Review of The Robot's Rebellion: Finding Meaning in the Age of Darwin.

Review of book The Robot's Rebellion: Finding Meaning in the Age of Darwin by Keith E. Stanovich (see record 2004-95228-000). In his interesting scholarly book, The Robot's Rebellion, Stanovich leads us on a journey to find meaning in a world populated by mortal biological vehicles, the robots, put on earth to replicate their masters' selfish genes. If the genes do a satisfactory job programming the robots, then the genes replicate in perpetuity and are, therefore, immortal. Stanovich's basic assumptions are: a) vehicles are designed to replicate genes; b) at least in human animals, the brain houses two minds; c) the first mind, System 1 or The Autonomous Set of Systems, evolved much earlier in evolutionary history than did the second mind, System 2 or the Analytic System; d) System 1 is associative, parallel, fast to respond, and designed to automatically serve its genetic master; e) System 2 is rule-based, serial, slow to respond, not aware of System 1 functioning but sometimes privy to System 1 output, controls executive functioning, and is capable of self-evaluation and leading the rebellion against its genetic master; and, f) memes, culturally generated ideas passed on by nongenetic means, can sometimes be as effective as System 1 at squashing the rebellion. These assumptions are derived from work in cognitive science and evolutionary biology, and provide a solid foundation for the book. Both the metaphor and the basic assumptions are embedded in detailed and informative reviews of decision theory, evolutionary psychology, memetic theory, rational philosophy, and utility theory. The interweaving of metaphor and review provides a framework that allows Stanovich to make inferences to help the general reader understand "the implications of modern science" (p. xi). He also develops criteria to evaluate memes that are needed in his quest to find meaning in human existence. In combination with the basic assumptions, these criteria are used to create an ethical ideology that will be embraced by some readers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Darwinian theory, functionalism, and the first American psychological revolution.

American functionalist psychology constituted an effort to model scientific psychology on the successes of English evolutionary theory. In part it was a response to the stagnation of Wundt's psychological research program, which had been grounded in German experimental physiology. In part it was an attempt to make psychology more appealing within the highly pragmatic American context and to facilitate the application of psychology to domains outside of the scientific laboratory. Applications of psychology that emerged from the functionalist ethos included child and developmental psychology, clinical psychology, psychological testing, and industrial/vocational psychology. Functionalism was also the ground within which behaviorism rooted and grew into the dominant form of psychology through the middle of the 20th century. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Logistic型混合自适应分数阶达尔文粒子群优化算法

针对传统的粒子群优化算法中存在的问题及分数阶达尔文微粒群优化(FDPSO)算法收敛速度慢,收敛精度不高的问题,改进其算法中分数阶速度更新策略,同时引入Logistic型混合分数阶自适应动态调整策略,得到一种改进的自适应分数阶达尔文粒子群优化(LFDPSO)算法,并通过相应理论分析,证明了该算法在给定条件下的收敛性,并由6个经典函数的数值测验表明,Logistic型混合自适应分数阶达尔文粒子群(LFDPSO)算法在收敛精度和收敛速度上得到了有效改善与提高,粒子在局部最优时的逃逸能力、全局寻优及智能搜索能力显著增强。     

Comparison between Lamarckian and Darwinian Evolution on a Model Using Neural Networks and Genetic Algorithms

In this paper, we study the relationship between learning and evolution in a simple abstract model, where neural networks capable of learning are evolved using genetic algorithms (GAs). Each individual tries to acquire a proper behavior under a given environment through its lifetime learning, and the best individuals are selected to reproduce offspring, which then conduct lifetime learning in the succeeding generation. The connective weights of individuals' neural networks undergo modification, i.e., certain characters will be acquired, through their lifetime learning. By setting various rates for the heritability of acquired characters, which control the strength of ‘Lamarckian’ strategy, we observe adaptational processes of populations over successive generations. By taking the degree of environmental changes into consideration, we show the following results. Under static environments, populations with higher rates of heritability adapt themselves more quickly toward the environments, and thus perform well. On the other hand, under nonstationary environments, populations with lower rates of heritability not only show more stable behavior against environmental changes, but also maintain greater adaptability with respect to such changing environments. Consequently, the population with zero heritability, i.e., the Darwinian population, attains the highest level of adaptation towards dynamic environments. Received February 1999 / Revised September 1999 / Accepted in revised form September 1999     

The Causal Role of Consciousness: A Conceptual Addendum to Human Evolutionary Psychology.

By concentrating on the unconscious processes driving evolutionary mechanisms, evolutionary psychology has neglected the role of consciousness in generating human adaptations. The authors argue that there exist several "Darwinian algorithms" that are grounded in a novel representational system. Among such adaptations are information-retention homicide, the killing of others who are believed to possess information about the self that has the potential to jeopardize inclusive fitness, and those generating suicide, which may necessitate the capacity for self-referential emotions such as shame. The authors offer these examples to support their argument that human psychology is characterized by a representational system in which conscious motives have inserted themselves at the level of the gene and have fundamentally changed the nature of hominid evolution. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

自适应的分数阶达尔文粒子群优化算法

针对分数阶达尔文粒子群算法收敛性能依赖于分数阶次α,易陷入局部最优的特点,提出了一种自适应的分数阶达尔文粒子群优化（AFO-DPSO）算法,利用粒子的位置和速度信息来动态调整分数阶次α,并引入自适应的加速系数控制策略和变异处理机制,以获取更优的收敛性能。对几种典型函数的测试结果表明,相比于现有的粒子群算法,所提的AFO-DPSO算法的搜索精度、收敛速度和稳定性都有了显著提高,全局寻优能力得到了进一步提高。     

The evolutionary significance of depressive symptoms: Different adverse situations lead to different depressive symptom patterns.

Although much depression may be dysfunctional, the capacity to experience normal depressive symptoms in response to certain adverse situations appears to have been shaped by natural selection. If this is true, then different kinds of situations may evoke different patterns of depressive symptoms that are well suited to solving the adaptive challenges specific to each situation. The authors called this the situation-symptom congruence hypothesis. They tested this hypothesis by asking 445 participants to identify depressive symptoms that followed a recent adverse situation. Guilt, rumination, fatigue, and pessimism were prominent following failed efforts; crying, sadness, and desire for social support were prominent following social losses. These significant differences were replicated in an experiment in which 113 students were randomly assigned to visualize a major failure or the death of a loved one. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Machines for Rent: Experiments by New-Territories

Robots have captured the popular imagination like no other technology, fuelling science-fiction narratives in novels, art and film. Here, in a text by François Roche and Camille Lacadée of New-Territories, ‘Machines for Rent’ are explored as a phenomenon that inhabits its own visionary realm, becoming a fertile field for experimentation. These fantastical mechanical creatures are visualised in exquisite drawings by François Roche and Stephan Henrich of New-Territories.     

基于分数阶达尔文粒子群FODPSO算法的图像分割

图像分割主要用于提取用户感兴趣的目标,是图像分类和识别的基础。采用一种基于分数阶达尔文粒子群算法的图像分割方法,该算法采用分数阶微积分控制系统收敛性,能够对n尺度图像进行n-1个阈值寻优计算。实验结果表明,对比于APSO、CFPSO算法,该算法具有收敛速度快、稳定性强、精度高、全局寻优等特点,有效地克服了传统算法易陷入局部最优和收敛速度慢等缺陷,可满足实际工程需求。     

Three pioneers of comparative psychology in America, 1843-1890: Lewis H. Morgan, John Bascom, and Joseph LeConte.

Scientific comparative psychology in America dates from the mid-1890s, but there is a body of earlier literature on the topic, written during a period of theistic debates over Darwinian evolution. The anthropologist Lewis H. Morgan rejected instinct as an explanation of animal behavior in 1843 and defended the mental similarities between animals and humans, although he was not an evolutionist. John Bascom's textbook Comparative Psychology (1878) is the earliest American work to use that title, and its theistic approach anticipates some arguments found in much later evolutionary works. Beginning in 1860, the geologist Joseph LeConte, who is well known for defending the compatibility of evolution and religion, wrote several articles in which he outlined a comparative evolutionary approach to psychological problems. However, these writers did not establish a coherent research tradition and were ignored by the "New Psychologists" of the 1880s. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)