International online seminar "Artificial Societies and Information Technologies"

In 2020, the team of the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences launched a regular international online seminar "Artificial Societies and Information Technologies". The seminar was attended by leading researchers in the field of agent modeling from Brazil, South Korea, India, China, France, Germany and other countries.

Password as a Special case of "Man-machine" Communication. A Pragmatic approach

The authorization on sites, in social networks and personal accounts with passwords is an extremely common practice today. It has become an integral part of people's lives, even they are not aware of it. But despite this, most Internet users have difficulties in creating and remembering of the strong passwords. This article analyzes the problem using the speech act theory of John Austin and John Searle. It allows to shed light on a person's behaviour on the Internet and his reaction to the question "Who is there?", which the machine asks him.

Assessing the scaling of a blockchain-based social contact tracking system

During a pandemic, one of the most important tasks is to track social contacts with those who are sick. This article categorizes projects that track these contacts. Projects are classified by architecture and the common components of such systems are highlighted. It is concluded that the hybrid architecture of such a solution based on an exclusive blockchain will have several advantages, and a conceptual model of such a system is described. However, an analysis of existing blockchain projects showed that their main problem is the unresolved issue of scaling such kinds of systems, which is becoming a key issue in the context of creating a global digital infrastructure of society. Further, the scaling of the system's conceptual model is assessed based on open-source information about the Moscow metro, and the main conclusions about the selected architectural solutions are confirmed.

How Intelligence is Understood Today

The article is devoted to understanding the ways of explaining intellectual abilities in the light of new developments in the field of artificial intelligence and discoveries related to the study of complex adaptive animal behavior based on the reward system. The paper reviews the latest advances in the development of biologically plausible learning algorithms, the purpose of which is to explain the large amount of accumulated data from the field of neuroscience. Within the framework of this approach, reinforcement learning algorithms are proposed as the basis for any kind of cognitive activity. Understanding intelligence as a set of flexible adaptive abilities to achieve a goal provides a new conceptual framework for explaining how the brain works at a functional level. The formation of forecasts for the future, the construction of time steps and the existence of an internal assessment system in such systems is psychologically and biologically plausible and can potentially become a new milestone in the study of intelligence.

Autonomy and nomadic Relativism of Digital Identity

The article examines identity in such digital spaces as video games and virtual reality. These digital spaces are defined as interactive artificial environment, autonomous from reality, with its own ontology, scenario, narrative and mythological context. Video games have an immersive experience that is enhanced in virtual reality due to the ability to integrate into the embodiment of the game's model. The type of digital identity that is defined by the video game designer in accordance with narrative and artistic goals is what we call a character. The opposite type is an avatar, it reflects strategies of self-presentation of an individual (user). Digital identity interests us primarily because of the ability to be independent (autonomous) from human physiology and from social categories that are attributed to the user in the real world. Digital identity can be constructed by the individuals in accordance with their preferences, which makes it possible to solve many gender, racial, and age problems. The possibility to integrate into an avatar embodiment and interact with in-game items it reinforces the distance from real embodiment. Moreover, in multiplayer games with the civil roleplay, it can exist in an artificial society and have introspective meaning for another members of the society. Another significant feature of digital identity is the relativism. Digital identity can be relativistic due to the which allow one to have different identities in different games or change the appearance of an avatar in one game during a play time. Autonomy and relativism can be the strategy for the implementation of projects of nomadic identity by Rosi Braidotti and Donna Haraway, in which subject is not sticked to any constants, but constantly defines and redefines oneself through performative acts.

Influence of rate of resource flow on dynamics of community of people and artificial beings

We develop and analyze a population model allowing us to examine a system, where people coexist with artificial beings (robots) and the both consume the same resource entering the system. The robot population consists of friendly and aggressive robots that differ in their attitudes towards people. We propose a system of differential equations, which define a dynamics of the populations of people, friendly robots and aggressive robots, and discuss different scenarios of the system evolution including those that lead to disappearance of the human population. We determine conditions that ensure a more or less prosperous future for humanity. We analyze the behavior of the system for different time dependences of the rate of the resource flow (a constant function, a step-like function, constant functions with undershoots and overshoots, a periodic function, monotonically increasing and decreasing functions). Our analysis shows that the dynamics of the rate of the resource flow defines the changes of the tendencies of the population sizes. Among the obtained solutions, there are solutions that lead to an equilibrium between populations. For people this equilibrium may be regarded as favorable if robots prefer to benefit from communication with people, but not from their extermination. However, equilibrium solutions imply a constant or slowly changes of the rate of the resource flow. Short-term changes of the rate of the resource flow modify the balance between the human population and the robot population. Accumulation of the changes can even lead to disappearance of one of the populations. Qualitative analyzes of the proposed system of differential equations along with computer simulations allow us to conclude that there are some necessary conditions for a well-being of the humans and robots. These conditions are as follows. Firstly, the benefit of the robot from communicating with people has to be higher than the benefit from their extermination. Secondly, to prevent the appearance of the aggressive robots the humanity has to regulate effectively the size of its own population. Thirdly, people have to be able to restrict their needs while maintaining the reproduction rate.

Transnational corporations and civil society as network society actors

The article examines the topic of determinants affecting the features of the practical implementation of ideas in the context of a digital society. The features of the digital model of society as a version of the post-industrial society are presented. The urgency of rethinking the problem as a determinant of social development has been substantiated. The essential features of the main trends of the digital society are analyzed and identified, which include the traditional interpretation of the inevitably distorted embodiment of ideas in social phenomena. Demonstrated are the changes represented by the identity of individuals and brought to the coalescence and the virtual level of being. The inevitability of taking into account the systemic effect of implemented ideas, which affects not only the sphere of their direct implementation, is noted. Theatricalization of digital society in the spheres of public life is highlighted. The problem of simulacra is actualized, allowing powerful actors to distort the original meaning of ideas in their own interests. The emphasis is made on the importance of linguistic analysis for adequate perception and understanding of the content of ideas. In conclusion, generalizations that form the theoretical and methodological basis of practical applications in the society of the digital world.

Transnational corporations and civil society as network society actors

The article examines the topic of the formation of new actors in the context of the transition to a network model of society - transnational corporations and civil society. It shows the relevance of rethinking the more recently prevailing customary balance of power between the subjects, mainly due to technical and technological progress and the changes in the social structure. The essential features of both actors are analyzed and identified, and the reasons for their rise are generalized. Preferred fields of action in which the subjects in question are active are outlined. Demonstrated are modern methods and techniques of influence, which are used by transnational corporations and representatives of civil society. It is noted that today, even despite the rich functionality, the implementation of which contributes to the strengthening of TNCs and civil society among other players, government regulations are still the main drivers of social development, since they directly determine the existing rules of the game and interactions.