Marvin Minsky "The Emotion Machine": Chapter 2 "How our brain can control itself, despite its complexity"

§2-9 Models of self and self-consistency

To solve a complex problem, you need to develop a plan, but then you need to implement it. Having a step-by-step plan will not help you if you have a tendency to give up before it is completed. This means that you need to have some level of “self-discipline”, which, in turn, requires a sufficient level of self-consistency, which you can predict, to some extent, to predict, to some extent, what you are more likely to do. in future. We all know people who make skillful plans, but rather rarely implement them, because their models of what they actually do are not consistent, to a sufficient degree, with their real actions. But how can a machine consisting of a trillion synapses be predictable at all? How can our brain manage itself despite its complexity?

The answer should be as follows: we learn to represent things incredibly simple, but extremely successful.

Thus, consider how significant that we can describe a person using words. What makes us squeeze a whole person into a short phrase, like “Joan the Neat” or “Carol the Clever” or “Charles is trying to behave stately”? Why should one person be generally neat and not careful in one case and disorderly in another? Why do similar traits exist at all? In §9-2 Traits, we will see some of the ways in which such things can arise:
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In the course of the development of each person, we tend to develop certain attitudes that become so rigid that we (and our friends) can recognize them as certain functions or features, and use these attitudes and knowledge to build ideas about ourselves. Then, when we try to formulate plans, we can use these traits to predict what we will do (and discard plans that we will not do). Whenever such predictions work, we feel satisfied, which leads us to further educate ourselves in accordance with these simplified descriptions. Thus, over time, our imaginary traits each time become more real.

Of course, all this self-image is extremely simplified. We can never learn about our own mental processes, and everything that we call our features is just a set of consistencies that we have learned to perceive. However, even this may be enough to help us meet our expectations, so this process may ultimately provide us with enough of a feeling of “overconfidence”.

We all know the value of having friends who usually do what they say. But it is much more useful to be able to trust yourself when you tell yourself that you do something! And, perhaps, the easiest way to start trusting yourself is to make you agree with the images you present about yourself, behaving in accordance with your self-image, which are described by a set of traits.

But how did these traits arise? Of course, this may be partly due to genetics - we can sometimes observe quieter or more excitable newborns. And, of course, some features may be the result of developmental characteristics. Anyway, other traits seem to be clearly derived from contacts with our personal imprints.

Is there any risk of having links with too many people? This may lead to an attempt to model itself based on too many traits. A person with coherent objectives usually has to show himself better in business than a person burdened with conflicts, because the latter needs more time to acquire skills that will help to achieve the observed traits. Consistency also makes other people feel safe in your environment.

This also applies to ourselves: if we change our minds too sharply, we will never be able to predict what we will do next. We can never do many things if we cannot “rely on ourselves.” However, on the other hand, we must be able to compromise. It would be rash to begin to fulfill some long-term plan, with the mood not to take on another goal until you fulfill this plan. It would be especially dangerous to change oneself in order to never allow any changes in oneself again.

If a child has only one imprinter, or several, but with the same sets of values, it will not be difficult for the child to understand which behavior is approving. However, if the child's imprints have conflicting goals, this may make it difficult for the child to choose the values ​​that should be developed, or this may result in a huge number of ambitions, of which only a few will develop sufficiently. However, in the end, each of us has to deal with diverse people with different ideas, so there may be advantages in the model of having multiple imprints.

Most imprints will take care of the values ​​that their children acquire, therefore, they may try to keep children from attachment to persons with a “dubious character.” Here is an example in which we see a similar concern by a researcher about his car!

In the 1950s, Arthur Samuel, a computer designer at IBM, developed a program that learned to play chess so well that it began to beat up some great human chess players. The quality of the program improved when it competed with the players more. However, games against weak players reduced the level of the game program, so much so that the programmer was forced to turn off the training mode. In the end, he allowed to play with this program only to people who participated in the master class games championships.

When someone interacts with you, they have, with more confidence, their own communication goals, so you should try to evaluate their intentions. Suppose exactly how recruits are recruited into cults. First, they remove you from all the familiar places, and then force you to “decide” to break all your social ties - especially your family ties. Then, when you are cut off from all your friends, it becomes easy to undermine all your defenses - until you are ripe for accepting their own prophet, visionary or saint as your imprinter. These experts really know the schemes by which any stranger can program you using a method that can help crush and supplant the ideals that you have.

We are faced with similar conflicts in other areas. While your parents wanted to keep your wealth in your head, businessmen can be very interested only in promoting the wealth of their firms.

Religious leaders may wish you well, but they care more about their temples and sects. And when leaders evoke your pride in your nation, you can expect to be ready to sacrifice your life to delineate some blurred border. Each organization has its own intentions and uses its members to advance.

Individualist: I hope you didn't literally say that. An organization is nothing more than a circle of people involved in one thing. She may not have any goals on her own, but she has goals that these people support.

What does it mean, once someone assumes that some system has an intention or purpose? Section 6-3 will discuss some of the conditions in which a process may have its own motives and goals.

§2-10 Public Impressors

We discussed only how applied learning can work when the child is next to the imprinter. It may also be related to the phenomenon in which crowds of people fall under the influence of other people who "understand the public" by appearing in the media. One way to make a person feel something desired is to put forward some evidence. Nevertheless, it seems more effective to use so-called “reviews”, which may not show the product at all, but only assumes that the use of this product is approved by some popular “celebrity”. Why does this method work so well? Perhaps because these particular people are able to elicit a typed response, and thus more accurately modify the personal goals of their audience.

Sociologist: Perhaps this happens only because when a “celebrity” occupies a “central stage”, it forces other people to focus on this area. Then, when most of the audience gets involved, the rest feel compelled to join them.

What happens can have a similar explanation, but we still have to wonder what makes the stars popular. Physically attractive traits can help, but these actors and singers use something else: they are experts in sensing a person’s emotional states. Competing athletes are expert cheaters, and so our popular leaders should be the same. Speaking more generally, perhaps, in order to become famous, it helps to have some special tricks that make every listener feel that "this person who communicates with me is very important." This makes listeners feel more involved, and, therefore, find themselves forced to respond to the "star", despite the fact that it is not a dialogue that is happening, but a monologue!

Not everyone can control the crowd. What techniques can so strongly influence such a wide range of different minds? We need to know much more about the tricks our leaders use to shape our goals. Can they include some methods by which they can establish fast connections with people?

Charisma, n. - A rare personal attribute attributed to leaders that popular loyalty or enthusiasm arouses.

What characteristics give leaders the ability to arouse feelings of charisma? Are there any special physical features that act as “points of charisma”?

Politician: Usually, the speaker is helped by a stately posture, deep voice and self-confidence. However, although tall stature and volumetric figure attract attention, some leaders were insignificant in appearance. And while some powerful speakers utter their words with deliberate intentions, some leaders and preachers rant and shout, and yet they manage to get our attention.

Psychologist: In §2-7, you mentioned that “the speed and intensity of the response” are important for making connections. But when someone makes a public statement, for these critical factors it is impossible to allocate enough space in the speech, because the speaker can not respond specifically to each listener.

Rhetoric can create a similar illusion. A well-prepared speech can be “interactive” by first raising questions in the minds of listeners, and then answering the questions raised at the right time. Although you do not have the time to talk with each person, you can interact, within your own mind, with several typical listeners. Then many real listeners may feel that they receive personalized answers, although there is no genuine dialogue. One of the tricks for speakers is the arrangement of pauses, so that listeners feel that during a speech they turn to them, but the pauses should not be so long that they think about challenging the messages they hear. In addition, the speaker may not need to be controlled by the entire audience. If you can convince people of enough, then the pressure from others will force the rest to agree with you.

However, a mob may take control of a weaker and overly responsive leader. Here is one of the great speakers who opposed this:

Glenn Cloud: “For me, the absence of an audience, the complete antonym of a large number of people, provides the greatest incentive for satisfying my own requirements, without taking into account the presence of intellectual appetite, or lack thereof, in a part of the audience. In my own opinion, paradoxically, in pursuing the most narcissistic attitude to artistic satisfaction, one can best fulfill the artist’s primary duty to give pleasure to others. ”

A person can even become attached to an entity that does not exist, for example, a legendary historical figure, a fictional hero of a book, or a mythical martyr, a dog, or a god. All these heroes can become “virtual mentors” among other models that are in the minds of their fans. A person may even become attached to an abstract doctrine, dogma or creed, or to an icon or image that represents these things. In fact, when you think about these words, you will understand that all our attachments are related to fiction. You will never create a connection with a specific person, but only with the model of this person that you made to introduce your basic concepts about this person, regardless of whether they are parents or friends, or just temporary hobbies.

Thus, the idea that a person gets his goals from the Impressors makes sense in the earliest years of his life. However, in later life, this method of obtaining goals fades into the background, as we acquire new types of mentors and find other ways to form our ambitions.

Summary

This chapter addressed some of the questions about how people acquire the goals they pursue. Some of these mechanisms are instincts that come to us as a genetic heritage, but others are sub-goals that we build to achieve other goals that we already have. I also suggested that some of our higher goals are created by special mechanisms that induce a person to accept the values ​​of others, who later become, as I call them, Human Imprints.

Impressors are parents, friends or acquaintances to whom a person becomes “attached” because they actively respond to the needs of a particular person, and they can cause us special feelings, such as guilt, shame and pride. At first, these Impressors must be present when doing something, but older children can form “mental models” of imprints, and can use these models to evaluate their goals when the imprints are no longer around. In the end, these mental models evolve into those feelings that we call conscience, values, ideals, and ethics.

The next chapter will carefully consider the groups of feelings and thoughts that we call pain, grief and suffering, in order to understand why they can be regarded as a kind of ways to think.

(I should note that the ideas of the Imprinter chapter are just my theoretical calculations and have not yet appeared in psychology books. These ideas may or may not be right.)

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For the translation, thanks to Stanislav Sukhanitsky, who responded to my call in the “previous chapter.” Who wants to help with the translation - write in a personal or mail magisterludi2016@yandex.ru

By the way, we launched the translation of another cool book - “The Dream Machine: The History of Computer Revolution” .

about the author

Marvin Lee Minsky (Eng. Marvin Lee Minsky; August 9, 1927 - January 24, 2016) - American scientist in the field of artificial intelligence, co-founder of the Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [ Wikipedia ]

Interesting Facts:

• Minsky was a friend of critic Harold Bloom from Yale University (Yale University), who spoke of him as “sinister Marvin Minsky”.
• Isaac Asimov described Minsky as one of two people who are smarter than himself; the second, in his opinion, was Karl Sagan.
• Marvin is a robot with artificial intelligence from the cycle of Douglas Adams novels Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (film).
• Minsky has a contract to freeze his brain after death in order to be “resurrected” in the future.
• In honor of Minsk named the dog of the protagonist in the movie Tron: Legacy. [ Wikipedia ]