More speculatively, I suggest the mechanisms derived by this thought experiment apply to humans and extend to provide explanations for human rationality and aspects of intentional and phenomenal consciousness that accord with observation. This yields what I call the "Shared Intentionality First" Theory (SIFT) for language, rationality, and consciousness.
The significance of shared intentionality has been recognized and advocated previously, but typically from a sociological or behavioral point of view. SIFT complements prior work by applying a computer science perspective to the underlying mechanisms.
Also available as arXiv 2306.13657
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@TECHREPORT{Rushby:SIFT23,
AUTHOR = {John Rushby},
TITLE = {On Computational Mechanisms for Shared Intentionality
and Speculation on Rationality and Consciousness},
INSTITUTION = {Computer Science Laboratory, SRI International},
YEAR = 2023,
MONTH = jun,
ADDRESS = {Menlo Park, CA},
NOTE = {Available at \url{http://www.csl.sri.com/~rushby/abstracts/sift23}}
}