?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Life+is+an+Adventure!+An+agent-based+reconciliation+of+narrative+and+scientific+worldviews%0D%0A&rft.creator=Heylighen%2C+Francis&rft.subject=Behavioral+Analysis&rft.subject=Animal+Behavior&rft.subject=Complexity+Theory&rft.subject=Evolutionary+Psychology&rft.subject=Decision+Theory&rft.description=The+scientific+worldview+is+based+on+laws%2C+which+are+supposed+to+be+certain%2C+objective%2C+and+independent+of+time+and+context.+The+narrative+worldview+found+in+literature%2C+myth+and+religion%2C+is+based+on+stories%2C+which+relate+the+events+experienced+by+a+subject+in+a+particular+context+with+an+uncertain+outcome.+This+paper+argues+that+the+concept+of+%E2%80%9Cagent%E2%80%9D%2C+supported+by+the+theories+of+evolution%2C+cybernetics+and+complex+adaptive+systems%2C+allows+us+to+reconcile+scientific+and+narrative+perspectives.++An+agent+follows+a+course+of+action+through+its+environment+with+the+aim+of+maximizing+its+fitness.+Navigation+along+that+course+combines+the+strategies+of+regulation%2C+exploitation+and+exploration%2C+but+needs+to+cope+with+often-unforeseen+diversions.+These+can+be+positive+(affordances%2C+opportunities)%2C+negative+(disturbances%2C+dangers)+or+neutral+(surprises).+The+resulting+sequence+of+encounters+and+actions+can+be+conceptualized+as+an+adventure.+Thus%2C+the+agent+appears+to+play+the+role+of+the+hero+in+a+tale+of+challenge+and+mystery+that+is+very+similar+to+the+%22monomyth%22%2C+the+basic+storyline+that+underlies+all+myths+and+fairy+tales+according+to+Campbell+%5B1949%5D.+This+narrative+dynamics+is+driven+forward+in+particular+by+the+alternation+between+prospect+(the+ability+to+foresee+diversions)+and+mystery+(the+possibility+of+achieving+an+as+yet+absent+prospect)%2C+two+aspects+of+the+environment+that+are+particularly+attractive+to+agents.+This+dynamics+generalizes+the+scientific+notion+of+a+deterministic+trajectory+by+introducing+a+variable+%E2%80%9Chorizon+of+knowability%E2%80%9D%3A+the+agent+is+never+fully+certain+of+its+further+course%2C+but+can+anticipate+depending+on+its+degree+of+prospect.&rft.date=2010&rft.type=Preprint&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.format=application%2Fpdf&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F7266%2F1%2FLife-Adventure.pdf&rft.identifier=++Heylighen%2C+Francis++(2010)+Life+is+an+Adventure!+An+agent-based+reconciliation+of+narrative+and+scientific+worldviews.++%5BPreprint%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F7266%2F