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Alife Digest Number 044
ALIFE LIST: Artificial Life Research List Number 44 Monday, October 22nd 1990
ARTIFICIAL LIFE RESEARCH ELECTRONIC MAILING LIST
Maintained by the Indiana University Artificial Life Research Group
Contents:
New Book Announcement
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Date: Mon, 22 Oct 90 09:22:07 EDT
From: beer@cthulhu.ces.cwru.edu (Randy Beer)
Subject: New Book Announcement
Intelligence as Adaptive Behavior:
An Experiment in Computational Neuroethology
Perspectives in AI, Volume 6
by Randall D. Beer
Hardback, 240 pp., 60 Figures, Bibliography, Index
$29.95
ISBN 0-12-084730-2
Order from
Academic Press
1-800-321-5068
Drawing upon recent critiques of AI, this book argues that the
universal ability of animals to flexibly interact with their
environments is more fundamental to intelligent behavior than such
uniquely human skills as language and conscious deliberation. This
book also presents a new approach to the design of autonomous agents,
called computational neuroethology, which is concerned with simulating
the neuronal control of behavior in simpler animals.
The development of a nervous system for controlling the behavior of an
artificial insect is described in detail. This nervous system
utilizes heterogeneous architectures containing individual neurons
with complex intrinsic dynamics. Portions of its design are based
upon specific neuronal circuits drawn from several natural animals.
The neuronal implementation of reflexes, fixed-action and rhythmic
patterns, motivational states, goal-oriented behavior, and
decision-making are considered. The behaviors implemented in the
artificial insect include locomotion, wandering, recoil,
edge-following, and feeding. It is also capable of properly managing
the interactions between its various behaviors as it confronts its
simulated environment. This artifical insect demonstrates that
biological design princples can be applied to the construction of
autonomous agents which flexibly engage in complex interactions with
their environment without manipulating explicit internal
representations.
For further information contact
Randall D. Beer
(beer@alpha.ces.cwru.edu)
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End of ALife Digest
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