Animals & Avatars

1. Animals & Avatars Reflections of a Biological Naturalist David Myers Loyola University New Orleans USA Philosophy of Computer Games | Athens 2011

2. Biological naturalism John Searle “The mental state of consciousness is just an ordinary biological, that is, physical feature of the brain.” “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.”

3. Biological naturalism • vs. property dualism (mind-body separation) • vs. eliminativist materialism (body only) …stands more or less between these two. Body constitutes mind.

4. Animalism • vs. psychological continuity (identity as mental state) • vs. bodily continuity (identity as material state) …stands more or less between these two. Identity as biological state.

5. “I am my avatar.”

6. “I am my avatar.” What does this mean?

7. “I am my avatar.” What does this mean? Is there a coherent explanation?

8. “I am my avatar.” “My avatar references some portion of my personal identity.” “My avatar shares some portion of my personal identity.”

9. “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?

10. Can two animals share one personal identity?

11. 3D t1 temporal continuity t2 psychological animalist bodily diachronic sharing

12. Begin with one animal… and a Star Trek transporter… and create two animals… temporally continuous… but spatially discontinuous. t1 s1 t1 s2 synchronic sharing?

13. temporal continuity w/spatial discontinuity Siamese twins synchronic sharing

14. temporal continuity w/spatial discontinuity(?) Siamese twins synchronic sharing?

15. spatial continuity w/temporal discontinuity Multiple personalities t1 s1 synchronic sharing?

16. spatial-temporal continuity t1 t2 “4D” synchronic sharing

17. Avatars are not animals.

18. Avatars are not animals. Avatars are algorithms.

19. Avatars are not animals. Avatars are algorithms. Avatars have no animal identity of their own.

20. So, more to the point, begin with one animal… t1 s1

21. So, more to the point, begin with one animal… and add a non-animal object (an avatar)… t1 s1

22. So, more to the point, begin with one animal… and add a non-animal object (an avatar)… in the same time as the animal… t1 s1 t1

23. So, 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 s1 t1 s2

24. So, 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. t1 s1 t1 s2

25. “I am my avatar.” now refers to… Animal-identity sharing t1 s1 t1 s2

26. “I am my avatar.” • now refers to… • Animal-identity sharing • with non-animal objects t1 s1 t1 s2

27. “I am my avatar.” • now refers to… • Animal-identity sharing • with non-animal objects • in “real-time” • (temporal continuity) t1 s1 t1 s2

28. “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 s1 t1 s2

29. “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 s1 t1 s2 synchronic (partial) sharing

30. Can two animals share one personal identity? Can an avatar share a synchronic (partial) animal identity?

31. Can two animals share one personal identity? Can an avatar share a synchronic (partial) animal identity? An explanation from biological naturalism.

32. Natural History

33. Natural History Animal

34. Natural History Animal Mental state

35. Natural History Mental state Animal neurobiological interface

36. Begin with one thinking animal… Thinking Animal

37. Begin with one thinking animal… playing a digital game… Digital technology Thinking Animal (player)

38. Begin with one thinking animal… playing a digital game… with an avatar. Digital technology Avatar (algorithm) Thinking Animal (player)

39. psychological continuity? Mental state Digital technology Avatar (algorithm) Thinking Animal (player)

40. animalist continuity Mental state Natural History Animal Avatar (algorithm) neurobiological interface Digital technology neuromechanicalinterface

41. ? neurobiological neuromechanical Animal interface Digital interface

42. media determinism "Media 'define what constitutes reality'; they are always already ahead of aesthetics." (Kittler, Mücke, & Similon, 1987, p. 104).  ? neurobiological neuromechanical Animal interface Digital interface

43. 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

44. The neuromechanics of real-time. • 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

45. temporal continuity neurobiological neuromechanical real-time Animal interface Digital interface

46. spatial continuity neurobiological neuromechanical real-space Animal interface Digital interface ?

47. 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

48. “I am, as a thinking animal, in some place that I am not.” How can this be possible? real-space t1 s1 t1 s2 other-space synchronic (partial) identity

49. “I am, as a thinking animal, in some place that I am not.” 1. The voodoo way. real-space ”other-space” = magic t1 s1 Problem: Too much magic. t1 s2 other-space synchronic (partial) identity

50. “I am, as a thinking animal, in some place that I am not.” 2. The cyborg way. real-space ”other-space” = nature t1 s1 Problem: The flexibility principle. t1 s2 other-space synchronic (partial) identity