I like the idea about the size of the target states; there’s bound to be some interesting measure theory that I can apply if I decide to formalize in that direction. In fact, measure theory might be able to clarify some of the subtleties I alluded to above regarding what happens when we refine the world model (for example, in a way that causes a single goal state to split into two or more).
There are hints in your last paragraph of associating competence with goal-directedness, which I think is an association to avoid. For example, when a zebra is swimming across a river as fast as it can, I would like the extent to which that behaviour is considered goal-directed to be independent of whether that zebra is the one that gets attacked by a crocodile.
Maybe I could try to disentangle competence from goal-directedness in what I wrote. The main idea that I was trying to push in that paragraph is that there is more to goal-directed behavior in real animals than just movement toward a goal state. There is also (attempted) movement away from anti-goal states and around obstacle states.
An example of the former could be a zebra seeing a bunch of crocodiles congregated by the bank of the Nile and deciding not to cross the river today (unfortunately, it later got chased down and eaten by a lion due to the zebra’s incompetence at evading all anti-goal states).
An example of the latter could be a golfer veering his swing slightly to the right to avoid the sand traps on the left (unfortunately, the ball ended up landing in the pond instead due to the golfer’s incompetence at avoiding all obstacle states).
Anti-goals and obstacles act as repulsor states, complementing the attractor states known as goals, redirecting the flow of behavior to maximize the chances of survival and of reaching the actual goals.
As to the latter part of that paragraph, I think policy-selection for single goals and goal-selection more generally are important for enabling systems to exhibit flexible behavior. Someone in a recent thread (https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3L46WGauGpr7nYubu/the-plan?commentId=nLCpJnxfaPzKXsbE2) brought up some interesting research on goal selection (more like goal pruning) in animals that could be worth looking into.
Thanks for the ideas!
I like the idea about the size of the target states; there’s bound to be some interesting measure theory that I can apply if I decide to formalize in that direction. In fact, measure theory might be able to clarify some of the subtleties I alluded to above regarding what happens when we refine the world model (for example, in a way that causes a single goal state to split into two or more).
There are hints in your last paragraph of associating competence with goal-directedness, which I think is an association to avoid. For example, when a zebra is swimming across a river as fast as it can, I would like the extent to which that behaviour is considered goal-directed to be independent of whether that zebra is the one that gets attacked by a crocodile.
Maybe I could try to disentangle competence from goal-directedness in what I wrote. The main idea that I was trying to push in that paragraph is that there is more to goal-directed behavior in real animals than just movement toward a goal state. There is also (attempted) movement away from anti-goal states and around obstacle states.
An example of the former could be a zebra seeing a bunch of crocodiles congregated by the bank of the Nile and deciding not to cross the river today (unfortunately, it later got chased down and eaten by a lion due to the zebra’s incompetence at evading all anti-goal states).
An example of the latter could be a golfer veering his swing slightly to the right to avoid the sand traps on the left (unfortunately, the ball ended up landing in the pond instead due to the golfer’s incompetence at avoiding all obstacle states).
Anti-goals and obstacles act as repulsor states, complementing the attractor states known as goals, redirecting the flow of behavior to maximize the chances of survival and of reaching the actual goals.
As to the latter part of that paragraph, I think policy-selection for single goals and goal-selection more generally are important for enabling systems to exhibit flexible behavior. Someone in a recent thread (https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3L46WGauGpr7nYubu/the-plan?commentId=nLCpJnxfaPzKXsbE2) brought up some interesting research on goal selection (more like goal pruning) in animals that could be worth looking into.