When misrepresentation is successful

Abstract

In the present chapter, we investigate the notion that an action is successful if and only if (iff) it is caused by a true representation. We demonstrate that there indeed exist representations which—even though being false—can systematically lead to successful actions, if specific conditions hold, especially, if there is stochastic noise in the generation of representations and the cost of errors is asymmetrically distributed and the success-relevant feature can only be indirectly assessed via indicator features. Finally, we discuss this observation in relation to illusionary perception and evolutionary epistemology.