Jean-Louis Dessalles (born in 1956 in

Périgueux Périgueux (, ; or ) is a commune in the Dordogne department, in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Périgueux is the prefecture of Dordogne, and the capital city of Périgord. It is also the seat of ...

) is a French computer scientist and researcher in

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

and

cognitive science Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind and its processes. It examines the nature, the tasks, and the functions of cognition (in a broad sense). Mental faculties of concern to cognitive scientists include percep ...

, professor à

Télécom Paris Télécom Paris (also known as ENST or Télécom or École nationale supérieure des télécommunications ; also Télécom ParisTech until 2019) is a French public institution for higher education (''grande école'') and engineering research. Loc ...

(Paris). He is best known for his contributions to the

Simplicity theory Simplicity theory is a cognitive theory that seeks to explain the attractiveness of situations or events to human minds. It is based on work done by scientists like behavioural scientist Nick Chater, computer scientist Paul Vitanyi, psychologist ...

and for his original theory about a possible political

origin of language The origin of language, its relationship with human evolution, and its consequences have been subjects of study for centuries. Scholars wishing to study the origins of language draw inferences from evidence such as the fossil record, archaeolog ...

Biography

Dessalles was born in

in Southwestern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He graduated from

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

in 1979 (promotion X76) and from Télécom ParisTech in 1981. He is currently Professor of Computer Science at

, which is part of the

University of Paris-Saclay Paris-Saclay University (, ) is a combined Research institute, technological research institute and Public university, public research university in Orsay, France. Paris-Saclay was established in 2019 after the merger of four technical ''grandes ...

Research

''Jean-Louis Dessalles'' focuses on the quest for fundamental principles underlying the language faculty and its biological origins. His contribution to

was to show that complexity ''drop'' predicts narrative interest. He also designed a concise model of argumentative relevance. On the issue of human language evolutionary origins, he found that Costly signalling theory can explain how honest communication is possible among selfish agents.

Publications

; Books *''Des intelligences TRÈS artificielles'', Paris:

Odile Jacob Odile Jacob is a French publisher who founded ''Les Éditions Odile Jacob'' in the middle of the 1980s. She is also a trained scientist, studying the workings of the brain, the mind and thought. She is a member of Le Siècle.Frédéric Saliba, 'L ...

. 2019. *''Le Fil de la vie. La face immatérielle du vivant'' (avec Pierre-Henri Gouyon et Cédric Gaucherel). Paris:

. 2016. *''La pertinence et ses origines cognitives'', Nouvelles théories. Paris: Hermes-sciences. *''Why We Talk, The evolutionary origins of language''. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 2007. *''Les origines de la culture : les origines du langage'' (avec Pascal Picq et B. Victorri). Paris: Le Pommier. 2006. *''Aux origines du langage. Une histoire naturelle de la parole''. Paris: Hermes-sciences. 2000. *''L'ordinateur génétique.'' Paris: Hermes-sciences. 1996. ; Science papers * 2020: Language: The missing selection pressure. ''Theoria et Historia Scientiarum'', ''17.'' *2015: From conceptual spaces to predicates. In F. Zenker & P. Gärdenfors (Eds.), ''Applications of conceptual spaces: The case for geometric knowledge representation'', 17-31. Dordrecht: Springer. * 2014: Optimal investment in social signals, ''Evolution'' 68(6), 1640–1650. * 2014: Why talk?. In D. Dor, C. Knight & J. Lewis (Eds.), The social origins of language, 284–296. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. * 2013: Algorithmic simplicity and relevance. In D. L. Dowe (Ed.), ''Algorithmic probability and friends'' - LNAI 7070, 119-130. Berlin, D: Springer Verlag. ; Journal articles, radio, TV. * 2015 : Le grand roman de l’Homme. Emmanuel Leconte et Franck Guérin, ARTE, 14 July 2015 * 2014: Comment nous optimisons nos signaux sociaux. La Recherche, 494, 56–59. * 2011: Parler pour exister, Revue Sciences Humaines, 224, 45–47. * 2011: Les origines du langage. La Marche des Sciences, Aurélie Luneau. France Culture, 18 January 2011. * 2002: Image et science: le langage, Jean-Pierre Mirouze. France 5, 3 October 2002. * 2002: L’homme animal politique, animal loquace. Continent Sciences, Stéphane Deligeorges. France Culture, 21 February 2002. * 2001: L’origine politique du langage, La Recherche, 341, 31–35.

References

External links

Homepage at Telecom-Paristech

Simplicity theory reference website

arxiv.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dessalles, Jean-Louis 1956 births Living people French computer scientists École Polytechnique alumni

Biography

Research

Publications

See also

References

External links