Anticipation: beyond synthetic biology and cognitive robotics

Nasuto, S. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9414-9049 and Hayashi, Y. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9207-6322 (2016) Anticipation: beyond synthetic biology and cognitive robotics. Biosystems, 148. pp. 22-31. ISSN 0303-2647 doi: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2016.07.011

Abstract/Summary

The aim of this paper is to propose that current robotic technologies cannot have intentional states any more than is feasible within the sensorimotor variant of embodied cognition. It argues that anticipation is an emerging concept that can provide a bridge between both the deepest philosophical theories about the nature of life and cognition and the empirical biological and cognitive sciences steeped in reductionist and Newtonian conceptions of causality. The paper advocates that in order to move forward, cognitive robotics needs to embrace new platforms and a conceptual framework that will enable it to pursue, in a meaningful way, questions about autonomy and purposeful behaviour. We suggest that hybrid systems, part robotic and part cultures of neurones, offer experimental platforms where different dimensions of enactivism (sensorimotor, constitutive foundations of biological autonomy, including anticipation), and their relative contributions to cognition, can be investigated in an integrated way. A careful progression, mindful to the deep philosophical concerns but also respecting empirical evidence, will ultimately lead towards unifying theoretical and empirical biological sciences and may offer advancement where reductionist sciences have been so far faltering.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/66516
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Biological Sciences > Department of Bio-Engineering
Publisher	Elsevier
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