The Sphex Loop

The classic account: a procedure that cannot step outside itself

The Sphex Loop A flowchart of Wooldridge's classic Sphex account, presented as a model of procedural rigidity. Inside a dimmed detailed-command panel, the wasp's routine runs through three steps. On the left, a red loop labeled "reported: 40" returns the routine to its beginning when the experimenter moves the cricket. In the faint upper right, under the heading "Mission command (absent in this account)", a teal-lit box reads "Step outside the frame"; a dotted route runs to it from step 3 and a red X blocks that route partway along. THE LOOP: DETAILED COMMAND Classic account: rigid procedural script 1. DRAG CRICKET to burrow entrance 2. ENTER BURROW inspect interior 3. EXIT BURROW check for cricket EXPERIMENTER moves cricket away CRICKET AT ENTRANCE? NO REPORTED: 40 YES 4. DRAG INSIDE (task complete) MISSION COMMAND (absent in this account) STEP OUTSIDE THE FRAME The Sphex Loop A flowchart of Wooldridge's classic Sphex account, presented as a model of procedural rigidity. Inside a dimmed detailed-command panel, the wasp's routine runs through three steps to the question "Cricket at entrance?". A red loop labeled "reported: 40" leaves the question's "no" branch, wraps around the panel and returns the routine to step 1; an experimenter box, outside the panel, moves the cricket. The "yes" branch leads to "4. Drag inside (task complete)". At the top right, under the heading "Mission command (absent in this account)", a teal-lit box reads "Step outside the frame"; a dotted route runs to it from step 3 and a red X blocks that route partway along. THE LOOP: DETAILED COMMAND Classic account: rigid procedural script 1. DRAG CRICKET to burrow entrance 2. ENTER BURROW inspect interior 3. EXIT BURROW check for cricket EXPERIMENTER moves cricket away CRICKET AT ENTRANCE? NO REPORTED: 40 YES 4. DRAG INSIDE (task complete) MISSION COMMAND (absent in this account) STEP OUTSIDE THE FRAME
The Sphex Loop. Wooldridge's classic account presents a digger wasp restarting the same provisioning sequence when the cricket is moved, reportedly doing so forty times. The diagram models the anecdote's procedural rigidity. Later review found this repetition is not standard and that digger-wasp behavior is more flexible. Wooldridge (1963); Hofstadter (1979, p. 609); Keijzer (2013).
core conceptemergent / positiveconstraint / breakdownmission command (absent)