Emotions II Clss of May 6, 2020 - HPAI

1. CIIC 5995-100 / ICOM 5995-100
Human Perspective in Artificial Intelligence
(HPAI)
Professor José Meléndez, PhD
“Hence, in order to have anything like a complete theory of human
rationality, we have to understand what role emotion plays in it.”
- Herbert Simon (1916-2001)

2. Today
• Emotions II-III-IV
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3. Last Homework & Report
• Homework #5 (the last homework)
• Influence Tactics & Emotions
• Subject to Due Dates Vote
• Due Wednesday, May 6, 2020 by 11:59PM
• Project Report & Software
• “Mini Mind Modules – Inner Robots & Bias”
• Subject to Due Dates Vote
• Due Friday May 15, 2020 by 11:59PM

4. Required Reading – Keep up the Pace
• Influence Tactics by Dr. George Simon Jr. (on Moodle)
• Excerpt of Chapter 6 of Character Disturbance: The
Phenomenon of Our Age
• The kinds of things we want AI to help us with.
• How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain
• Chapter 6: How the Brain Makes Emotions
• Chapter 7: Emotions as Social Reality
• Chapter 8: A New View of Human Nature
• Chapter 9: Mastering Your Emotions
• Chapter 13: From Brain to Mind: The New Frontier
• The brain integrates, “so much information from multiple sources
so efficiently that it can support consciousness.”

5. How Your Emotional Abilities Develop
• Your brain is comprised of networked neurons plus other cells and
support.
• Your brain develops while trapped inside your head and body.
• Your brain develops within a reality it can never truly know.
• Your brain develops interacting with the reality within its body (learns
body budgeting).
• Your brain in your head in your body develops interacting with other
brains in other heads in other bodies through the senses.
• These interactions contribute meaningfully to who you are and what
you “care about” (feel concern, interest, or importance) today and in
your future.
• What you care about (or what you think others you care about care
about) is strongly connected to what you experience emotion about.

6. Why Emotions are so Important
• Emotions signal your brain to devote attention to something
you care about.
• Body Budget
• Affective Niche
• Emotions form part of the computations your mind makes
as it constantly predicts the world around it and what it
should do within it.
• Emotions do not explicitly provide information regarding
cause (affective realism) or action
• Whether innate or not, the concepts used in forming your
emotional thoughts (all your thoughts) may not be
completely accessible to your consciousness (as also was
the case for your other senses).
• Whether innate or not, the concepts used in forming your
thoughts may not all be changeable.

7. Playing in Mud
The Emotion Machine, Marvin Minsky (Adapted)
http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/eb2.html
https://tinkergarten.com/activities/making-mud
A child is playing with
mud. Equipped with a
fork, a spoon, and a cup,
the goal is to bake a
make-believe cake, the
way a parent had. Let’s
assume that the child is
playing alone, and
imagine three things that
might happen.

8. Playing in Mud – Occurrence Set #1
• Playing alone. A child wants to fill a cup with mud,
and first tries to do this with a fork, but this fails
because the mud slips through. The child feels
frustrated and disappointed. But when success is
achieved by using the spoon, the child feels satisfied
and pleased.
• Experience and Lessons:
The Emotion Machine, Marvin Minsky (Adapted)
http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/eb2.html

9. Playing in Mud – Occurrence Set #1
• Playing alone. A child wants to fill a cup with mud,
and first tries to do this with a fork, but this fails
because the mud slips through. The child feels
frustrated and disappointed. But when success is
achieved by using the spoon, the child feels satisfied
and pleased.
• Experience and Lessons
• A fork does not carry mud well (intermediate failure)
• Spoons carry fluids well (intermediate success)
• By trial and error
• Self-taught (and self-reinforced “emotionally”)
The Emotion Machine, Marvin Minsky (Adapted)
http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/eb2.html

10. • A Stranger Scolds. Unexpectedly, a stranger
reproaches: "That's a gross thing to do." The child
feels anxious, alarmed, and afraid. Overcome by fear
and an urge to escape, the child puts the present
goal on hold—and runs to find a parent.
• Experience and Lessons:
Playing in Mud – Occurrence Set #2
The Emotion Machine, Marvin Minsky (Adapted)
http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/eb2.html

11. • A Stranger Scolds. Unexpectedly, a stranger
reproaches: "That's a gross thing to do." The child
feels anxious, alarmed, and afraid. Overcome by fear
and an urge to escape, the child puts the present
goal on hold—and runs to find a parent.
• Experience and Lessons
• That playing in mud is gross (Emotions change the focus)
• The place is dangerous (association to place)
• Should be less adventurous (when reinforced)
• Self-taught (and self-reinforced “emotionally”)
• But what prior experiences contributed to being
overcome by fear - feeling anxious, alarmed, and afraid?
Playing in Mud – Occurrence Set #2
The Emotion Machine, Marvin Minsky (Adapted)
http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/eb2.html

12. • Parent’s Reproach. The child returns to a parent's
protection—but instead of assurance, the parent
rebukes. "What a disgraceful mess you've made!
See what you've done to your clothes and face. I
cannot stand to look at you!" The child, ashamed,
begins to cry.
• Experience and Lessons:
Playing in Mud – Occurrence Set #3
The Emotion Machine, Marvin Minsky (Adapted)
http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/eb2.html

13. • Parent’s Reproach. The child returns to a parent's
protection—but instead of assurance, the parent
rebukes. "What a disgraceful mess you've made!
See what you've done to your clothes and face. I
cannot stand to look at you!" The child, ashamed,
begins to cry.
• Experience and Lessons
• Less inclined to play with mud
• Less likely to venture out alone
• Ashamed instead of proud.
Playing in Mud – Occurrence Set #3
The Emotion Machine, Marvin Minsky (Adapted)
http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/eb2.html

14. • Emotional Concepts (States) of Thought
• excitement, frustration, disappointment, satisfaction,
pleased (pleasure), accomplished, confidence
• surprise, anxious, alarm, fear, panic
• disgrace, ugly, ashamed, uncertain, lonely
• Participants
• Child – Has access to own senses, perceptions,
memories, and thoughts (inclusive of emotions)
• Stranger – Created occurrences (Direct and Internal)
influencing Child’s reality.
• Parent – Created occurrences (Direct and Internal)
influencing Child’s reality
Playing in Mud – Discussion
The Emotion Machine, Marvin Minsky (Adapted)
http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/eb2.html

15. • Child
• About how old is the child?
• Is the child a boy or a girl?
• Stranger
• About how old is the stranger?
• Is the stranger a man or a woman?
• Parent
• About how old is the parent?
• Is the parent a man or a woman?
• How is the child related to the parent?
Playing in Mud – Questions
https://forms.gle/3oYnLExnoXrDjsD17

16. Playing in Mud – Are you Biased?
• Playing alone. A child wants to fill a cup with mud, and
first tries to do this with a fork, but this fails because
the mud slips through. The child feels frustrated and
disappointed. But when success is achieved by using the
spoon, the child feels satisfied and pleased.
• A Stranger Scolds. Unexpectedly, a stranger reproaches:
"That's a gross thing to do." The child feels anxious,
alarmed, and afraid. Overcome by fear and an urge to
escape, the child puts the present goal on hold—and
runs to find a parent.
• Parent’s Reproach. The child returns to a parent's
protection—but instead of assurance, the parent
rebukes. "What a disgraceful mess you've made! See
what you've done to your clothes and face. I cannot
stand to look at you!" The child, ashamed, begins to cry.
The Emotion Machine, Marvin Minsky (Adapted)
http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/eb2.html

17. • If you are 20 years old
• You have lived at least 7,300 days
• You have had at least 175,000 hours of experiences
• You have had at least 10,500,000 minutes for Occurrences
• Participants
• Child – 4 years old or 2 Million Occurrence Minutes (OMs)
• Stranger – 50 years old or 26 Million OMs
• Parent – 31 years old or 16 Million OMs
• Your Experiences span your OMs forming your
Concepts (emotional and otherwise) that inform your
Prediction “Defaults”.
• Prediction Defaults are also known as Mental Shortcuts
or Biases (what the mini-modules do)
Playing in Mud – Observations

18. Next Time
• Emotions III-IV