{"type":"ScholarlyArticle","title":"The Challenge of Neural Darwinism","authors":[{"name":"Stephen W. Smoliar","slug":"stephen-w-smoliar","given":"Stephen W.","family":"Smoliar","affiliation":""}],"abstract":"The research program of Gerald Edelman's book Neural Darwin ism addresses the following significant question: How does an agent form categories in a world which is not explicitly labeled in advance? Very early in his text, Edelman argues that what he calls \"information processing models• of cognition, such as those of Newell's Physical Symbol System Hypothesis, tend to fall back on a priori assumptions regarding the existence of such labels. He also claims that the design of connectionist networks ultimately rests on similar a priori assumptions . As an alternative , Edelman asserts that Darwinian selection among a vast repertoire of connections between nerve cells is an approach through which perceptual categories may be apprehended without assuming any labels in advance. The first objective of this panel is to discuss whether Edelman's question about category formation without a priori labels is relevant to the study of artificial intelligence. Assuming that it is relevant, the second objective is to address how the practice of artificial intelligence should respond to it. Linda Smith will consider the Physical Symbol System Hypothseis from the point of view of human development, David Zipser will consider connectionism, and John Holland will speak from his experience with genetic algorithms. Finally, George Reeke will respond to issues raised by the panelists.","doi":null,"url":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1989/265","pdf":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1989/0265.pdf","markdown":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1989/265.md","bibtex":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1989/bibtex/265","volume":{"slug":"1989","title":"Proceedings of the Eleventh International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence","short_title":"IJCAI 1989","url":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1989/","year":1989,"location":"Detroit, Michigan, USA","dates":"August 20-25 1989","editors":"N. S. Sridharan","isbn":"","publisher":"International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence","doi_prefix":""},"section":"Panels","track":"Panels","number":265,"pages":{"first":1669,"last":1670},"keywords":[],"videos":[],"references":[],"license_note":"Copyright International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence."}