The Self Beyond Humans

Reykjavik University!
May 16, 2013!
The Self Beyond Humans!

Ricardo Sanz!
Universidad Politcnica de Madrid!
Autonomous Systems Laboratory!
Sanz / The Self Beyond Humans!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Idea!
A prospective analysis of the theory and technology of
self-awareness beyond the anthropomorphic harnesses
of today's robotics.!
Speculative,"visionary; probably wrong.!
RU, May 16, 2013!
There are many research trends that point toward a technology of robot selfhood. For
many reasons, we humans are pursuing the development of selves for robots to equip them
with human-like sophisticated competences. Self and self-awareness constitute one of the
cornerstones of consciousness, a whimsically peculiar aspect of our humanhood. Many
attempts to artificial selves are based on the shallow replication of biological behavioral
traits, but a true engineering technology of robot selves cannot be based but on a rigorous
theory of consciousness beyond humans. Humans are the best ground truth we have, the
best example to inspect and imitate, but anthropomorphism is a procrustean path that shall
be followed with care.!
A scientific, general theory of consciousness should be much more than just some
scientific progress towards understanding how consciousness can emerge form the activity
of neurons and their interactions . While it is clear that human brains are the best source
of information about consciousness, the construction of a universal, general theory of
consciousness is strongly hampered by the almost absolute and obviously excessive focus
on human brain, human cognition and human neurophysiology. Human brains are not the
only systems to consider in this analysis; a general theory should also address at least the
many other systems of interest: all kinds of animals, machines and even social groups.!
In this talk we will address the emergence of a theoretical framework for Self Beyond
Humans. This theoretical framework shall eventually lead to technological assets for robot
selfhood to enable them to properly operate in ecological, medical, technical and economic
terms in a variety of circumstances. A positive theory of self shall be centered on system
functional architecture, sidetracking philosophical discussions on the nature of 'content and
self' and leveraging the value of concrete topologies and measurements."!
Future robots will have selves that may be enormously alien to humans; but, in a very
precise sense, they will be quite similar to ours but with a deeper, purer essence, devoid of
all that noise produced by biological evolution."!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Picasso 1906!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Shutterstock 2011!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Towards Robo-Self!
There are many research trends that point towards a
technology of robot selfhood. !
For many reasons, we humans are pursuing the

development of selves for robots to equip them with
human-like sophisticated competences. !
Self and self-awareness constitute one of the

cornerstones of consciousness, a whimsically peculiar
aspect of our humanhood.!
However, technological selfhood needs a clearer stance.!

RU, May 16, 2013!
Four Aspects of Consciousness!

1. Knowing the world!
2. Experiencing the world !
3. Knowing others minds!
4. Having a self !
RU, May 16, 2013!
CONTENT!
A Rationale for Machine Selves!
A Brief History of the Self!
Self for Machines!
The Anthropomorphic Trap!
RU, May 16, 2013!
My Stance!
Im not a philosopher, nor a psychologist nor a
linguist!
Im a systems engineer!
This implies that I will not attempt to provide a
complete recension of all that has been said about self!
I will offer only a personal, limited perspective, useful

for what I want to say concerning real world machines!
This vision may have other implications, however !

RU, May 16, 2013!
What is self?!
A MINI History of the Self!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Origins of Self !
Early 1600s in the philosophy of Rene Descartes.
Cogito Ergo Sum .!
In his pre-secularisation age, he concluded that God

must have given us all a Cogito.!
This theory offers an image of human self as an

immaterial, fixed, unitary thing that we are
born with, and that stays with us throughout our lives
and even beyond.!
This model has produced a huge impact on the way

that we think about ourselves at least in occident. !
RU, May 16, 2013!
Each one of us is !
the special one.!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Beyond Descartes!
Hundred years later, materialist, empiricist
philosophers (Hume, LaMettrie, Diderot, ) argue
that the human mind is a product of experience,
a material thing made of brain matter, not an
immaterial, fixed unitary thing that we are born with.!
Hofstadter describes it as that special kind of subtle

pattern that grows as we live and learn and that he
calls a strange loop.!
Others say: a class of being, a unique percept, a focus,

a mirror, everything that is, nothing but a mirage, ... !
RU, May 16, 2013!
I in the Mirror!
The mirror test, Gallup 1970!

RU, May 16, 2013!
Categories of Biological Self!

Core-Self: A transient entity; recreated for each
object with which the brain interacts.!
Proto-Self: A representation of core self in a second

order neural map (an image). !
Autobiographic Self: Permanent dispositional

records of core-self experiences.!
Damasio 2007!
RU, May 16, 2013!
A BIG problem!
Cognitive science does not have a clear grasp of the
issue of consciousness and self; less of its brain
architecture.!
Too many scattered foci on biological selfawareness from the different disciplines:!
Psychology!
Neuroscience!
Philosophy!
Anthropology!
Sociology !
...!
RU, May 16, 2013!
What is self ?!
Self a person's essential being that distinguishes!
them from others. "
Self the core agent of reflexive perception and!

reflexive action."
Uniqueness & Reflection!

RU, May 16, 2013!
Why do we need machine selves?!
A Brief Rationale "

for Machine Selves"
RU, May 16, 2013!
Do They Need Selves ?!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Self for Machines?!

There are many reasons for building selves
for machines: science, show business,
economy, technical, pure hubris, !
The dictionary reading pinpoints the main

two:!
Self - a person's essential being that distinguishes
them from others ! Uniqueness"
Self - the object of introspection or reflexive
action ! Reflection"
This last can be leveraged in achieving

resilient performance in machines.!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Robot Uniqueness!
By constructive principle, robot uniqueness can only be
a contingent property.!
A robot self cannot provide genuine uniqueness.!

All robo-persons #
can be replicated.!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Reflection and Robust Autonomy!

Reflection can provide resilience for autonomous
systems!
Lets see how !
RU, May 16, 2013!
Two classes of problems!

Run-time problems!
What shall the controller do to handle disturbances?#
Construction-time problems!
How to design and build such controller?!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Two knowledge batteries!
engineering#
knowledge!
operation#
knowledge!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Increasing resilience!
Make better things (problem avoidance)!
Make robust things (problem tolerance)!
Passive (Masking)!
Transparent, simple, fast, cost, deteriorating!
Active (Controlling)!
Cheap, complex, flexible, overhead, adaptable!
Controllers do also suffer faults, errors and failures!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Increasing Controller resilience!

One way: Make passive-robust controllers!
Other way: Control the controller!
Monitor, diagnose, modify the controller!
Second level controllers:!
Nested controllers!
Adaptive controllers!
Fault-tolerant controllers!
... self-aware controllers?!
RU, May 16, 2013!
The Self-loop!
RU, May 16, 2013!
What is a robot self?!
Self for Robots!
RU, May 16, 2013!
From Humans to Robots!

Most attempts to artificial selves for robots are
based on the shallow replication of human biological/
behavioral traits (e.g. Damasios).!
Humans are the best ground truth about selfhood

that we have, the best example to inspect and
imitate!
However, anthropomorphism is a procrustean path

that shall be followed with care.!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Self for Robots in the Movies!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Qbo passes the mirror test!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Self-Configuring Robots!
"The key is for robots to create a model of themselves
to figure out what is working and not working in order
to adapt.!
The robot learns to walk by trial and error, #

using sensory feedback from its #
sensors and using model-based#
simulations the robot figures #
out how its body is and how to#
use it to move.!
Bongard 2006!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Are there any other machine selves?!
Beyond (unreal) Robots!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Industrial Robots!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Vehicles!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Mars Rovers!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Airplanes!
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Chemical Plants!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Utilities!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Many Machines are Self-aware!
Ducati 2006!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Autonomic Properties for

Software Systems!
Self-Configuration: Automatic configuration of
components;!
Self-Healing: Automatic discovery, and correction

of faults;!
Self-Optimization: Automatic monitoring and

control of resources to ensure the optimal functioning
with respect to the defined requirements;!
Self-Protection: Proactive identification and

protection from arbitrary attacks.!
Kephart 2002!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Why build human-like minds?!
The Anthropomorphic
Trap!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Anthropomorphism!
Anthropomorphism is attribution of
human form or other characteristics to
anything other than a human being. !
Examples include ascribing human #

goals, drives or emotions to animals #
or even to forces of nature, such as
hurricanes or earthquakes.!
As we will se later, this may be #

wrong, but may also be right, #
eventually.!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Seven Fallacies for Self!
The Brain Fallacy!

The Evolution Fallacy!
The Ontogeny Fallacy!
The Qualia Fallacy!
The Social Fallacy!
The Body Fallacy!
The Wholeness Fallacy!
RU, May 16, 2013!
The Brain Fallacy!

Consciousness Needs Brains!
RU, May 16, 2013!
A levels and modules trap!
RU, May 16, 2013!
The Evolution Fallacy!

Mind Needs Evolution!
RU, May 16, 2013!
The Ontogeny Fallacy!
Mind Needs
Development!
RU, May 16, 2013!
The Qualia Fallacy!
Qualia shall be Human Qualia!
RU, May 16, 2013!
The Social Fallacy!
Socialization is a need for consciousness emergence!

RU, May 16, 2013!
The Body fallacy!
Having a body is neccessary!

RU, May 16, 2013!
Cylon Evolution!
A human body?!
RU, May 16, 2013!
The Wholeness Fallacy!

Genuine Agents shall be Whole Humans!
RU, May 16, 2013!
In the trap!
Many researches in the study of self, consciousness
and cognition are trapped in the biologism trap.!
Robots shall be created in the image and likeness of

Human.!
Why does the Robonaut

look like a PowerRanger?"
RU, May 16, 2013!
Platform Gap!
At the technology level!

RU, May 16, 2013!
Platform Gap!
At the architecture level!

RU, May 16, 2013!
Platform Gap!
At the system level!

RU, May 16, 2013!
HBP Neurorobotics Roadmap!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Escaping the Trap!

A scientific, general theory of consciousness
should be much more than just some scientific

progress towards understanding how consciousness
can emerge form the activity of neurons and their
interactions . !
While human brains are the best source of
information about consciousness, the construction of
a general theory of consciousness is strongly
hampered by the almost absolute and
obviously excessive focus on human brain,
human cognition and human neurophysiology.!
A general theory should also address at least the
many other systems of interest: all kinds of animals,
machines and even social groups.!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Can we escape the trap?!
RU, May 16, 2013!
A New Framework!
We need a new theoretical framework for
building selves beyond humans. !
This framework shall eventually lead to technological

assets for robot selfhood to enable them to properly
operate in ecological, technical and economic terms
in a variety of circumstances. !
A positive theory of self shall be centered on system

functional architecture, sidetracking
philosophical discussions on the nature of 'content
and self' and leveraging the value of concrete
topologies and measurements."!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Beware the technology mismatch!
RU, May 16, 2013!
A General Self Strategy!

" We need a methodology for extracting universal,
domain neutral, architectural organizations
from the analysis of biological selfhood. !
" This will render a set of design principles and design

patterns oriented towards the construction of
better, more robust machines. !
" Bio-inspiration cannot be a one step process; we must

build solid theories of self first, departing from
conceptions inspired in natural systems, being general
and supporting our designs of artificial agents.!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Build theories first!

Theory of Self!
RU, May 16, 2013!
The Self-building loop!
Self-aware systems know how they work!

They can use this knowledge to act!
RU, May 16, 2013!
A single problem set!
engineering#
knowledge!
operation#
knowledge!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Bridging the gap!

Self-engineering Systems !
System-environment#
knowledge!
(predictable autopioetic)!
RU, May 16, 2013!
The agent models the world!
Craik#
Rosen!
Models are not just photographs. #
They are functionally equivalent dynamical systems.!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Agent access to Self!

Leverage model-based engineering of the system!
Use the #
engineering models #
as run-time #
self-models!
The agent becomes
self-aware!
RU, May 16, 2013!
The Actionable Self Model!

The agent builds a functional
model of itself that is:!
Fully integrated!
Continously updated!
Actionable!
This very self model is ath the

same time the cause and the
effect of the agent actions!
Actionable self-model!
RU, May 16, 2013!
The Model-based Self-loop!
The causal closure of the model-based controller #

offers a way of bounding recursion in metacontrol.!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Architecture and Self!

" The system self-models shall essentially capture the
system architecture!
" Architecture encompasses the set of significant design

decisions about the organization of a system!
" Structure as elements and their interfaces by which a
system is composed!
" Behavior as specified in collaborations among those
elements!
" Composition of these structural and behavioral elements
into larger subsystems!
" Relation to environment and mission and the architectural
style that guides this organization!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Universal Design Principles!

" The application of the generalization doctrine to the
analysis of the architectural problem of a general
self-aware system has lead us to the formulation of
several design principles.!
" These principles can be used in two ways:!

" For the construction of reusable assets for a product
line approach to robust autonomous systems.!
" As theoretical analyses of natural cognition,
consciousness and selfhood.!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Principles!
" Model-based cognition: A cognitive system
exploits models of other systems, of self, in their
interaction with them.!
" Model isomorphism: An embodied, situated,

cognitive system is as good performer as it is able to
keep its models isomorphic to realities.!
" Anticipatory behavior: Agents maximise timely

performance by means of anticipatory (predictive)
models.!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Principles!
" Unified cognitive action generation: Agents
generate action based on an integrated, scalable,
unified model of task, environment and self in search
for global performance maximisation. !
" Model-driven perception: Perception is

realized as the continuous update of the integrated
models used by the agent by means of real-time
sensorial information. !
RU, May 16, 2013!
Principles!
" System awareness: An aware system is
continuously perceiving and generating meaning future value- from the continuously updated models.!
" System self-awareness: A self-aware system is

continuously generating meanings from continuously
updated self-models in a model-based cognitive
control architecture. !
Note that we use a precise definition of

meaning and understanding"
RU, May 16, 2013!
Self and Beyond!

Robot selves will transcend
current conceptions of the self:!
Unique!
Inmaterial!
Fixed!
Unitary!
Localised!
Atomic!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Examples of Future Selves!

Autonomous vehicles!
Battlefield agents!
Telecom networks and terminals!
Smart grids!
!
RU, May 16, 2013!
The Right Anthropomorphism!

Anthropomorphism as attribution of
human characteristics to anything other
than a human being may be right. !
This is especially relevant concerning#

cognitive capabilities because humans#
are the biggest cognitive power #
that we know so far.!
However, to avoid being misled #

we must throw the water out !
without throwing the baby.!

RU, May 16, 2013!
The Baby vs the Water!

Keep the baby!
Throw out the water!
Core properties of self:!
Inessential properties!
Reflection!
Persistence!
Growth!
Dynamicity!
Cohesion!
Actionability!
Neurality!
Unicity!
Localization!
Socialization!
Uniqueness!
All the metaphysical

Ontogeny/Phylogeny"
remainders: eternal,
transcendental, etc!
RU, May 16, 2013!
What is self ?!
Self a person's essential being that distinguishes!
them from others. "
Self the core agent of reflexive perception and!

reflexive action."
Self the unification of the subject and the object."
RU, May 16, 2013!
Self-Aware #
Autonomous Systems!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Emotion and Function!
ECL and MC as architecture of #

morphofunctionality in emotion!
Herrera 2013!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Overall View of OM!
Hernandez 2013!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Conclusions!
The machines of the future will have deep and
heterogeneous selves to support them in the provision
of robust autonomy. !
These selves will leverage reflective, actionable

models.!
These selves will not be unique, #

unified nor localised.!
They will be federable, #

plastic and fully alien to us.!
RU, May 16, 2013!
Coda!
Future machines will have selves that may be
enormously alien to humans; but, in a very precise
sense, they will be quite similar to ours, exhibiting a
deeper, purer essence, devoid of all that irrelevant
noise produced by biological evolution."!

Ricardo.Sanz@upm.es!
RU, May 16, 2013!

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Reykjavik University!

May 16, 2013!

The Self Beyond Humans!

Sanz / The Self Beyond Humans!

RU, May 16, 2013!

Speculative,"visionary; probably wrong.!

Sanz / The Self Beyond Humans!

RU, May 16, 2013!

Sanz / The Self Beyond Humans!

RU, May 16, 2013!

Sanz / The Self Beyond Humans!

RU, May 16, 2013!

Sanz / The Self Beyond Humans!

RU, May 16, 2013!

For many reasons, we humans are pursuing the

Self and self-awareness constitute one of the

However, technological selfhood needs a clearer stance.!

RU, May 16, 2013!

Four Aspects of Consciousness!

Sanz / The Self Beyond Humans!

RU, May 16, 2013!

Sanz / The Self Beyond Humans!

RU, May 16, 2013!

I will offer only a personal, limited perspective, useful

This vision may have other implications, however !

RU, May 16, 2013!

A MINI History of the Self!

Sanz / The Self Beyond Humans!

RU, May 16, 2013!

In his pre-secularisation age, he concluded that God

This theory offers an image of human self as an

This model has produced a huge impact on the way

RU, May 16, 2013!

Sanz / The Self Beyond Humans!

RU, May 16, 2013!

Hofstadter describes it as that special kind of subtle

Others say: a class of being, a unique percept, a focus,

RU, May 16, 2013!

The mirror test, Gallup 1970!

RU, May 16, 2013!

Categories of Biological Self!

Proto-Self: A representation of core self in a second

Autobiographic Self: Permanent dispositional

RU, May 16, 2013!

RU, May 16, 2013!

Self the core agent of reflexive perception and!

Uniqueness & Reflection!

RU, May 16, 2013!

Why do we need machine selves?!

A Brief Rationale "

RU, May 16, 2013!

Do They Need Selves ?!

Sanz / The Self Beyond Humans!

RU, May 16, 2013!

Self for Machines?!

The dictionary reading pinpoints the main

This last can be leveraged in achieving

RU, May 16, 2013!

A robot self cannot provide genuine uniqueness.!

Sanz / The Self Beyond Humans!

RU, May 16, 2013!

Reflection and Robust Autonomy!

Lets see how !

Sanz / The Self Beyond Humans!