Computational Mind A Complex Dynamics Perspective

This is a graduate–level monographic textbook in the field of Computational Intelligence. It presents a modern dynamical theory of the computational mind, combining cognitive psychology, artificial and computational intelligence, and chaos theory with quantum consciousness and computation. The book introduces to human and computational mind, comparing and contrasting main themes of cognitive psychology, artificial and computational intelligence.

This new edition also treats smart materials and artificial life. A new chapter on information and computational dynamics takes up many recent discussions in the community.

This new edition also treats smart materials and artificial life. A new chapter on information and computational dynamics takes up many recent discussions in the community.

This new edition also treats smart materials and artificial life. A new chapter on information and computational dynamics takes up many recent discussions in the community.

Experimental evidence in humans and other mammalians indicates that complex neurodynamics is crucial for the emergence of higher-level intelligence. Dynamical neural systems with encoding in limit cycle and non-convergent attractors have gained increasing popularity in the past decade. The role of synchronization, desynchronization, and intermittent synchronization on cognition has been studied extensively by various authors, in particular by authors contributing to the present volume. This book addresses dynamical aspects of brain functions and cognition.

A defense of the computational explanation of cognition that relies on mechanistic philosophy of science and advocates for explanatory pluralism. In this book, Marcin Milkowski argues that the mind can be explained computationally because it is itself computational—whether it engages in mental arithmetic, parses natural language, or processes the auditory signals that allow us to experience music. Defending the computational explanation against objections to it—from John Searle and Hilary Putnam in particular—Milkowski writes that computationalism is here to stay but is not what many have taken it to be. It does not, for example, rely on a Cartesian gulf between software and hardware, or mind and brain. Milkowski's mechanistic construal of computation allows him to show that no purely computational explanation of a physical process will ever be complete. Computationalism is only plausible, he argues, if you also accept explanatory pluralism. Milkowski sketches a mechanistic theory of implementation of computation against a background of extant conceptions, describing four dissimilar computational models of cognition. He reviews other philosophical accounts of implementation and computational explanation and defends a notion of representation that is compatible with his mechanistic account and adequate vis à vis the four models discussed earlier. Instead of arguing that there is no computation without representation, he inverts the slogan and shows that there is no representation without computation—but explains that representation goes beyond purely computational considerations. Milkowski's arguments succeed in vindicating computational explanation in a novel way by relying on mechanistic theory of science and interventionist theory of causation.

The book Complexity and Control: Towards a Rigorous Behavioral Theory of Complex Dynamical Systems is a graduate-level monographic textbook, intended to be a novel and rigorous contribution to modern Complexity Theory. This book contains 11 chapters and is designed as a one-semester course for engineers, applied and pure mathematicians, theoretical and experimental physicists, computer and economic scientists, theoretical chemists and biologists, as well as all mathematically educated scientists and students, both in industry and academia, interested in predicting and controlling complex dynamical systems of arbitrary nature. Contents:IntroductionLocal Geometrical Machinery for Complexity and ControlGlobal Categorical Framework for Complexity and ControlDynamics of Crowd Behaviors: From Complex Plane to Quantum Random FieldsHierarchical Self-Similarity in Group and Crowd BehaviorsHybrid Topological Lie-Hamiltonian Learning in Evolving Energy LandscapesComplexity and Control in Solitary Conductive PDEsQuantum-Computation for Perceptual Control ArchitectureComplexity and Control in Entropic and Stochastic Self-OrganizationCrash Simulator: Brain-and-Spine Injury MechanicsConclusionCode Samples Used for Complexity and Control Readership: Professional and researchers in the field of nonlinear science, chaos and dynamical and complex systems. Key Features:Unique approach of generalized dynamics, rooted in the most powerful Kähler geometry, combining Lagrangian, Hamiltonian and quantum systemsUnique visual framework of commutative diagrams and n-categoriesPlenty of computational algorithms in Mathematica, Matlab, C#, C/C++ and Fortran 90Keywords:Generalized Dynamics;Kähler Geometry;Lagrangian;Hamiltonian and Quantum Systems

Provides an interdisciplinary perspective, helping the reader to develop an understanding of how the mind works that goes beyond disciplinary boundaries Adopts a computational approach, helping the reader to understand the mind on a functional level, in contrast to purely conceptual, verbalized levels Includes exercises and examples, helping the reader to consolidate the covered material and encouraging them to think 'outside of the box'