COMPUTATIONAL EMBODIMENT: CONSTRUCTING AUTONOMOUS SOFTWARE SYSTEMS
Kirstie L. Be Christopher Landauer · Cybernetics & Systems · 1999
Computational embodiment is the computer implementation of principles of autonomy that allows software systems to exist in and interact with complex environments. We restrict our attention here to symbolic environments MUDs , as an initial step towards understanding and constructing ''interaction spaces'' in which humans and computer programs can interact on an equal footing. Our approach to constructing autonomous software systems is based on theoretical work on the organization of structures underlying language and movement in biological systems and on the structure of constructed complex systems mediated or integrated by software. We have developed an approach to integration called ''wrapping,'' which is a computationally reflective dynamic integration infrastructure. We regard integration infrastructure as an essential part of operating robust, flexible systems that exhibit appropriate behavior in the face of failures and uncertainties. The wrapping approach supports autonomy by supporting at least primitive versions of most of the functions that are necessary, and by providing an infrastructure that makes changing those functions easy. We show how the wrapping approach supports autonomy by describing ongoing experiments with software agents in MUDs.