Animals & AvatarsReflections of a Biological Naturalist

David MyersLoyola University New Orleans USAPhilosophy of Computer Games | Athens 2011

“The mental state of consciousness is just an ordinary biological, that is, physical feature of the brain.”

Biological naturalismJohn Searle

“biological naturalism… supposes material and objective properties of human cognition as essential to an understanding and analysis of that cognition and, by extension, cognitive play.”

Biological naturalismvs. property dualism (mind-body

separation)vs. eliminativist materialism (body only)

…stands more or less between these two.

Body constitutes mind.

Animalismvs. psychological continuity (identity as

mental state)vs. bodily continuity (identity as

material state)…stands more or less between these two.

Identity as biological state.

“I am my avatar.”

“I am my avatar.”

What does this mean?

“I am my avatar.”

What does this mean?

Is there a coherent explanation?

“I am my avatar.”

“My avatar references some portion of my personal identity.”

“My avatar shares some portion of my personal identity.”

“I am my avatar.”

“My avatar references some portion of my personal identity.”

“My avatar shares some portion of my personal identity.”

… “personal identity”?… “some portion” of my personal identity?

… “shares” some portion of my personal identity?

Can two animals share one personal identity?

t1 t2

3Dtemporalcontinuity

psychologicalanimalist

bodily

diachronic sharing

t1 s1 t1 s2

Begin with one animal…and a Star Trek transporter…and create two animals…temporally continuous…but spatially discontinuous.

synchronic sharing?

synchronic sharing

temporal continuityw/spatial discontinuity

Siamese twins

synchronic sharing?

temporal continuityw/spatial discontinuity(?)

Siamese twins

synchronic sharing?

t1 s1

spatial continuityw/temporal

discontinuityMultiple personalities

t1 t2spatial-temporal

continuity

“4D” synchronic sharing

Avatars are not animals.

Avatars are not animals.Avatars are algorithms.

Avatars are not animals.Avatars are algorithms.

Avatars have no animal identity of their own.

t1 s1So, more to the point, begin with one animal…

t1 s1So, more to the point, begin with one animal…and add a non-animal object (an avatar)…

t1 s1So, more to the point, begin with one animal…and add a non-animal object (an avatar)…in the same time as the animal…

t1

t1 s1So, more to the point, begin with one animal…and add a non-animal object (an avatar)…in the same time as the animal…in a different space than the animal…

t1 s2

t1 s1So, more to the point, begin with one animal…and add a non-animal object (an avatar)…in the same time as the animal…in a different space than the animal…over which the animal has some agency.

s2t1

t1 s2

t1 s1“I am my avatar.”now refers to…Animal-identity

sharing

t1 s2

t1 s1“I am my avatar.”now refers to…Animal-identity

sharing• with non-animal

objects

t1 s2

t1 s1“I am my avatar.”now refers to…Animal-identity

sharing• with non-animal

objects• in “real-time” (temporal

continuity)

“I am my avatar.”now refers to…Animal-identity

sharing• with non-animal

objects• in “real-time” (temporal

continuity)• in some “other”

space (spatial

discontinuity)

t1 s2

t1 s1

synchronic (partial) sharing

“I am my avatar.”now refers to…Animal-identity

sharing• with non-animal

objects• in “real-time” (temporal

continuity)• in some “other”

space (spatial

discontinuity)

t1 s2

t1 s1

Can an avatar share a synchronic (partial)

animal identity?

Can two animals share one personal identity?

Can an avatar share a synchronic (partial)

animal identity?

Can two animals share one personal identity?

An explanation frombiological naturalism.

NaturalHistory

Animal

NaturalHistory

Animal

Mental state

NaturalHistory

NaturalHistoryAnimalMental

state

neurobiological interface

Thinking Animal

Begin with one thinking animal…

Thinking Animal(player)

Digitaltechnology

Begin with one thinking animal…playing a digital game…

Thinking Animal(player)

Avatar (algorithm)

Begin with one thinking animal…playing a digital game…with an avatar.

Digitaltechnology

Thinking Animal(player)

Avatar (algorithm)

Digitaltechnology

Mental state

psychological continuity?

neuromechanical interface

Avatar (algorithm) Digital

technology

neurobiological interface

Animal

Mental state

NaturalHistory

animalist continuity

?Digitalinterfa

ce

neuromechanical

Animalinterfa

ce

neurobiological

Digitalinterfa

ce

neuromechanical

Animalinterfa

ce

neurobiological

media determinism"Media 'define what constitutes reality'; they are always already ahead of aesthetics."

(Kittler, Mücke, & Similon, 1987, p. 104). 

?

Neurobiology vs. Neuromechanics

Premise: The more flexible adapts to the less flexible.

Computer game audio… has evolved very quickly from mono to stereo to surround sound, conforming to that with which our human ears are most familiar.

Computer game displays… have evolved very quickly from black-and-white to color to increasingly three-dimensional displays, conforming to that which which our human eyes are most familiar.

It is then not a great leap to assume that the same sort of adaptive relationship exists between the computer game as an interface and the human animal as an interface. 

…from the paper

• Certain DOS-based FPS games -- Wing Commander (1990) springs to mind -- subsequently played on newer and faster processors zip by so quickly that they become unbeatable -- even unintelligible.

• Likewise, digital chess games are so strategically superior to their thinking-animal opponents that they must be dumb-downed to conform to a more aesthetically pleasing performance of a more human opponent; these games must create the illusion, in effect, of thinking more slowly.

• Thus, the real-time experience of the digital game has gradually been shaped as neither too fast, nor too slow, but, as in the story of Goldilocks, just right for Goldilocks.

…from the paper

The neuromechanics of real-time.

Digitalinterfa

ce

neuromechanical

Animalinterfa

ce

neurobiologicalreal-time

temporal continuity

Digitalinterfa

ce

neuromechanical

Animalinterfa

ce

neurobiological

?

real-space

spatial continuity

The neuromechanics of real-space.

• This digital interface, conceived as a communications channel between player and code, regulates the pace at which information is exchanged between these two, and is capable of setting that pace as too slow, too fast, or at a pace that thinking animals experience as "real-time." 

• Can this channel also affect the content of that information? 

• Can this channel convey information that I am, as a thinking animal, in some space that I am not?

…from the paper

t1 s1“I am, as a thinking animal, in some place

that I am not.”

synchronic (partial) identity

real-space

other-spacet1 s2

How can this be possible?

“I am, as a thinking animal, in some place that I am not.”

synchronic (partial) identity

real-space

other-spacet1 s2

t1 s1 1. The voodoo way.

”other-space” = magic

Problem: Too much magic.

“I am, as a thinking animal, in some place that I am not.”

synchronic (partial) identity

real-space

other-spacet1 s2

t1 s1 2. The cyborg way.

”other-space” = nature

Problem: The flexibility principle.

“I am, as a thinking animal, in some place that I am not.”

synchronic (partial) identity

t1 s2

t1 s1 2. The biological way.

”other-space” = real space

Problem: How exactly?

real-space

real-space

The biological way.…rather than speculate on the degree to which technology extends that space we associate with personal identity, we are motivated to speculate on the degree to which we ourselves extend that space.  An example of such an extension -- an example of a deceptive human interface, perhaps -- occurs when some part of our animal form is lost and missing and yet remains in our real-time experience as a 'phantom' body part.

…from the paper

AnimalNaturalHistory

Mental state

s1s?

AnimalNaturalHistory

Mental state

s? s?

AnimalNaturalHistory

Mental state

s2 s1

AnimalNaturalHistory

Mental state

s1

AnimalNaturalHistory

Mental state

s1

AnimalNaturalHistory

Mental state

Is that phantom limb “me”?Yes, it seems so.

Is that phantom limb “me”?No, definitely not.

t1 s1

s1

Phantom limb

neurobiological interface

Animal

Mental state

NaturalHistory

t1 s1

s1

Phantom limbAnimal interface

malfunction

neurobiological interface

Animal

Mental state

NaturalHistory

t1 s1

s1

Phantom limbAnimal interface

malfunctionNeurobiological

illusion

neurobiological interface

Animal

Mental state

NaturalHistory

t1 s1

s1

Phantom limbAnimal interface

malfunctionNeurobiological

illusionSynchronic (partial)

identity

neurobiological interface

Animal

Mental state

NaturalHistory

t1 s1

s1

Phantom limbAnimal interface

malfunctionNeurobiological

illusionSynchronic (partial)

identityAvatar (?)

neurobiological interface

Animal

Mental state

NaturalHistory

Blanke, O. & Metzinger, T. (2009). Full-body illusions and minimal phenomenal selfhood. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13, 7–13. http://brainimaging.waisman.wisc.edu/~perlman/papers/Self/FullBodyIllusionsMetzinger2008.pdf

symbolic iconic

…the critical component of "I am my avatar" lies in a habitualized interface between player and avatar rather than in iconic characteristics of either avatar-space or avatar-time.

“I am my avatar” [is] more fundamentally grounded in a falsified version of reality (an illusion)… than in an increasingly perfect simulation of body, space, and nature.

So, “I am my avatar” is an illusion? Yes, we are fooled into thinking it is so.

So, “I am my avatar” is false? No. It is a consequence of our animal identity.

Here be illusionsHere be illusions

Animal

neurobiological interface

Animal

Mental state

NaturalHistory

…this particular sort of illusion -- an illusion regarding my personal identity -- can only take place if, in fact, it is already embedded within and integral to the specific natural history that constitutes my personal identity.  Not all illusions will meet this requirement… 

By this account, personal identity is at least partially self-governing and returns, if possible, to a natural state in which perception trumps illusion. 

neurobiological interface

Animal

Mental state

NaturalHistory

Is that avatar “me”?Yes, it seems so.Is that avatar “me”?Yes, it seems so.

Is that avatar “me”?No, definitely not.

Is that avatar “me”?No, definitely not.

Avatar (algorithm) Digital

technology

Animal

Mental state

NaturalHistory

Sensations of real-time

real-space

Sensations of real-time

real-space

Supernormalstimuli?

Supernormalstimuli?

illusionillusion

Avatar (algorithm) Digital

technology

Animal

Mental state

NaturalHistory

…for some particular moment or within some specific space, it will be uncertain whether my avatar-ness is illusion or perception. 

The only recourse I might have under such circumstances would be my natural history and the embedded momentum of that history within my thinking-animal form. 

Will this suffice to save me, eventually, from deception?

…for some particular moment or within some specific space, it will be uncertain whether my avatar-ness is illusion or perception. 

The only recourse I might have under such circumstances would be my natural history and the embedded momentum of that history within my thinking-animal form. 

Will this suffice to save me, eventually, from deception?

Avatar (algorithm) Digital

technology

Animal

Mental state

NaturalHistory

…for some particular moment or within some specific space, it will be uncertain whether my avatar-ness is illusion or perception. 

The only recourse I might have under such circumstances would be my natural history and the embedded momentum of that history within my thinking-animal form. 

Will this suffice to save me, eventually, from deception?

I cannot say.

…for some particular moment or within some specific space, it will be uncertain whether my avatar-ness is illusion or perception. 

The only recourse I might have under such circumstances would be my natural history and the embedded momentum of that history within my thinking-animal form. 

Will this suffice to save me, eventually, from deception?

I cannot say.

neurobiological interface

Animal

Mental state

NaturalHistory

animal-identity determinism

associated with personal identity

animal

"A surprising number of readers of The Human Animal have been happy to accept what I took to be the important claims – that we are animals and that our identity has nothing to do with psychology – but have objected to my positive account of animal identity... If someone has a better account of animal identity than mine, I’ll see that as a friendly amendment.”

Olson, 2008, p. 38

I offer biological naturalism.

"A surprising number of readers of The Human Animal have been happy to accept what I took to be the important claims – that we are animals and that our identity has nothing to do with psychology – but have objected to my positive account of animal identity... If someone has a better account of animal identity than mine, I’ll see that as a friendly amendment.”

Olson, 2008, p. 38

Animals & AvatarsReflections of a Biological Naturalist

David MyersLoyola University New Orleans USAPhilosophy of Computer Games | Athens 2011