Rethinking the Physical Symbol Systems Hypothesis

Paul Rosenbloomhttps://viterbi.usc.edu/directory/faculty/Rosenbloom/Paul

Computer Science, USC

Thursday 10:30 am (EDT) October 12 https://uqam.zoom.us/j/83002459798

ABSTRACT: It is now more than a half-century since the Physical Symbol Systems Hypothesis (PSSH) was first articulated as an empirical hypothesis. More recent evidence from work with neural networks and cognitive architectures has weakened it, but it has not yet been replaced in any satisfactory manner. Based on a rethinking of the nature of computational symbols – as atoms or placeholders – and thus also of the systems in which they participate, a hybrid approach is introduced that responds to these challenges while also helping to bridge the gap between symbolic and neural approaches, resulting in two new hypotheses, one – the Hybrid Symbol Systems Hypothesis (HSSH) – that is to replace the PSSH and the other focused more directly on cognitive architectures. This overall approach has been inspired by how hybrid symbol systems are central in the Common Model of Cognition and the Sigma cognitive architectures, both of which will be introduced – along with the general notion of a cognitive architecture – via “flashbacks” during the presentation.

Paul S. Rosenbloom is Professor Emeritus of Computer Science in the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC). His research has focused on cognitive architectures (models of the fixed structures and processes that together yield a mind), such as Soar and Sigma; the Common Model of Cognition (a partial consensus about the structure of a human-like mind); dichotomic maps (structuring the space of technologies underlying AI and cognitive science); “essential” definitions of key concepts in AI and cognitive science (such as intelligence, theories, symbols, and architectures); and the relational model of computing as a great scientific domain (akin to the physical, life and social sciences).

Rosenbloom, P. S. (2023). Rethinking the Physical Symbol Systems Hypothesishttps://www.dropbox.com/s/l9v7mjddktlokgo/Rosenbloom-PSSH-HSSH%20Final%20D.pdf?dl=0. In Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Artificial General Intelligence (pp. 207-216). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

Laird, J. E., Lebiere, C. & Rosenbloom, P. S. (2017). A Standard Model of the Mind: Toward a Common Computational Framework across Artificial Intelligencehttps://www.dropbox.com/s/z50a70vl8sn3all/LLR-SMM-AI%20Magazine-Published-Personal.pdf?dl=0, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, and Robotics. AI Magazine, 38, 13-26.

Rosenbloom, P. S., Demski, A. & Ustun, V. (2016). The Sigma cognitive architecture and system: Towards functionally elegant grand unificationhttps://www.dropbox.com/s/hwv6eok7uhcps91/jagi-2016-0001.pdf?dl=0. Journal of Artificial General Intelligence, 7, 1-103.

Rosenbloom, P. S., Demski, A. & Ustun, V. (2016). Rethinking Sigma’s graphical architecture: An extension to neural networkshttps://www.dropbox.com/s/3q0mhigs9gv7mid/RSGA%20AGI%202016%20Final%20D.pdf?dl=0. Proceedings of the 9th Conference on Artificial General Intelligence (pp. 84-94).

Upcoming Seminars: 14-Sep Benjamin Bergen UCSD LLMs are Impressive But We Still Need Grounding 21-Sep Dimitri C Mollo Umea Grounding in LLMs: Functional AI Ontologies 28-Sep Dave Chalmers NYU Does Thinking Require Grounding? 05-Oct Ellie Pavlick Brown Symbols and Grounding in LLMs 12-Oct Paul Rosenbloom USC Rethinking the Physical Symbol Systems Hypothesis 19-Oct Melanie Mitchell Santa Fe Ins Language and Grounding 26-Oct Dor Abrahamson Berkeley Enactive Symbol Grounding in Mathematics Education 02-Nov 09-Nov Eric Schulz Casey Kennington Tuebingen Boise State Machine Psychology Robotic grounding and LLMs 16-Nov Usef Faghihi UQTR « Algorithmes de Deep Learning flous causaux » 23-Nov Anders Søgaard Copenhagen LLMs: Indication or Representation? 30-Nov Christoph Durt Freiburg IAS LLMs, Patterns, and Understanding 07-Dec Jake Hanson ASU Falsifying the Integrated Information Theory of Consciousness 14-Dec Frédéric Alexandre Bordeaux « Apprentissage continu et contrôlé cognitif »

https://uqam.zoom.us/j/83002459798