Morphological computing as reality construction for a cognizing agent

In this talk I gave a short account of my view of the process of reality construction in cognitive agent through morphological computation, within the framework of info-computational constructivism as generative modelling scheme (Dodig-Crnkovic 2014a, 2014b, 2016). Cognition in this framework is capacity possessed in different forms and degrees of complexity by every living organism. It is entirety of processes going on in an organism that keeps it alive, and present as a distinct agent in the world. Even a single cell while alive constantly cognizes, that is registers inputs from the world and its own body, ensures its own continuous existence through metabolism and food hunting while avoiding dangers that could cause its disintegration or damage, at the same time adapting its own morphology to the environmental constraints. The entirety of physicochemical processes depends on the morphology of the organism, where morphology is meant as the form and structure. The essential property of morphological computing is that it is defined on a structure of nodes (agents) that exchange (communication) of information. Unicellular organisms such as bacteria communicate and build swarms or films with far more advanced capabilities compared to individual organisms, through social (distributed) cognition. In general, groups of smaller organisms (cells) in nature cluster into bigger ones (multicellular assemblies) with differentiated control mechanisms from the cell level to the tissue, organ, organism and groups of organisms, and this layered organization provides information processing benefits.