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Re: Evolved Psychology - Brain Region Tied to Regret Identified
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For example . . . an individual fish's directional preference might be a function of a bit of information it has about a resource patch somewhere, where it is with respect to other fish in its vicinity (it wants to stay with the group, but not get too close to other fish), the presence of predators, and then some random noise, which could be due to a combination of sensory error, tiny heterogeneities in the pressure on either side of the fish, etc. (that's the stochastic part . . . interestingly, these collective systems often don't work at all without the noise component incorporated). When you put a bunch of 'fish' in a simulated 3-D environment with a few simple behavioral rules (as above), they can collectively choose the most efficient resource patches (even if only a few individuals have information), avoid predators, divide and re-fuse, and do all other sorts of incredible things. To my knowledge, this process has not and cannot be captured by conventional mathematics - perhaps it can be coarsely approximated, but not captured in full. That's how we justify using the word "emergence" in this context. So, in one sense (which you have stressed), everything is determined, in that the future invariably depends on the exact current conditions of the universe. But in another sense, the behavior of complex social groups actually depends in part upon the influence of random noise. Again, I'm not an expert in the this area, but it's a pretty fascinating situation. |
#42
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Re: Evolved Psychology - Brain Region Tied to Regret Identified
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Also Carey, in your post 36 above you spoke of systems “in principleâ€: Quote:
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#43
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Re: Evolved Psychology - Brain Region Tied to Regret Identified
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#44
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Re: Evolved Psychology - Brain Region Tied to Regret Identified
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B/c if there truly is “random†“noise†impacting the behavior of anything, then the future will depend on more than just “the exact current conditions of the universe,†and the next time Tom farts the universe could possibly implode . . . or would you view Tom’s farts as nothing more than nuances? |
#45
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Re: Evolved Psychology - Brain Region Tied to Regret Identified
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I am very curious though . . . in real life - outside this forum - when someone says something that strikes you as unappealing or incorrect, do you go with the admittedly sophisticated "circle-jerk" criticism, or the more classical "yo momma's fat" approach? I personally prefer the latter style, as it's far more likely to wind up the opponent and thus prevent him from returning a cogent response. Quote:
Preferred orientation of fish A = weighted average of (orientation dictated by information about resource + orientation dictated by position of other fish + orientation dictated by presence of predators) + random value from from a Normal distribution with mean 0 and SD=1. To me this seems pretty straight-forward . . . random variables are incorporated into models as a short-hand for the tiny real-life influences that effectively add a stochastic element to individual behavior. So, please tell me if there's still a contradiction. Last edited by Carey N; May 3rd, 2006 at 11:37 AM.. |
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Re: Evolved Psychology - Brain Region Tied to Regret Identified
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I really wish you hadn't closed the door on a conversation on free will being an illusion, I guess I'll have to wait for other rational minds that disagree with me on this point. Great posts! |
#47
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Re: Evolved Psychology - Brain Region Tied to Regret Identified
Fred! Hit the "reply" button on the post to which you're directly referring, or the thread structure becomes unwieldy.
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Last edited by Carey N; May 3rd, 2006 at 01:01 PM.. |
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Re: Evolved Psychology - Brain Region Tied to Regret Identified
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