Selection by Cansequences: The Fourth Level of Selection

In Skinner’s landmark 1981 paper “Selection by Consequences”, he outlines three levels of selection: natural, operant, and cultural. He states that only living things, as well as machines made by living things, follow this causal mode. Skinner’s comment on how machines follow these principles have been largely overlooked. Here, we illustrate how machines represent the fourth level of selection, which we call vending machine (VM) selection, due to the machine’s relationship with cultural production and interactions with environmental agents. Designed machines have their unique learning history and unit of selection. This type of selection, which applies to both man-made machines, and machines made by other machines, cannot be explained by operant selection alone. However, similarly to how operant selection is a necessity for cultural selection to occur, both cultural and operant selection are high relevant prerequisites for VM selection. As technology in artificial intelligence and robotics advances, VM selection may form a central part of our understanding of selection by consequences in the future.