Steps Towards a Systematic Investigation of Possible Evolutionary Trajectories from Reactive to Deliberative Control Systems

Although they are vastly outnumbered by simpler control systems, complex, “deliberative” control systems have evolved on our planet. Hence, agents with deliberative capabilities must have adaptive advantages over agents with simpler control systems in some environments. This paper examines the tradeoffs between the costs of control systems and the benefits they offer in a variety of environments and discusses the implications of these tradeoffs on evolutionary trajectories from “reactive” control systems, through somewhat more complex “affective” systems, to genuine deliberative systems.