Project description
Rethinking human intelligence
What makes human intelligence so distinctive? Compositional thinking and cumulative culture are two key traits that set us apart from both animals and artificial intelligence. The first allows us to creatively recombine familiar ideas, while the second enables us to build on the knowledge of generations past. In this context, the ERC-funded C4 project aims to unify these traits under a single mathematical framework: compositional compression. Drawing on recent advances in program induction and large language models, C4 explores how we encode, share, and evolve knowledge: individually, socially, and across cultural timescales. By linking learning, collaboration, and cultural progress, the project promises fresh insights into the machinery of human thought and the roots of our uniquely inventive minds.
Objective
"Compositionality and cumulative culture are two foundations of human intelligence that have separately been proposed as ""the singular factor"" differentiating human cognition from other animals or AI. Compositionality is a core concept in cognitive science, allowing us to solve new problems by recombining familiar elements in novel ways. Cumulative culture is deeply rooted in anthropology, highlighting humanity's unique capacity to massively improve on the wisdom of past generations. Here, C4 (pronounced cee-four in a nod to the explosive compound) seeks to unify these domains under a mathematical framework for compositional compression, offering ground-breaking new predictions by accounting for synergistic interactions between representations. Just as information-theory provided foundational insights across numerous domains, C4 promises broad applications for understanding how humans encode and transmit recombinable fragments of knowledge --- internally within our brains, interpersonally between individuals, and multi-generationally across societal timescales. The goals are threefold: 1) To develop a framework for compositional compression that can explain curriculum effects in individual learning; 2) To predict complementarity in dyadic interactions between diverse individuals; 3) To develop a model of compositional culture, with a causal account of the leaps and bounds that characterize cultural evolution. These goals are only now possible due to recent advances in program induction and large language models, facilitating the transcription of natural language explanations into an explicit and compositional Language of Thought. In sum, C4 proposes fundamental innovations to our understanding of how humans encode and transmit information, where a framework for compositional compression can unite individual cognition with societal evolution under the common understanding of reuse, recombination, and creative re-engineering of past solutions."
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
64289 DARMSTADT
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.