AI Artificial Intelligence Learning and Reading Human Symbols Part 3

“Symbols lie at the root of intelligent action”. This is a quote from the paper, Symbolic Behavior in Artificial Intelligence that inspired this series. This statement says a lot about just how important symbols and their interpretation is to how we navigate our daily lives. Even if we are mindlessly going through life fulfilling only basic needs, we are still dependent to a degree on symbols and interpreting them. One of the chief aspects that we’ve focused on so far is the subjectivity that seems inherent in the interpretation of the symbol. Many, including the authors of the paper in question will go so far as to contend that symbols only exist in terms of their interpretation. They argue from there that interpretation is dependent on agreed upon, yet often shifting behaviors and consensus in society. If that is the case, AI should be taught how to interpret symbols based on those behaviors. It’s easy to see why this might be a tempting notion. After all, in part two of this series, we talked about