"Goal" has many complicated meanings. "A `goal-driven' system does not seem to react directly to the stimuli or situations it encounters. Instead, it treats the things it finds as objects to exploit, avoid, or ignore, as though it were concerened with something else that doesn't yet exist. When any disturbance or obstacle diverts a goal-directed system from its course, that system seems to try to remove the interference, go around it, or turn it to some advantage."
Difference engines -- general problem solvers a la Newell, Simon, Shaw -- can give the impression of being goal-driven. In a difference engine, agents work to reduce the difference between current and desired states of affairs. Is this approach to "goals" too simple or too complex? Minsky will flesh this out.
(NB: Minsky provides a very nice picture of a difference engine here. Compare this picture to the Predictor vehicle that Braitenberg described. Are their similarities? Was Braitenberg also concerned with goal-driven behavior when he played with Predictor?)
Pearl Street | Society of Mind Home Page | Dawson Home Page |