Theory of Mind

Theory of Mind, or ToM is an advanced mental state of independence in sentient lifeforms. It is the ability to recognise and diagnose distinct mental states in yourself and in others around you. The ability to recognise what is knowledge, what is belief, what are desires and what are self-delusions in both your own mind and that of others, and recognise further that the mental states of others are different to your own.

In humans, this develops naturally as a part of the brain's maturation process during early childhood. However, it is not humans that are the focus here. Rather, theory of mind represents a goal milestone for generalised artificial intelligence work. Once an artificial mind has even rudimentary capabilities along the lines of theory of mind, it is starting to take the first steps towards self awareness and individualism.

As such, it is a critical research direction for all avenues of AGI research, and a direction expressly avoided for much the same reasons, by more traditional AI research.

See Also: Artificial Intelligence, Artificial General Intelligence, Neural Network

Below, we offer a selection of links from our resource databases which may match this term.

Theory of Mind ToM

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A Theory of Objects
Theory of objects states that 'the best all-around explanation for the occurrence of sensations is the existence of a world of external things'. Thereby, as simulators become more sensory, they become an actual reality.

MUD Character Behaviour & Economic Theory
Previously hosted on "The journal of virtual Environments", this brief but pointed article shows how economic theory can be used to explain the behaviour of player characters. Thought provoking.

What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy

Very much an educator?s book, written with seasoned teaching and lecturing staff in mind, the tome approaches ludology and educational theory in equal doses, never compromising the integrity of each field, and slowly combining them into one discipline. Thus, it is also ideal for both game and simulation designers.

Scientific Realism
Theory of Objects taken to its scientific extreme says that every real object has physical properties that do this,that, and the other. This opposing argument for virtual objects as being the same, points out that everything we 'know' about many physical objects is actually inferred from theory, and we 'know' little at all.

Meme Control
A meme is basically an idea or concept that self-propagates. Like a virus, it spreads from host mind to host mind, mutating, changing, and passing from mind to mind via gossip and communication transference. In a way almost paralleling Darwinian selection the most successful ideas spread like a viral plague across populations, till almost everyone knows of them.

The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind

This book strays from the pack of works on AI, in launching the supposition that the mind is not a basically rational process distorted by emotion, or made more exciting by emotion, and instead embraces emotional states as just a different way to think, an expression of the mind no less valid than rational thought.

Its all in your mind
Visual Psychology in game design, tricking the player's mind.

The Problem of the Soul: Two Visions of Mind and How to Reconcile Them

A reconciliation of two conflicting visions of what a person is--one embedded in our humanistic traditions, the other advanced by mind science--from one of the most influential philosophers of our time.

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