From simple rules to quasi intentionality: emergent coordination and collective cognition

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Published: 2025-12-31
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59203/zfn.79.727
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Anna Sarosiek
University of the National Education Commission, Poland

Abstract

This article examines whether quasi-intentional organisation characterised by anticipation, adaptation and retention can arise in distributed systems composed of simple agents without global goal representation. The analysis draws on observations of Camponotus barbaricus ants that construct and stabilise pine-needle barriers in the absence of central control. An agent-based model implemented in NetLogo formalises selected construction dynamics through local rules governing exploration, material deposition and reinforcement of stable configurations. Three operational indicators are introduced to examine system-level organisation: pre-disturbance increases in construction activity, directional changes in structural stability across iterations and reconstruction of previously stabilised patterns after partial removal. The model functions as a constrained artificial-life environment for analysing purposive-looking organisation emerging from distributed interaction and environmental traces. The concept of quasi intentionality is situated within biosemiotic accounts of environmental semiosis and a relational ontology of agency, and is discussed in relation to current approaches to symbiotic and beneficial artificial systems.

Article Details

Issue

No. 79 (2025)

Section

SPECIAL ISSUE: Philosophy in Technology
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Sarosiek, A. (2025) “From simple rules to quasi intentionality: emergent coordination and collective cognition”, Philosophical Problems in Science (Zagadnienia Filozoficzne w Nauce) [Preprint], (79). doi:10.59203/zfn.79.727.

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