Hallucination, panic, and exhaustion in embodied cognition

Abstract

We demonstrate—under what is perhaps a “best case” analysis—that all enterprises of embodied cognition, ranging from the “simply” cognitive to the actively conscious, and from the individual to the mechanical, institutional, and composite, are susceptible to induced patterns of hallucination, panic, and exhaustion on challenging landscapes of fog, friction, and deadly adversarial intent. That is, embodied cognition, of any nature and on any scale or level of organization, is inherently unstable in the sense of the Data Rate Theorem, requiring constant control information for proper function, a circumstance that can be exploited by traditional adversaries or other evolving entities. We further argue, in consonance with C.S. Gray, that dreams of “Wunderwaffen,”“Wundertaktik,” and implacable “Reflexive Control” are themselves siren hallucinations.