The syntax and semantics of goals

arXiv:2609.19448 · cs.AI · Submitted 2026-09-16 · Read on arXiv

cs.AI

Submitted: 2026-09-16

Updated: 2026-09-16

Comments: To appear in Topics in Cognitive Science, special issue on Goal-Centric Perspectives in Cognitive Science

License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/

Terminology

• Reinforcement Learning — 24× in this paper · explained in 4 episodes
• Axioms — 11× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Reward Function — 11× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Affordance — 8× in this paper · explained in 1 episode
• World Model — 7× in this paper · explained in 7 episodes
• Generalization — 4× in this paper · explained in 13 episodes
• Reward Shaping — 3× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Core — 2× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Continual Learning — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Formal Verification — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Meta-learning — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Steering — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Verification — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes

Sources

• A Theory of Universal Artificial Intelligence based on Algorithmic Complexity
• Continual Learning as Computationally Constrained Reinforcement Learning
• Evolution and The Knightian Blindspot of Machine Learning
• Environment-Independent Task Specifications via GLTL
• Beyond Scalar Rewards: An Axiomatic Framework for Lexicographic MDPs

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