Most experts assume that perception estimates true properties of an objective world. They justify this assumption with an argument from evolution: Natural selection rewards true perceptions. I propose instead that if true perceptions crop u…31. Ramachandran, V.S. (1990). Interactions between motion, depth, color and form: The utilitarian theory of perception, in Vision: Coding and efficiency, ed. C. Blakemore (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).
32. Roberts, M.E. and Gold…
Brian Skyrms
philosopher · 2 mentions across 1 reading
In this course
Brian Skyrms is a philosopher of science and game theorist whose work on evolution and decision-making underpins arguments that challenge the assumption of veridical perception. The first excerpt attributed to him proposes that natural selection does not necessarily reward accurate perception of objective reality but instead favors fitness-enhancing representations—a counterintuitive claim that reframes how we understand the relationship between mind, evolution, and world. This idea becomes foundational for questioning whether AI systems trained on evolutionary or gradient-descent principles should be expected to model reality truthfully, a central concern in the course's examination of how learning systems construct their environments.
Mentioned in 1 reading
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A.C. Perdeck 1Bernard Campbell 1C.H. Schiller 1Colin Blakemore 1E. Sernland 1Jakob von Uexküll 1Larry Samuelson 1M.E. Roberts 1N.M.A. Holmgren 1Nikolaas Tinbergen 1O. Olsson 1Richard Dawkins 1Robert L. Goldstone 1Robert L. Trivers 1Shimon Ullman 1Vilayanur S. Ramachandran 1Brian Marion 1Carol Skrenes 1Chetan Prakash 1Duncan Luce 1Geoff Iverson 1John Serences 1Jon Merzel 1Joyce Wu 1Justin Mark 1Kim Romney 1Larry Maloney 1Louis Narens 1Mike Braunstein 1Mike D'Zmura 1