Damasio, Descartes, Alarms and Meta-management

This paper discusses some of the requirements for the control architecture of an intelligent human-like agent with multiple independent dynamically changing motives in a dynamically changing only partly predictable world. The architecture proposed includes a combination of reactive, deliberative and meta-management mechanisms along with one or more global "alarm" systems. The engineering design requirements are discussed in relation our evolutionary history, evidence of brain function and recent theories of Damasio and others about the relationships between intelligence and emotions. 1. INTRODUCTION Stan Franklin, the organiser of this symposium, wrote "Minds are the control structures of autonomous agents" [5, p 412]. The claim that minds are essentially concerned with control, echoing the seminal ideas of Norbert Wiener [16] is one with which I strongly concur though as argued in [11], we need to go far beyond the early idea of control systems with fixed architecture and changes on..