MOLWICK

Emotions and control system design

Everyone has their system of dynamic equilibrium to make decisions with their expert systems and personal systems of control: emotions and the vices of will.

Cover of the book Willpower and Artificial Intelligence. Venus and the body of Cupid, Louvre.

 

WILLPOWER AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

GLOBAL COGNITIVE THEORY

Author: José Tiberius

 

 

3. Dynamic systems with multiple equilibria

3.a) Expert systems

The human decision-making process is one of the most complex systems; there are many variables of character, both structural and short-term conditions.

Just as countries do not have the same political system, each person has a specific policy of dynamic equilibrium.

Some structural variables are:

  • Differences in the systems of information and perception of the external physical reality

  • Endowments of capacities for making abstract constructions, in other words, in the development of expert schemes and systems of control

  • Alternative evolutionary ways regarding the pondering of elements

  • Resistance or response to pain or other changes

The relevant aspect here is the executive nature of the decisions made. Depending on the circumstances, the decision-making system uses one process or another, even if the change modifies the result, although a person is conscious of the change, the new resolution will usually go ahead. After all, this is the essence of the choices.

It is worth pointing out that a change in the process can occur automatically, that is, without conscious control. The working of a dynamic global system is probably too complicated to control it.

Nevertheless, it is advisable to manage the basic factors of the dynamic system to guarantee the appropriate control and provide the desired stability, without overlooking the fact that flexibility is an excellent characteristic. Exceptions are necessary, such as those provoking the emotions.

Among these conditions, water and food are critical. These are obvious, but are no less critical to this reason! Everyone knows the beneficial effect of vitamins. Maybe the extensive education is not enough.

Lack of sleep, sports, or physical exercise is also within this category, although they have a slower and more accumulative effect.

 

 

3.b) Emotions and control system design

The awareness of the emotional states and their influence will help to understand why there are changes in previous decisions.

Where are emotions from?
Where are emotions from?

It is worth identifying states of anxiety and irritability because it is possible that the procedure is among forced systems due to the vices of will.

The characteristic of the systems of dynamic equilibrium is to have multiple equilibria. That is, even with the same parameters, they can be different according to the followed path; the balance will be the decision.

This characteristic can produce emotions initiating hazardous situations when trying to leave a forced system; it could be the typical example of uncontrolled reactions produced when trying to stop consuming hard drugs.

A less dangerous but more common example is the process of quitting smoking tobacco, and a marked state of anxiety and irritability shows with the customary emotional instability.

In all of these examples, trying to control emotions using the basic factors is the least that can be done to return the dynamic system to a reasonable path and to avoid producing unplanned reactions.

On the other hand, what seems risky is managing emotions that can alter its natural function.

 

 

3.c) Schizophrenia and genetics

Schizophrenia is probably the most well-known and common disorder of the decision-making system.

To some extent, all of us have a certain degree of schizophrenia, which is natural. The problem appears when the degree becomes severe and uncontrollable.

A weighty cause of this characteristic of decision-making behavior could be, independently of the known genetics or hereditary predisposition, wanting to know the impossible to understand because it does not rest on logic. A good example might be trying to comprehend the emotions of others or even their philosophy.

Furthermore, on many occasions, the error consists in striving to solve a problem that does not depend on us. To give a simple and somewhat childlike example that nonetheless repeats throughout life:

"I have my hands behind my back and ask: in which hand is the candy? Then, the only thing I have to do is put the candy in the opposite hand to the stated in the answer."

In the brain game, the person who responds never wins; it is a false dilemma, and we can force the intelligence as much as we want, but we will not obtain any satisfactory solution.

To understand something sturdy, sometimes it is useful to evaluate with different initial situations, prejudices or preconceptions; forcing the intelligence to examine different points of view.

Imposing this behavior with enough intensity and time could damage the brain’s decision-making process. The configuration of the system alters, and it is not only an automatic process beyond conscious control, but it also tends to modify the genetic endowment. Given that the genetic load is relatively flexible, it could allow for the possible transmission of the problem to our descendants.

A reasonably smart person could try to understand the mentioned situations and, therefore, there it could be a statistical correlation between intelligence and schizophrenia. Nevertheless, there is evidence of a positive connection with low levels of intelligence. **

Perhaps this effect would be higher in people with problems related to dyslexia, given that memory recreates different points of view for its operation.

It is worth remembering that the concordance between identical or monozygotic twin brothers is 0.69 for schizophrenia, which shows that it has a marked genetic character while in non-identical or dizygotic twin brothers it is 0.10

This information contributes to two ideas. It appears the related genetic information does not concentrate on just one chromosome and the second, the presence of various "genes" is necessary for the actual cognitive development of these processes or the carrier genes are not significant in the sense of being "dominant," or both at the same time.