Counting with Cilia: The Role of Morphological Computation in Basal Cognition Research

Rorot, Wiktor

doi:10.3390/e24111581

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 77 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Furthermore, we can use this approach to help clarify some of the extant debates in cognitive science and philosophy of mind, such as the dispute between proponents of a computational theory of mind and of embodied accounts of cognition. This is possible through the concept of "morphological computation" (see Rorot, 2022) which offers a bridge between the two theories by focusing on the forms of computation and intelligence exhibited by bodies, from the level of individual cells all the way up to highly complex human brains, as we highlight in the following sections.…”

Section: Multicellular Collective Intelligencementioning

confidence: 99%

Journal of Multiscale Neuroscience

Falandays¹,

Kaaronen²,

Moser³

et al. 2023

J. Multiscale Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Collective intelligence, broadly conceived, refers to the adaptive behavior achieved by groups through the interactions of their members, often involving phenomena such as consensus building, cooperation, and competition. The standard view of collective intelligence is that it is a distinct phenomenon from supposed individual intelligence. In this position piece, we argue that a more parsimonious stance is to consider all intelligent adaptive behavior as being driven by similar abstract principles of collective dynamics. To illustrate this point, we highlight how similar principles are at work in the intelligent behavior of groups of non-human animals, multicellular organisms, brains, small groups of humans, cultures, and even evolution itself. If intelligent behavior in all of these systems is best understood as the emergent result of collective interactions, we ask what is left to be called “individual intelligence”? We believe that viewing all intelligence as collective intelligence offers greater explanatory power and generality, and may promote fruitful cross-disciplinary exchange in the study of intelligent adaptive behavior.

show abstract

Section: Multicellular Collective Intelligencementioning

confidence: 99%

Journal of Multiscale Neuroscience

Falandays¹,

Kaaronen²,

Moser³

et al. 2023

J. Multiscale Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Multicellular Collective Intelligencementioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

2023

J. Multiscale Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Collective intelligence, broadly conceived, refers to the adaptive behavior achieved by groups through the interactions of their members, often involving phenomena such as consensus building, cooperation, and competition. The standard view of collective intelligence is that it is a distinct phenomenon from supposed individual intelligence. In this position piece, we argue that a more parsimonious stance is to consider all intelligent adaptive behavior as being driven by similar abstract principles of collective dynamics. To illustrate this point, we highlight how similar principles are at work in the intelligent behavior of groups of non-human animals, multicellular organisms, brains, small groups of humans, cultures, and even evolution itself. If intelligent behavior in all of these systems is best understood as the emergent result of collective interactions, we ask what is left to be called "individual intelligence"? We believe that viewing all intelligence as collective intelligence offers greater explanatory power and generality, and may promote fruitful crossdisciplinary exchange in the study of intelligent adaptive behavior.

show abstract

“… 4 An interesting context here, also explored in Pfeifer's work (e.g., Pfeifer and Scheier, 1999 ), is the increasing popularity of “morphological computation” (see also Müller and Hoffman, 2017 ). For a discussion of morphological computation in the context of basal cognition (see Rorot, 2022 ). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mind the matter: Active matter, soft robotics, and the making of bio-inspired artificial intelligence

2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Philosophical and theoretical debates on the multiple realisability of the cognitive have historically influenced discussions of the possible systems capable of instantiating complex functions like memory, learning, goal-directedness, and decision-making. These debates have had the corollary of undermining, if not altogether neglecting, the materiality and corporeality of cognition—treating material, living processes as “hardware” problems that can be abstracted out and, in principle, implemented in a variety of materials—in particular on digital computers and in the form of state-of-the-art neural networks. In sum, the matter in se has been taken not to matter for cognition. However, in this paper, we argue that the materiality of cognition—and the living, self-organizing processes that it enables—requires a more detailed assessment when understanding the nature of cognition and recreating it in the field of embodied robotics. Or, in slogan form, that the matter matters for cognitive form and function. We pull from the fields of Active Matter Physics, Soft Robotics, and Basal Cognition literature to suggest that the imbrication between material and cognitive processes is closer than standard accounts of multiple realisability suggest. In light of this, we propose upgrading the notion of multiple realisability from the standard version—what we call 1.0—to a more nuanced conception 2.0 to better reflect the recent empirical advancements, while at the same time averting many of the problems that have been raised for it. These fields are actively reshaping the terrain in which we understand materiality and how it enables, mediates, and constrains cognition. We propose that taking the materiality of our embodied, precarious nature seriously furnishes an important research avenue for the development of embodied robots that autonomously value, engage, and interact with the environment in a goal-directed manner, in response to existential needs of survival, persistence, and, ultimately, reproduction. Thus, we argue that by placing further emphasis on the soft, active, and plastic nature of the materials that constitute cognitive embodiment, we can move further in the direction of autonomous embodied robots and Artificial Intelligence.

show abstract

Counting with Cilia: The Role of Morphological Computation in Basal Cognition Research

Cited by 4 publications

References 77 publications

Journal of Multiscale Neuroscience

Journal of Multiscale Neuroscience

Untitled

Mind the matter: Active matter, soft robotics, and the making of bio-inspired artificial intelligence

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About