Evolution of an Empathetic Digital Entity: Phase One

Abstract

This demonstration highlights the first of seven segments designed to develop a digital entity that will possess the potential for human empathy. The experiences in the first phase of the digital entity Zoe (Zero-One Entity) parallel a subset of learning and development activities encountered by human beings during their first nine months of existence. A website has been created to provide a window to observe Zoe's experiences and action selection process in order to make her basic learning observable, cumulative, and evolutionary. The human observer is invited to influence her action selection by setting the intensity of Zoe's digital personality traits such as assertiveness, reasoning ability, and disposition. Actions generate body-based and emotive-based feelings which are stored in memory structures. Significantly, these structures serve as a foundation for later stages of learning, understanding and reasoning.