>This "Umwelt" seems very close to the more colloquial idea I described in
>an earlier message as "context." In other words, for sensory data to have
>meaning it must be referenced to some environmental context (or Umwelt)
>which must exist within the mind, because the mind is the only place where
>the comparison can take place.
Good comment!
>I am actually quite surprised to read from Ricardo's comments
>that AI programmers have not incorporated this need for context or "Umwelt."
My previous comment on modeling a virtual human environment was
about modeling human Umwelt. But the term "context" does not seem
good. According to the dictionary, context = the parts just before and
after the word that determine its meaning. Umwelt is not a text.
Of course we can expand the meaning of the word "context", but it
may be easier to use another word (e.g., Umwelt).
-Alexei
-------------------------------------------------
Alexei Sharov Research Scientist
Dept. of Entomology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061
Tel. (540) 231-7316; FAX (540) 231-9131; e-mail sharov@vt.edu
Home page: http://www.gypsymoth.ento.vt.edu/~sharov/alexei.html