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Signals: Evolution, Learning, and Information 1st Edition

by Brian Skyrms (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 10 ratings
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Brian Skyrms presents a fascinating exploration of how fundamental signals are to our world. He uses a variety of tools -- theories of signaling games, information, evolution, and learning -- to investigate how meaning and communication develop. He shows how signaling games themselves evolve, and introduces a new model of learning with invention. The juxtaposition of atomic signals leads to complex signals, as the natural product of gradual process. Signals operate in networks of senders and receivers at all levels of life. Information is transmitted, but it is also processed in various ways. That is how we think -- signals run around a very complicated signaling network. Signaling is a key ingredient in the evolution of teamwork, in the human but also in the animal world, even in micro-organisms. Communication and co-ordination of action are different aspects of the flow of information, and are both effected by signals.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0199582947
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0199582945
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  5. Publication date
    May 2, 2010
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    7.8 x 5.08 x 0.44 inches
  8. Print length
    208 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The argument is interesting throughout. Recommended." --CHOICE

Book Description

Brian Skyrms offers a fascinating demonstration of how fundamental signals are to our world.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 1st edition (May 2, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0199582947
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199582945
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.8 x 5.08 x 0.44 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 10 ratings

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Brian Skyrms

Brian Skyrms

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4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
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Top reviews from the United States

Author MichaelAngela
5.0 out of 5 stars FOR STUDENTS WITH BACKGROUND IN LOGIC.
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2015
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I've read this book in Grad School. This should be coupled with a Game Theory book otherwise it won't be an easy read. I'm giving it a 5 star only because I passed my Logic class :D other than that this book is reserved for the logicians.-M- Author of Beauty Matters The Moral Issues.
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Herbert Gintis
3.0 out of 5 stars David Lewis Redux
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2010
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A steady stream of philosophers, from Epicurus to Quine and Russell, objected to the convention theory of language (the arbitrary character of the designator) by questioning the dynamic by which a convention is established without a pre-existing language through which the convention is articulated. This problem was answered by David Lewis in his 1969 book "Convention." Lewis's contribution was brilliant, but his exposition is somewhat confused, and it is not clear that he had a solid understanding of game theory. The same cannot be said of Skyrms, a renown philosopher and game theorist who presents an up-to-date version of Lewis' argument, foregoing most philosophical commentary in favor of analytical exposition of signaling theory.

This book is an elaboration on Skyrms' 2006 Presidential speech to the Philosophy of Science Association. It is highly accessible to readers with no background in philosophy, game theory, mathematics, or anything else, for that matter. On the other hand, it presents only a very small subset of the behavioral science literature on signaling games. Moreover, it presents only a couple of examples from the abundant animal behavior literature on signaling. For an up-to-date treatment of animal signaling, the reader might try Searcy and Nowicki (2005). I don't know of a generally accessible book on signaling game theory, but a very nice recent overview is provided by economist Joel Sobel (2007) at [...].

The setting for the conventional theory of signaling is the coordination game: a number of agents each chooses and action, and all receive the same payoff, which is a function of the actions taken by the various agents. All agents benefit equally from coordinating their signals so as to achieve the highest possible payoff for all. Thus, in a group of monkeys, all benefit equally from knowing that there is a snake or a hawk in the area, but the benefit depends on their knowing which of the two is the case. It is purely conventional which vocalization the monkeys use to indicate "snake" as opposed to "hawk." Problems arise when the various agents do not have the same payoffs. Indeed, in the diametrically opposed case, the so-called "zero-sum game," what one player gains the other players lose, and hence there is no form of truthful signaling that can evolve. However, groups can evolve the capacity to change a zero-sum game into a different game in which all can gain from some appropriate cooperative behavior. Skyrms does not discuss this issue.

As it turns out, there are very few zero-sum games in reality, and there are equally few pure coordination games. Thus Skyrms misses most of the real action, which lies in understanding the conditions under which signaling equilibria emerge even when agents do not have identical interests. This is most acute in human societies in which individuals routinely stand to gain from transmitting untruthful messages. But it is equally important in animal societies in which males gain from transmitting incorrect messages concerning their reproductive fitness to females, who use such information to guide their choice of mates. There is a brilliant literature on this topic, based on contributions by Ronald Fisher, Michael Spence, Amos Zahavi, and Alan Grafen, but this literature is not touched upon in Skyrms' exposition.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing at a Far more Gut Level, and from Many Frames...
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2013
Philosophers and Sociologists can argue forever about benefits/risks of game valences, but life is filled with deception. The Amazonian (forest, not site) snake that dangles an insect-looking "lure" appendage in front of the frog it is about to kill is clearly sending a "zero sum" SIGNAL! Frog loses, snake wins, and fake insect appendage-- well, it's a lure ("I'm the BAIT??).

There are a number of criticisms on the web about "gaps" in this gem of a book. The amazing thing is the frames of reference-- philosphers ding the author on "forgetting" a key point in Russell, but read on... and you find similar dings in economics, dynamic systems theory, physics, information theory, zoology.. even chemistry! One might wonder if the author bit off more than he could chew, until one realizes a topic like SIGNALS (as in all of the universes' information) is more than ANY-ONE can chew!

I'm not as bright as many of the reviewers I've read and sincerely respect... wow. I design domain specific languages for autonomous robotics and am a mere EE, far from understanding even rudimentary game theory at such a lofty and intricate level. But guess what? That is NOT the only thing this book is about! I LOVED the depth and breadth this author brings to the party, even as an EE and IT person. Every voltage in every circuit is a SIGNAL-- that I do know about. Signal Processing is as astonishing from its Fourier transforms as from the high level monkey eats banana compete/cooperate frame! What about those tiny little signals that pull all our strings (genes)?!

TIP: If you are concerned about the author's syntax, logic and tone, ("proto truth functional"?), you might want to read some of the frankly GENEROUS selection from this book Amazon has in the "peek inside" feature above before buying.

THIS BOOK IS GREAT FUN! You do NOT have to be a game theorist, philosopher or economist to really enjoy it. A page turner on philosophy? Granted, the author does give the brain a workout, but unlike purer philosophy texts that are filled with mostly semantic differences and neural weight lifting, this book doesn't try to show off its profound command of past arguments or non pragmatic applications. Its foundation is wonder, and any level of reader, from any frame, cannot help but come away astonished in one frame or another. I can only guarantee one thing: you will NOT look at life the same after reading this book, regardless of your field, if you are the least bit open minded. You'll smile and see the signals all around us, not just in human communication and interaction, but rain, snow and earthquakes, neurons, electrons, sunsets, galaxies and music.

Amazing, highly recommended.

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Lenne
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction, poor editing
Reviewed in Germany on March 9, 2013
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Signaling games--the subject of this book--was a new topic to me. The book has less than 200 pages but the rate of how much you learn per page is impressively high (given that you knew very little in the beginning). The presentation is very accessible, so it is not that you need to consult Wikipedia or spend hours with pen and paper to make sense of it. The book starts with the simplest game possible which is gradually modified to illustrate different phenomena like deception, category formation, synonymy and ambiguity, emergence of logic and compositionality. Every chapter discusses how signaling evolves in different games, how signals can be learned, what are the equilibria in those games, etc. Skyrms style reminded me of simple Wikipedia: most sentences are shorter than ten words.

The reason for why I cannot give the book five stars is very poor editing, an embarrassment for Oxford UP. There are typos, unreferenced figures, wrong order in the index (check letter 'p'), very ugly, inconsistent formula formatting. For example, conditional probability, like p(x|s), is expressed as pr_s(x) in one place, pr(x given s) in another. Probability of x, p(x) is sometimes p_pr(x) and sometimes Probability(x). A times B is sometimes A*B and sometimes AB. This is annoying, clearly the fault of the editor. Finally, I was puzzled by the picture on the cover until I checked the title. Perhaps not the best choice for a book on signaling.
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