I have some quibbles that trying to set up a “dry” evaluation hierarchy will get the results you are looking for; There are several things the “messy” brain does that are outside the simple ascending complexity model.
The semantic meaning is “grounded” in the somantosensory system. In the brain there are numerous cross-connections between the various hierarchy’s, with “skips” between levels.
Some things to see in this paper:
- figure 2 - note the map “skipping” in semantic learning.
- Figure 1 - note the extensive grounding in meaning coming from the somantosensory area. These were traditionally called “mirror neurons” which never made any sense to me. Taken in a new light - as part of the memory engram for a concept grounded in motor experience this makes a lot more sense. This is the part that will have to be replaced to build an AGI. This may be one of the hardest parts.
How neurons make meaning: brain mechanisms for embodied and abstract-symbolic semantics
https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/pdf/S1364-6613(13)00122-8.pdf
These is much reason to think that the “higher” cognitive functions are in fact an extension of language learning and without much of the functions that we associate with intelligence never form. Simple making a well ordered processing chain will not automatically form an AGI.
In the “Dad’s song” working group we are following the model that you first learn to hear a meaningful sound (attaching some value to a sound is itself a daunting task that seems to emerge from the limbic system) and then learning to drive the motor/production system to imitate this sound and derive goal satisfaction from this successful imitation. (also a limbic system function) At some point this makes the connection that making some sound results is goal satisfaction such as obtaining food or personal comfort, reinforcing this process.