Embodiment: Does a laptop have a body?

Abstract

This paper analyzes the different understandings of "embodiment". It argues that the issue is not on the hardware a system is implemented in (that is, robot or conventional computer), but on the relation between the system and its working environment. Using an AGI system NARS as an example, the paper shows that the problem of disembodiment can be solved in a symbolic system implemented in a conventional computer, as far as the system makes realistic assumptions about the environment, and adapts to its experience. This paper starts by briefly summarizing the appeal for embodiment, then it analyzes the related concepts, identifies some misconceptions, and suggests a solution, in the context of AGI research.

Artificial General Intelligence: Concept, State of the Art, and Future Prospects

“…Pei Wang has argued against it in a paper titled "Does a Laptop Have a Body?" (Wang, 2009) -the point being that any software program with any kind of user interface is interacting with the physical world via some kind of body, so the distinctions involved are not as sharp as embodiment-oriented researchers sometimes imply.…”

The Artificial Scientist: Logicist, Emergentist, and Universalist Approaches to Artificial General Intelligence

“…All of this seems obviously necessary to conduct experiments in the environment. We are not offering an unqualified endorsement of embodied cognition; after all it is arguable that even a laptop has a body [16]. However, experimentation has certain physical requirements, and if one is able to perform targeted experiments that obtain specific novel information and isolate causal relations, the process of learning may proceed much faster than if one is forced to wait until that same novel information is observed by chance.…”

Self in NARS, an AGI System

“…Actually EGS can be applied to any system, as far as it has interaction without its environment. For such a system to become "grounded, " "embodied, " or "situated, " the key is not whether its input/output mechanisms are "human-like, " but whether its behaviors depend on its experience (Wang, 2009).…”