Abstract
It seems characteristic for humans to detect structural patterns in
the
world to anticipate future states. Therefore, scientific and common
sense
cognition could be described as information processing which infers
rule-like
laws from patterns in data-sets. Since information processing is the
domain of
computers, artificial cognitive systems are generally designed as
pattern
discoverers.
This paper questions the validity of the information processing paradigm
as an
explanation for human cognition and a design principle for artificial
cognitive
systems. Firstly, it is known from the literature that people suffer
from
conditions such as information overload, superstition, and mental
disorders.
Secondly, cognitive limitations such as a small short-term memory,
the seteffect,
the illusion of explanatory depth, etc. raise doubts as to whether
human
information processing is able to cope with the enormous complexity
of an
infinitely rich (amorphous) world.
It is suggested that, under normal conditions, humans construct information
rather than process it. The constructed information contains anticipations
which
need to be met. This can be hardly called information processing,
since patterns
from the outside are not used to produce action but rather to either
justify
anticipations or restructure the cognitive apparatus.
When it fails, cognition switches to pattern processing, which, given
the
amorphous nature of the experiential world, is a lost cause if these
patterns and
inferred rules do not lead to a (partial) reorganisation of internal
structures such
that constructed anticipations can be met again.
In this scenario, superstition and mental disorders are the result
of a profound
and/or random restructuring of already existing cognitive components
(e.g.,
action sequences). This means that whenever a genuinely cognitive
system is
exposed to pattern processing it may start to behave superstitiously.
The closer
we get to autonomous self-motivated artificial cognitive systems,
the bigger the
danger becomes of superstitious information processing machines that
blow
up rather than behave usefully and effectively. Therefore, to avoid
superstition
in cognitive systems they should be designed as information constructing
entities.
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