level. I think most chemical systems do not have goals, in the sense that we canno= meaningfully ascribe to them that they have agency. For that, they need - some kind of preference system, - a way to determine and represent world states, - a way to make decisions for world states based on the preferences, - a way to act on decisions so that the preferred world state becomes more =ikely. For instance, a corporation is an agent in this sense, and a cat is too. Pe=haps would say that cells can have goals, too. A Roomba cleaning robot is a particularly good example: when it cleans the =oom, it has no goal, because it has no model of the cleanliness of the roo=, and no preference to make it cleaner. We can test for this: if its dirt =ontainer is full, it will happily make a clean room more dirty, because it=just moves randomly around while rotating its brushes. The cleaning is an =mergent result. On the other hand, when it runs low on battery, it will explicitly search f=r its power station and drive there to recharge, and after that, it will c=ntinue cleaning. It explicitly represents the charging state, and when