11.4 Piaget’s Stages in the Context of Uncertain Inference 193
Stage Substages
Dualism / Received|Basic duality (“All problems are solvable. I must learn the Knowledge correct solutions.”)
[Infantile] Full dualism (“There are different, contradictory solutions to
many problems. I must learn the correct solutions, and ignore the incorrect ones”)
Multiplicity Early multiplicity (“Some solutions are known, others aren’t. [Concrete] I must learn how to find correct solutions.”)
Late Multiplicity: cognitive dissonance regarding truth. (“Some problems are unsolvable, some are a matter of personal taste, therefore I must declare my own intellectual path.”)
Relativism / Procedu-]Contextual Relativism (“I must learn to evaluate solutions
ral Knowledge within a context, and relative to supporting observation.”) [Formal] Pre-Commitment (“I must evaluate solutions, then commit to a choice of solution.”)
Commitment / Con-|Commitment (“I have chosen a solution.”)
structed Knowledge Challenges to Commitment (“I have seen unexpected implica- [Formal / Reflexive] [tions of my commitment, and the responsibility I must take.”) Post-Commitment (“I must have an ongoing, nuanced rela- tionship to the subject in which I evaluate each situation on a
case-by-case basis with respects to its particulars rather than an ad-hoc application of unchallenged ideology.”)
Table 11.2: Perry’s Developmental Stages [with corresponding Piagetan Stages in brackets]
Observationally, this appears to be the case in humans. People learn things gradually, and show a continuous development in ability, not a quick jump from ignorance to mastery. We believe that this gradual development of ability is the signature of genuine learning, and that prescriptively an AGI system must be designed in order to have continuous and asymmetrical development across a variety of tasks in order to be considered a genuine learning system. While quantum leaps in ability may be possible in an AGI system which can just “graft” new parts of brain onto itself (or an augmented human which may someday be able to do the same using implants), such acquisition of knowledge is not really learning. Grafting on knowledge does not build the cognitive pathways needed in order to actually learn. If this is the only mechanism available to an AGI system to acquire new knowledge, then it is not really a learning system.
11.4 Piaget’s Stages in the Context of Uncertain Inference
Piaget’s developmental stages are very general, referring to overall types of learning, not specific mechanisms or methods. This focus was natural since the context of his work was human de- velopmental psychology, and neuroscience has not yet progressed to the point of understanding the neural mechanisms underlying any sort of inference (and certainly was nowhere near to doing so in Piaget’s time!). But if one is studying developmental psychology in an AGI context where one knows something about the internal mechanisms of the AGI system under consid- eration, then one can work with a more specific model of learning. Our focus here is on AGI systems whose operations contain uncertain inference as a central component. Obviously the main focus is CogPrime, but the essential ideas apply to any other uncertain inference centric AGI architecture as well.
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