Presentation Information
[2L5-GS-5a-06]Cybernetic Mimesis: An investigation into agentic competition and cooperation through goal imitation
〇Earnest Kota Carr1, Ohmura Yoshiyuki1, Yasuo Kuniyoshi1 (1. The University of Tokyo)
Keywords:
Agent-based Models,Control,Imitation
How do goal-directed agents produce collective competition and cooperation? This talk proposes Cybernetic Mimesis: a synthesis of Cybernetics (Perceptual Control Theory) and Girardian mimetic theory. Each agent is modeled as a perceptual controller whose goal selection is socially influenced. The core mechanism is reference-level imitation: observing another's goal-directed behavior activates that goal in the observer.
Three experiments vary environmental structure while holding the imitation mechanism constant. In abundance, goal imitation produces boom-bust cycles—synchronization increases by 111%. Under scarcity, the same mechanism generates rivalry: blocking events emerge and error increases by 21%. When shared obstacles require collective thresholds, imitation becomes beneficial: error decreases by 52.5%.
The unified finding is that goal-level imitation is neither inherently competitive nor cooperative—its effects depend on environmental structure. This work contributes a social extension to control theory and a mechanization of mimetic desire.
Three experiments vary environmental structure while holding the imitation mechanism constant. In abundance, goal imitation produces boom-bust cycles—synchronization increases by 111%. Under scarcity, the same mechanism generates rivalry: blocking events emerge and error increases by 21%. When shared obstacles require collective thresholds, imitation becomes beneficial: error decreases by 52.5%.
The unified finding is that goal-level imitation is neither inherently competitive nor cooperative—its effects depend on environmental structure. This work contributes a social extension to control theory and a mechanization of mimetic desire.