Semiotic Dynamics and Emergent Semantics
Second semester, Monday, 13:00 - 15:00 (10G725)
What is language? How did it emerge and how does it evolve? Does communication also occur in other (non-human) species? Can computers communicate? And if so, what do they "understand"? What does it mean to "understand something"?
Answering these questions requires a multi-disciplinary approach. We will have a look at the nature of information, of meaning and of communication in the biological realm. Some of the characteristics that make us, humans, different from other primates and that allow us to create language as a second order coordination phenomenon will be discussed. State-of-the-art mathematical and computer models of the dynamics of conventionalization and meaning-creation will be reviewed.
ATTENTION: this course has been moved to Monday 13:00-15:00. The second lecture will take place on Monday the 12th of March.
There will be programming assignments and other exercises during the course, as well as an oral examination after the course.
Main course readings:
- Brian Skyrms: Signals: Evolution, Learning, and Information
- Bart De Vylder: The Evolution of Conventions in Multi-Agent Systems
Additional papers:
- Matt Quinn: Evolving communication without dedicated communication channels
- Thom Scott-Philipps: Defining biological communication
- Joachim De Beule: Overcoming the tragedy of the commune in the Hawk-Dove came through Conventional Coding
