Related papers: Free Will and Physics
I explain the shutdown problem: the problem of designing artificial agents that (1) shut down when a shutdown button is pressed, (2) don't try to prevent or cause the pressing of the shutdown button, and (3) otherwise pursue goals…
In this paper a conditional logic is defined and studied. This conditional logic, Deterministic Bayesian Logic, is constructed as a deterministic counterpart to the (probabilistic) Bayesian conditional. The logic is unrestricted, so that…
We argue that an explainable artificial intelligence must possess a rationale for its decisions, be able to infer the purpose of observed behaviour, and be able to explain its decisions in the context of what its audience understands and…
The ability to invent new tools has been identified as an important facet of our ability as a species to problem solve in dynamic and novel environments. While the use of tools by artificial agents presents a challenging task and has been…
Conway and Kochen's Free Will Theory is examined as an important foundational element in a new area of activity in computer science - developing protocols for quantum computing
Most physics theories are deterministic, with the notable exception of quantum mechanics which, however, comes plagued by the so-called measurement problem. This state of affairs might well be due to the inability of standard mathematics to…
Is there a canonical way to think of agency beyond reward maximisation? In this paper, we show that any type of behaviour complying with physically sound assumptions about how macroscopic biological agents interact with the world…
The concept of the 'agent' has profoundly shaped Artificial Intelligence (AI) research, guiding development from foundational theories to contemporary applications like Large Language Model (LLM)-based systems. This paper critically…
It is clear that one of the primary tools we can use to mitigate the potential risk from a misbehaving AI system is the ability to turn the system off. As the capabilities of AI systems improve, it is important to ensure that such systems…
The concept of rationality is central to the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Whether we are seeking to simulate human reasoning, or trying to achieve bounded optimality, our goal is generally to make artificial agents as rational as…
The arrival of Large Language Models (LLMs) has stirred up philosophical debates about the possibility of realizing agency in an artificial manner. In this work we contribute to the debate by presenting a theoretical model that can be used…
We provide a reinterpretation of the quantum vacuum ambiguities that one encounters when studying particle creation phenomena due to an external and time-dependent agent. We propose a measurement-motivated understanding: Each way of…
The pursuit of general intelligence has traditionally centered on external objectives: an agent's control over its environments or mastery of specific tasks. This external focus, however, can produce specialized agents that lack…
Decision theorists propose a normative theory of rational choice. Traditionally, they assume that they should provide some constant and invariant principles as criteria for rational decisions, and indirectly, for agents. They seek a…
In a strategy-proof mechanism, the influence of an agent may be measured as the set of outcomes an agent can bring about by varying her (reported) type. More specifically, we refer to an agent's influence on her own relevant outcomes as her…
This essay addresses the implications of integrated information theory (IIT) for free will. IIT is a theory of what consciousness is and what it takes to have it. According to IIT, the presence of consciousness is accounted for by a maximum…
This paper argues that model-free reinforcement learning (RL) agents, while lacking explicit planning mechanisms, exhibit behaviours that can be analogised to System 1 ("thinking fast") processes in human cognition. Unlike model-based RL…
Conditional independence is a crucial concept supporting adequate modelling and efficient reasoning in probabilistics. In knowledge representation, the idea of conditional independence has also been introduced for specific formalisms, such…
A tradition handed down among physicists maintains that classical physics is a perfectly deterministic theory capable of predicting the future with absolute certainty, independently of any interpretations. It also tells that it was quantum…
An agent acquires a costly flexible signal before making a decision. We explore to what degree knowledge of the agent's information costs helps predict her behavior. We establish an impossibility result: learning costs alone generate no…