Look into "Media of Collective Intelligence" research project

[cafca]

Trami discovered a research project at Uni Konstanz titled "Media of Collective Intelligence". They seem to be working on similar problems/questions as we are. It might be worth looking into what they have done + their sources. @wloev @Trami @AtikJam

• Some interesting sources from here:
• Salomon 1993 Distributed Cognitions Available in OPAC.
• Dror, I. E. & Harnad, S. (2008). Offloading cognition onto cognitive technology. In I.Dror & S. Harnad (Eds.), Cognition Distributed: How Cognitive Technology Extends Our Minds (pp 1-23). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. Download

[Trami]

i'll have a look at both. :) the second seams really interesting as a perspective we could take for the IK.

[Trami]

The Dror et. al. paper contains many interesting definitions and discussions of cognition, mind, life, and consciousness and their interrelations (though partly you can easily get lost in his lengthy arguments) . He concludes in stating that cognitive technology:

• does not belong to a distributed cognitive or mental state, but "[i]t is still cognizers who cognize – the tool users, not the tools" (p.21) but it can:
• increase our cognitive performance, makes it more efficient and productive
• widen the scope of our cognising by enabling high speed and long distance interactivity between many cognisers
• transform our cognitive development by affecting the organisation and capacities of our brain
• changes how we think, learn, communicate, and interact and thereby reshapes our minds

I think it's well argued and could be a basis for how we frame Souma as cognitive technology. Of course, we could also argue for more, i.e. that Souma together with its users forms a distributed cognitive state. However, then we would have to reject some of Dror's assumptions and give good arguments for doing so... Do we agree with above summary? @ciex @wloev @AtikJam @cartisan

[cafca]

Sounds good I think, esp. like the first point. I think you can alienate people if you don't say that.

It sounds a bit optimistic though. I am skeptical whether these advantages are always realized, or whether it might also be the case that cognitive technology diminishes "performance", etc.

I would also be interested in what he denies. Or is it just an account of what these technologies can do and not what they can't?