Mystery Number Four - Computational Linguistics and Talking Robots - page 85

new content may also be of any verbal mood, but only imperative blueprints
following the exec connective are passed to the agent's action components for
immediate realization.
A subjunctive blueprint may be revised into an imperative blueprint by
means of the following inference, which (i) copies the content using addresses
and new prn values, (ii) changes the verbal mood value from subjunctive to
imperative, and (iii) uses the connective mc ,for mood change :

5.6.1 I NFERENCE CHANGING SUBJUNCTIVE TO IMPERATIVE CONTENT
⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

verb: α
sem: X sbjv Y
prn: K

verb: α
sem: X impv Y
prn: K+M

mc

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

verb: take
arg: (apple 91)
sem: sbjv
prn: 92

verb: (take 92)
arg: (apple 91)
sem: impv
prn: 95

noun: moi
fnc: take
prn: 92

noun: (a. 91)
fnc: take
prn: 92

noun: moi
fnc: (take 92)
prn: 95

noun: (a. 91)
fnc: (take 92)
prn: 95

The content matching the antecedent is identical to proposition 92 in 5.5.5,
except that it is represented explicitly by proplets. Whether or not the mc in-
ference is applied and the action sequence is actually attempted depends on
agent-internal and -external circumstances. An internal circumstance leading
to the application would be a high need for a countermeasure, while a low need
may leave the application unexecuted. An external circumstance stopping the
application may be an override, such as a ringing phone.
If the mc inference is applied, the success of the attempted action sequence
will depend on whether the agent's environment provides the necessary pre-
conditions. For example, the countermeasure derived in 5.5.5 will be success-
ful only if proposition 91 turns out to hold in the agent's current situation.
In addition to the switching of a subjunctive blueprint into an imperative one,
there is also the switching of an indicative content into the subjunctive, espe-
cially in combination with transfer. An example of such a subjunctive transfer
is empathy , i.e., an agent's ability to share another being's emotions and feel-
ings. For example, when agent A observes in a movie how actor B is being
attacked by a monster, A may empathize with B by subjunctive transfer, i.e.,
by tentatively replacing B with A in the content transported by the movie (cf.
transition from Mary in 5.5.4 to moi in 5.5.5). In this way, A may experi-
ence the agony of B while knowing that there is no danger - experienced as a
pleasant thrill. 19 This is easily modeled in an artificial agent.

19 A related phenomenon is the identification with the fortunes of a favorite sports club.