HeX and the single anthill: playing games with Aunt HillaryBishop, J. M., Nasuto, S. J., Tanay, T., Roesch, E. B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8913-4173 and Spencer, M. C. (2016) HeX and the single anthill: playing games with Aunt Hillary. In: Müller, V. C. (ed.) Fundamental Issues of Artificial Intelligence. Synthese Library, 376 (376). Springer, pp. 369-390. ISBN 9783319264837 Full text not archived in this repository. It is advisable to refer to the publisher's version if you intend to cite from this work. See Guidance on citing. To link to this item DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-26485-1_22 Abstract/SummaryIn a reflective and richly entertaining piece from 1979, Doug Hofstadter playfully imagined a conversation between ‘Achilles’ and an anthill (the eponymous ‘Aunt Hillary’), in which he famously explored many ideas and themes related to cognition and consciousness. For Hofstadter, the anthill is able to carry on a conversation because the ants that compose it play roughly the same role that neurons play in human languaging; unfortunately, Hofstadter’s work is notably short on detail suggesting how this magic might be achieved. Conversely in this paper – finally reifying Hofstadter’s imagination – we demonstrate how populations of simple ant-like creatures can be organised to solve complex problems; problems that involve the use of forward planning and strategy. Specifically we will demonstrate that populations of such creatures can be configured to play a strategically strong – though tactically weak – game of HeX (a complex strategic game). We subsequently demonstrate how tactical play can be improved by introducing a form of forward planning instantiated via multiple populations of agents; a technique that can be compared to the dynamics of interacting populations of social insects via the concept of meta-population. In this way although, pace Hofstadter, we do not establish that a meta-population of ants could actually hold a conversation with Achilles, we do successfully introduce Aunt Hillary to the complex, seductive charms of HeX.
Altmetric Deposit Details University Staff: Request a correction | Centaur Editors: Update this record |