The purpose of play is to learn a control function. If a game goes fully as anticipated, it is usually not generating reward.
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Replying to @hardmaru
I was interesting in pinpointing the exact nature of the fun in play.
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If dopamine should be considered a reward, simply winning a game is rewarding. Many people play games they don't necessarily enjoy because they like the feeling of victory. Games can also serve to establish a dominance hierarchy.
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Replying to @AbstractMonkey9 @hardmaru
When we talk about dopamine, we mostly mean anticipated reward. The signals that behavior controllers send to orchestrate our skills refer semantically to reward promises, not actual one. The actual reward is only relevant for training.
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In biological terms, what does an actual reward look like to you?
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Replying to @AbstractMonkey9 @hardmaru
It is a signal type. At the lowest level, it probably translates into a function that integrates over metabolic success for individual neurons.
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And somehow the success of these individual neurons translates into elevated serotonin and upregulated testosterone for the victor?
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Replying to @AbstractMonkey9 @hardmaru
Testosterone emphasizes risk taking, and victory is only one of several correlates of risk. Testosterone regulates the intensity of natural selection against the individual that has it.
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How does testosterone regulate the intensity of natural selection? Increased testosterone seems to be nature's reward for dominance; whose consequence is enhanced strength, and, indeed, risk taking. This should lead to reproductive success.
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Only for those that don’t die in bike accidents etc. Don’t forget that modern men have very little testosterone compared to our ancestors, of whom only a small fraction hogged all the reproductive success.
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