Investigating the Role of Empowerment Maximisation in Constitutive Autonomy, Adaptivity and Open-Ended Development

Christian Guckelsberger

Computational Creativity Group, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

Dec. 7, 2017, 7 p.m. UTC // Dec. 7, 2017, 7 p.m. in UTC

Constitutive autonomy has been proposed as the basis of intrinsic teleology, and is complemented by the concept of adaptivity to account for, amongst others, sense-making and intentional agency in biological and artificial systems. Empowerment maximisation, a formal, information-theoretic model of intrinsic motivation, has been proposed as a potentially universal model to realise critical aspects of constitutive autonomy and adaptivity in artificial systems. In this work-in-progress talk, I will re-evaluate our prior claims on the role of empowerment maximisation against a more comprehensive understanding of constitutive autonomy and adaptivity in minimal, autopoietic systems. I will discuss how empowerment goes beyond the present, formal requirements of adaptivity, and advocate its potential to facilitate open-ended development in artificial systems. The goal of this talk is to critically evaluate and deepen our arguments based on feedback from the community.

Link to join/watch the seminar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03N56uDEfAs