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From sensorimotor praxis and pantomime to symbolic representations

From sensorimotor praxis and pantomime to symbolic representations
From sensorimotor praxis and pantomime to symbolic representations
What lies on the two sides of the linguistic divide is fairly clear: On one side, you have organisms buffeted about to varying degrees, depending on their degree of autonomy and plasticity, by the states of affairs in the world they live in. On the other side, you have organisms capable of describing and explaining the states of affairs in the world they live in. Language is what distinguishes one side from the other. How did we get here from there? In principle, one can tell a seamless story about how inborn, involuntary communicative signals and voluntary instrumental praxis could have been shaped gradually, through feedback from their consequences, first into analog pantomime with communicative intent, and then into arbitrary category names combined into all-powerful, truth-value-bearing propositions, freed from the iconic "shape" of their referents and able to tell all. The attendant increase in speed and scope in acquiring and sharing information can be demonstrated in simple artificial life simulations that place the old and new means into direct competition: symbolic theft always beats sensorimotor toil, and the strategy is evolutionarily stable, as long as the bottom-level categories are grounded in sensorimotor toil.
118-125
Harnad, S.
442ee520-71a1-4283-8e01-106693487d8b
Harnad, S.
442ee520-71a1-4283-8e01-106693487d8b

Harnad, S. (2000) From sensorimotor praxis and pantomime to symbolic representations. The Evolution of Language. Proceedings of 3rd International Conference. pp. 118-125 .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Other)

Abstract

What lies on the two sides of the linguistic divide is fairly clear: On one side, you have organisms buffeted about to varying degrees, depending on their degree of autonomy and plasticity, by the states of affairs in the world they live in. On the other side, you have organisms capable of describing and explaining the states of affairs in the world they live in. Language is what distinguishes one side from the other. How did we get here from there? In principle, one can tell a seamless story about how inborn, involuntary communicative signals and voluntary instrumental praxis could have been shaped gradually, through feedback from their consequences, first into analog pantomime with communicative intent, and then into arbitrary category names combined into all-powerful, truth-value-bearing propositions, freed from the iconic "shape" of their referents and able to tell all. The attendant increase in speed and scope in acquiring and sharing information can be demonstrated in simple artificial life simulations that place the old and new means into direct competition: symbolic theft always beats sensorimotor toil, and the strategy is evolutionarily stable, as long as the bottom-level categories are grounded in sensorimotor toil.

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More information

Published date: April 2000
Additional Information: Proceedings of 3rd International Conference. Paris 3-6 April 2000
Venue - Dates: The Evolution of Language. Proceedings of 3rd International Conference, 2000-04-01
Organisations: Web & Internet Science

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Local EPrints ID: 252952
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/252952
PURE UUID: 5d9c8e6c-b656-48cb-833e-46bda2869d93
ORCID for S. Harnad: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6153-1129

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Date deposited: 08 Apr 2000
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:48

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Author: S. Harnad ORCID iD

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