We Call it Habit

We Call it Habit

Frequency of usage; what a broad spectrum of behavior is implied by this phrase. All organisms spend the bulk of their time in some sort of habitual behavior. Just as it is easy to categorize Generic Forms, it is easy to cate-gorize Generic Behavior, in fact, it is sometimes difficult to see behavior that is not habitual in some way. Everywhere we look we see patterns of speech, patterns of movements, patterns of usage, patterns of traffic, patterns of relationship ..
generic aspects of communication are all based on the different pat-terns generated by frequency of usage. There are Generic Formats, containing Generic Vocabularies, governed by patterns of Generic Usage.

When we examine the actual "content" of the communication stream, we find that the bulk of this activity involves the following formats, in linked pairs:

Buy/Sell Listen/Talk Find Facts/Provide Facts Watch/Exhibit Listen/Perform Play Game/Provide Game

Frequency of usage can also play an inverse role by serving as a model for behavior, in decision patterns involving Artificial Intelligence. Internally, there is a set of instructions with the most frequent variants of behavior and the probabilities based on the statistical past; externally, there is an actual event for which the Al must extrapolate a decision in the present, in view of future consequences, without violating any pre-programmed safety mechanisms. That's asking a lot, even of Isaac Asimov!

In any case, frequency of usage defines the Generic Landscape, and frequency of usage determines the emergent behavior of the Generic Agents interacting within that HABITAT!


<BACK        |        NEXT>