PereGaea
Laslo Godel
CULTURE
PereGaea
Laslo Godel
CULTURE
Before we go on to look at the next set of mechanisms Dynisms acquire in their endless drive to pursue Prey and avoid Predators, it's perhaps worth reminding you that they do not evolve mechanisms `purposefully' to perform particular functions at all, they arise solely through chance. This is why I have so often preferred to use the word `acquired' rather than `evolved'. It is in fact perfectly possible for the Dynism to acquire mechanisms that are entirely useless. Provided they do no actual harm, they can remain part of the species indefinitely, they are under `neutral Evolutionary pressure' if you like. They may one day become useful, perhaps after new mechanisms have evolved they can operate in conjunction with.Some mechanisms prove more than usually advantageous to the Dynism however because they serve as the foundation for the evolution of more than one set of capabilities. Such is the case with the new mechanisms we will now look at.
You may recall, when we looked at Decisions, that the Dynism became able to insert all the Action Sequences they perceived into their RAMs, whether they performed them themselves or observed others perform them. At that time we only looked at how a Dynism could improve its chances of experiencing Gains by `jumping' from Sequences that end in Losses to those that end in Gains. What we didn't look at in any detail was the nature of those Sequences. Prior to that time all Actions on PereGaea derived from the ROM, they couldn't be altered except with respect to their Attributes via the Targeting Reflexes. But with the new extension to the RAM, that was no longer the case. A Dynism can observe and record another Acting on a particular Object in a particular way, then reproduce that Action when presented with the same Object at some later time. The inevitable copying errors however allow new Actions to gradually develop, with the same chance of proving harmful, neutral, or beneficial as any of the `hardware' component changes we have seen. 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. The ability to Jump from Sequence to Sequence as they acquire experience enable them to minimize the inevitable Losses as they do so.
This ability to develop `RAM Actions' becomes significantly enhanced when young Dynisms come to perform them at random intervals in their Free Time. They may record them from adults or each other, then perform them using whatever objects that may be at hand. If their physical capabilities are somewhat less than those of their parents, they can then practice these `play' behaviors with little risk of coming to harm.
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. Indeed, as we saw in Signals, three distinct levels of Action development may evolve. The first are the `instant' ROM ones we've just noted in which any changes would pose an extreme risk to the survival of the species, the second can vary within the species but, as we shall shortly see, must be shared within a Bonded Group. At the third level, RAM Actions can vary from individual to individual without causing it to be isolated from its peers.
Before this ability to develop RAM Actions can itself develop further however, Dynisms need to acquire a few more more mechanisms.
Up until now Dynisms have only been able to record Actions from one Dynamic Object at a time. For instance, when a Dynism observes another interacting with a third, passing an object to it or performing a Service on it perhaps, it will only be able to record an Action from one or the other, not both simultaneously. It is therefore unable to extract a Sequence that includes both, that is, it cannot record the vital interaction between them. It would therefore be unable to re-enact the role of one or the other participant with another Dynism to achieve a Gain or avoid a Loss.
Fortunately, because of the finite time between Perception and Response, each Dynism participating in an Interaction must first Identify whatever Action the other performs or Signal it emits before it can respond to it. Its opposite number must now respond to this, and the interaction continues in this `to and fro' way indefinitely. A Dynism can therefore still record Actions in the normal way as before, its observations continue to switch from one to the other. But now it becomes able to assemble them into a single `Interaction Sequence' in which the Identities of each participant are attached to each of their individual Actions they perform.
Now, when Dynism A meets Dynism B, and B acts towards it in the same way C did to D, A is then able to respond using the same Actions it observed C or D perform by extracting Matches from the relevant portions of the Interaction Sequence in its RAM.
Since different Dynisms will seldom act identically towards others, these Matches are likely to be much shorter than those for ordinary Action Sequences. Mutually Interacting Dynisms will therefore Jump from Sequence to Sequence quickly until they gain more experience of each other. The Sequences they accumulate in their RAMs may then, especially if they form a Bonded Group, tend towards an increasing similarity.
Not all Interactive Sequences work in this to and fro way however. For instance, the two participants in a Conflict situation will occasionally act simultaneously so that an observer is unlikely to Identify more than a few Actions from each. The participating Dynisms are even less likely to record Sequences they can learn from and reuse in any new conflict unless they experience many of them. Play Conflicts performed by Young may prove vital once they become Adult.
The next Copying mechanisms Dynisms acquire allow them to record and enact Sequence while they actually watch others perform them. Initially this gives them very little advantage over their existing ability to `record then playback later'. However a form of `teaching' may evolve 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. The Pupil only continues its `lesson' through its ability to trade off short-term Losses for long-term Gains. By now Dynisms may also have acquired a new ability that enables them to Signal when they have achieved a Gain or a Loss, which further guides its Teacher. This very complex Teaching-Learning Interaction may first develop as a part of Adult Protection behaviors towards Young. But once it is itself copied, it may then spread throughout a Bonded Group in a Territory. Whatever Actions are Taught in this way, they will then be passed down from generation to generation. The Bonded Group then becomes a Culture.
As we have seen with the evolution of the Dynism body and their perceptual mechanisms, many RAM Actions may be entirely useless, perhaps even most, and a few may even be harmful. But here too Natural Selection plays its inevitable role. A Culture, and the Dynisms that belong to it, will only survive if sufficiently many of its Learned Actions are beneficial to it. The balance may be tilted in this direction by the first `software' perceptual mechanism to appear, that is, it develops via the Culture over a `short' time span rather than evolves over a very `long' period as a hardware one would. This will be a proclivity 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 of course 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.
Learning also allows Dynisms to develop RAM Signals in the same way as for Actions, perhaps using their ROM Signals as a base. 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 inform 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 attach a minor Loss Flag into whatever Sequence it was performing at the time. 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. Dynisms learn when to emit RAM Signals by recording Interactive Sequences from other members of their cultures that include their use.
If a Dynism receives an Approval Signal - perhaps also derived from a Service Offer - when it performs an Action, it attaches a Gain Flag to the Sequence. This increases its chances of performing it again in place of any alternative it might have given the same stimulus.
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 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.
These Learned capabilities themselves 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 malevolent act 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 of those high-status Criminals will inevitably be copied by less successful criminals, 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, most will be neutral, a few even beneficial. 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 Losses 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.
