Damasio, Descartes, alarms and meta-management

Discusses some of the requirements for the control architecture of an intelligent human-like agent with multiple independent dynamically changing motives in a dynamically changing only partly predictable world. The architecture proposed includes a combination of reactive, deliberative and meta-management mechanisms along with one or more global "alarm" systems. The engineering design requirements are discussed in relation to our evolutionary history, evidence of brain function and recent theories of Damasio and others about the relationships between intelligence and emotions.