Larval intelligence: Approaching AI in terms of Deleuze’s “system of the dissolved self”

Abstract

In this article, the work of Gilles Deleuze, specifically in his 1968 book, Difference and Repetition, is investigated in order to make a contribution at a philosophical and conceptual level to the question of what kind of cognitive architecture could best facilitate progress towards strong artificial general intelligence. After tracing the outlines of Deleuze’s consistently genetic position on the emergence of thought from material sensibility, it is argued that the situated, embodied, dynamic (SED) architecture proposed by cognitive scientist Randall Beer has affinities with the Deleuzian understanding of thought that merit further investigation. With regard to the “situatedness” strand of SED, affinities with Deleuze’s description of the nested structure of contemplation are pointed out. The “embodied” strand of SED, on the other hand, invites investigation of the correspondence with the genetic line of the emergence of thought as conceived by Deleuze. Finally, the “dynamic” strand of SED which employs dynamic systems theory might benefit from Deleuze’s understanding of virtual ideas as problems that could be actualised in many diverse solutions.