TTTM

PereGaea

Laslo Godel

10: CULTURE

Before RAM-based learning can take over from ROM-based instinct, a whole new form of evolution itself needs to evolve. This will then allow Dynisms to move from being little more than complex automatons to something we might think of as possessing emotions, or some semblance of them.

Dynisms will however still need to acquire a few more hardware mechanisms to make this possible. The first of these consists of a new set of sensors embedded within their Effectors that will continuously pass a Gain Flag to its Comparator. This Flag will in turn cause the Dynism to continue with whatever Actions it is currently performing until that is no longer possible, or some external stimulus induces it to perform another. A serial Loss Flag will be passed to the Comparator instead if they are overloaded, starved of energy, or the Dynism is restrained in some way.

This relatively simple change will cause a Dynism to appear enervated, as if continually seeking activity of some kind. The activities it engages in are at this early stage still determined by ROM, seeking out Prey for instance, or just walking through its Territory until it encounters some other Object that demands a response.

Many other such internal `Status Sensors' now evolve and develop. For instance, on sighting a Predator, a Dynism's Comparator causes its effectors to perform to their maximum limits, ignoring any continuous Loss Flags untill the Predator is safely distant, or it is eaten. Similarly with Prey, except that the Status Sensors return Gain Flags to the Comparator which drives the effectors to their max until near exhaustion, or until the Prey is caught, whichever occurs first.

Status Sensors eventually become able to pass several levels of Gain or Loss Flags in the Comparator. Each such level will depend on where each such Sensor is located, for instance if a Dynism has reproductive machinery this could produce high-level Gain or Loss Flags, nourishment-level sensors perhaps less so. The activities these relate to may then occur more frequently. Such Dynism's may then exhibit behaviors suggesting a form of Incentive. If they experience conflicting Gain and Loss Flags simultaneously however, they may instead exhibit behaviors resembling Frustration.

Up until now a Dynism has been unable to Signal it's own internal state to others, that is, whether it is experiencing Losses or Gains, or some mix of the two. The ability to do so would have the most powerful influence on Dynism social interactions. A specialized part of the body now evolves which allows the Dynism to express such `Emotions' as well as respond to those of others. Feedback loops may then arise where the emotional state of one effects that of the other. When a human blushes for instance, the response from others may cause that blush to become even more intense. This may then intensify the response.

There is one more ROM-based mechanism that must yet evolve however. Just as Dynisms can Identify Models or Actions as we saw earlier, they now also acquire the ability to mimic them.

Adopting a Model however, let alone an Action, requires more than just mimicry. For instance, a Dynism is unlikely to see the underlying effector balancing forces involved, nor the stimulus the other Dynism is responding to. Its first attempt to copy will almost certainly end in failure.

A form of `teaching' now evolves via the Mutual Service Loop in which the Actor comes to periodically look at the Copier to check if it is performing the Action similarly, if not identically. If the `pupil' fails to do so, the `teacher' may inflict a small Loss on it via an Emotional response. The Pupil only continues its `lesson' through the occasional Gain Signals its Teacher may also provide. The emotional responses of the Pupil may in turn guide its Teacher.

Just as in hardware evolution, the inevitable small copying errors allow new Actions and Signals to gradually develop, with the same chance of proving harmful, neutral, or beneficial. Many of these errors will arise simply because the Dynisms performing them possess different Attributes to those that attempt to copy them, such as size, strength, or even age. Since young Dynisms are just as much Incentivised to Act as older ones, they may in effect practice them on their environment or on each other. We might see these as `Play' behaviors. These may prove vital once they become Adult; when they become involved in Conflicts for instance.

As with their bodies, the very basic Reflexes and ROM-based Actions all Dynisms possess will remain so that they can react quickly to sudden existence-threatening situations, like the approach of a Predator, or being flipped upside down.

These very complex Teaching-Learning-Play Interactions may first develop from rudimentary ROM-based Adult Protection behaviors towards Young. But once they themselves begin to be copied, they may then spread throughout a Bonded Group, then be passed down from generation to generation. The Bonded Group then becomes a Culture. Evolution now begins to act on this rather than on Dynisms.

These and other such Interactions will also have a huge influence on the Mutual Service Loop we saw earlier. For instance, a proclivity may arise to Copy the Actions of high-status individuals rather than those of lower-status ones. That is, those Dynisms who have acquired the highest number of Credits via the Mutual Service Loop that still necessarily underlies their Culture. A positive feedback between their Culture and the Mutual Service Loop may then quickly arise immensely enriching both, as well many of those Dynisms that belong to it.

Let us look now at a few more Culturally-developed mechanisms a Culture may now acquire. I will use the word `develop' here rather than `evolve' to signify the difference in their origin.

Signals of course not only involve the actual emissions themselves, but when they are used. For instance, a Culture may develop a `Warning' Signal, derived from the ROM Threat Signal, that enables one Dynism to Signal another that it is preventing it from performing an Action, like walking along a Route. This may cause the Dynism that receives it to desist and allow it to pass. An `Apology' RAM Signal may develop from the Service Offer Signal; this will be emitted by an `offender' responding to a Warning that it is willing to offer a minor Service.

Many such RAM Signals may now evolve within a Culture that allow Dynisms to control and moderate their interactions with each other. Most such Signals will only be emitted in certain situations, that is, if they are performed only in certain places, with certain objects, or even by or with particular Dynisms. These situations may be identified using Tactical and Strategic Maps adapted for use in social environments as well as physical ones.

These mutual Warnings and Approvals lead over time to the development of a complex `morality' in a culture. This will in turn cause some Interactions to become standardized into behavioral `Conventions'. These may vary from simple ones that govern the way Dynisms approach or enter each other's Lairs, or complex ones such as access to sites containing high-value but scarce energy sources.

Such Morals and Conventions will also inevitably have their effect on the Mutual Service Loop. At this stage we can assume that Dynisms will have developed many more Services. They then accord Service Providers with correspondingly wider ranges of Credits or Debits. If the Status of such Service Providers improves within the Culture overall, they are more likely to be given food and Shelter. This then gives them the time to specialize in their skills and thereby raise their Status even further. They will also tend to outlive less effective Service Providers and produce more offspring who learn learn their Sequences from them and convert them into Procedures. The Mutual Service Loop soon becomes an even more complex balance between Conflict and Co-operation.

All these Learned capabilities come at a price however. Some Dynisms may be born with slight errors in their Gain-Loss Flag assignment mechanisms that cause them to be unresponsive to Social Control Signals, or acquire the deficiency through consistently adverse experience. These Dynisms may then perform Actions like stealing Prey from smaller Dynisms for instance, or failing to Reward a Dynism for performing a Service on it. Most such `criminal' Dynisms will never achieve more than a very low Status in their Culture A few however will be once-benevolent high-Status Individuals who discover that they can perform malevolent acts in seldom-visited parts of their Territory, or in situations where observation by others is most unlikely. The behavior of some Criminals will inevitably be copied by a few lower-status Dynisms, or some Young. If their numbers grow, they may form a Bonded Group which will enable them to Learn from each other and develop their skills to the point where they become a SubCulture, complete with its own set of Conventions. A new Predator - Prey relationship emerges on PereGaea, except that it is now Sharing, Protection, and Ownership, versus Cheating, Destruction and Theft.

But other forms of SubCulture can arise that need not be harmful. As with any form of evolution, some will instead be benevolent, most will be neutral. If an Individual acquires a high Status but still less than the highest in the Culture, its behavior may still be copied by a large number of other Individuals, who may then form a Bonded Group, which then quickly becomes a SubCulture.

As the Majority Culture grows, it may begin to lose its homogeneity as more and more SubCultures develop within it. While this may not mean the Majority Culture will schism, this may happen if the Actions of one SubCulture consistently cause anxieties to others. Conflicts begin to break out and the offending SubCulture will either be evicted, or it will move away voluntarily. Either way, the original Culture has in effect `reproduced' by spawning another. Cultural Evolution now becomes the major evolutionary force on PereGaea rather than that between its now very disparate physical species.