We introduce Radical Interactionism (RI), which extends Franklin et al.’s (2013) Cognitive Cycles as Cognitive Atoms (CCCA) proposal in their discussion on conceptual commitments in cognitive models. Similar to the CCCA commitment, the RI commitment acknowledges the indivisibility of the perception-action cycle. However, it also reifies the perception-action cycle as sensorimotor interaction and uses it to replace the traditional notions of observation and action. This complies with constructivist epistemology, which suggests that knowledge of reality is constructed from regularities observed in sensorimotor experience. We use the LIDA cognitive architecture as an example to examine the implications of RI on cognitive models. We argue that RI permits self- programming and constitutive autonomy, which have been acknowledged as desirable cognitive capabilities in artificial agents.

Key words: constructivist learning, sensorimotor modeling, self-programming, constitutive autonomy, self-motivation, Enaction.

A novel way to model an agent interacting with an environment is introduced, called an Enactive Markov Decision Process (EMDP). An EMDP keeps perception and action embedded within sensorimotor schemes rather than dissociated, in compliance with theories of embodied cognition. Rather than seeking a goal associated with a reward, as in reinforcement learning, an EMDP agent learns to master the sensorimotor contingencies offered by its coupling with the environment. In doing so, the agent exhibits a form of intrinsic motivation related to the autotelic principle (Steels), and a value system attached to interactions called “interactional motivation.” This modeling approach allows the design of agents capable of autonomous self-programming, which provides rudimentary constitutive autonomy – a property that theoreticians of enaction consider necessary for autonomous sense-making (e.g., Froese & Ziemke). A cognitive architecture is presented that allows the agent to discover, memorize, and exploit spatio-sequential regularities of interaction, called Enactive Cognitive Architecture (ECA). In our experiments, behavioral analysis shows that ECA agents develop active perception and begin to construct their own ontological perspective on the environment. Relevance: This publication relates to constructivism by the fact that the agent learns from input data that does not convey ontological information about the environment. That is, the agent learns by actively experiencing its environment through interaction, as opposed to learning by registering observations directly characterizing the environment. This publication also relates to enactivism by the fact that the agent engages in self-programming through its experience from interacting with the environment, rather than executing pre-programmed behaviors.

Immersive experiences in virtual reality simulations require natural-looking virtual characters. Autonomy researchers argue that only the agent’s own experience can model their behavior. In this regard, the Constitutive Autonomy through Self-programming Hypothesis (CASH) is an effective approach to implement this model. In this paper, we contribute to the discussion of CASH within dynamic and continuous environments by developing mechanisms of memory decay, contradiction penalty, and relative valence. Such improvements aim to see how the agent might continuously reevaluate their learned schemas. The results show that our agents were able to develop autonomously into performing plausible behaviors, despite the changing environment.

This paper is a collection of thoughts, notes, and gnomic utterances on the nature of morality, its nurture and education. The basic stance taken is presented as an argument. Epistemological considerations tell us that morality is beyond reason. Insofar as we are committed to a moral stance, then we are, in our daily lives, acting more or less effectively as moral agents and are both students and teachers of morality. Insofar as we can, we attempt to control and regulate our lives and our worlds. With the perspectives of a natural scientist, a social scientist and a mathematician, we compute and understand our worlds as models, mechanisms. Here, reason is used as a tool to guide our actions. The general science or praxis of such reasoned action is usefully distinguished as a distinct discipline, cybernetics or governance. That is, the theories and philosophies of the cybernetician are lived. In this sense, we are all cyberneticians, in worlds that we construct, maintain, and control. If reason addresses itself to itself, it becomes mindful of the unknown and recognizes that belief is prior to reason. Beliefs are the control processes which regulate our actions as we regulate the world. As controllers, we are capable of self-programming. Biological and sociological considerations lead us to recognize our nature as allopoetic other-constructed, heteronomous systems as well as autopoetic self-constructed, autonomous systems. Beliefs in the form of commands, rules, propositions, convey emotive and cognitive meaning. They allow access to higher states of consciousness, where, reflexively, they stand as absolutes, eternal truths. The cybernetics of consciousness is coextensive with sorcery and mysticism. Ecstasy and agony, power and fear, ignorance and wisdom are their poles. Philosophy is the love of wisdom which leads to love.