Adaptivity and emergence in organisms and devices

Abstract

Abstract A perspective relating adaptivity and emergence is outlined. Organisms and robotic devices utilizing sensing, computing, and effecting elements with various plasticities are considered. Qualitatively distinct types of adaptivity (adaptive computations, adaptive measurements, adaptive controls) are presented. Capacities and limitations of these various types are assessed. An artificial electrochemical device which adaptively evolved the capacity to discriminate sounds is presented as an example of a semantically adaptive device. Emergence is related to structural adaptation. Three types of emergence, nonemergence, syntactic emergence, and semantic emergence, correspond to nonadaptive, syntactically adaptive, and semantically adaptive devices. Networks of adaptive elements have functional properties similar to their elements. Semantic adaptation here permits the evolution of new, independent interelement signalling channels. In neurons semantic adaptation entails the creation of new independent, orthogonal signal types. Neural mechanisms by which such signal types could be generated in the temporal microstructure of pulse trains are briefly considered.