Cognitive systems are those whose
behavior changes in response to and in anticipation of changes in the
environment, user characteristics and goals.
Computers have no knowledge of
the environment or the user–they don’t ‘know’ the existence of either.
We human beings tend to have an anthropomorphic view of machines. Hence terms
such as ‘stupid’ and ‘dumb’ are often applied to machines. A normal PC
can be made to acquire environment data such as temperature and light intensity,
with a little modification. Such data can be used to increase the effectiveness
of computers.
Rapid standardization is
occurring in the technologies of client-server computing and multimedia. Due to
the proliferation and ease of use of PCs, there is little that technology can do
to differentiate one product from another. "Company X has better multimedia
than company Y because they have better technology" is not a credible
sentence any more.
Conception and design will thus
be the key differentiators between future products. And both are cognitive
processes. Thus, the future of products would seem to depend on cognitive
engineering.
Building cognitive systems
Anyone who is in the business of
building systems that are easier to use than existing ones, should learn to
build cognitive systems. In particular, educational software producers, game
developers, kiosks and public-use terminal developers... and, of course, generic
application developers too.Â
Currently, the crux of a
cognitive system is to try and make applications practical and feasible, with as
little work as possible in terms of programming. In other words, doing no
complex programming and yet coming out with a product that appears to exhibit
complex behavior.
Everything in nature is built
like this. Small cells that perform specialized functions interact with each
other and give rise to a complicated organism. While developing a cognitive
system, there is no need to design complexity but to let it evolve by itself.
Designing a cognitive bot
Bots are software robots capable
of learning, making decisions and responding to humans. In some jobs, bots could
replace human intervention. New-generation bots will be able to read stories to
children, take orders, provide interesting game interfaces and change the design
and look of future computer apps.
What does it take to make a bot?
Not a lot of programming. What you need is to create small ‘designlets’–small,
self-contained applets. These plug together, so that the result is emergent,
evolving and unpredictable.
Human beings use only one kind of
interface–the human interface. We speak and gesture. We listen, look and
emote. If we could understand this human interface and reproduce something akin
to it in a machine, it would be the friendliest and most natural interface you
can imagine. It is time programmers realized this and bring the man-machine
interface closer to the human user.
Can your computer do all these
things? The answer is yes. Let’s take a closer look at Cognitive systems.
Two types of entities fall under
the scope of Cognitive systems–humans and non-humans. Under ‘human’ we
have the natural and the artificial.
The former includes people who
mainly deal with ‘other people’, such as HR staff. When they interact
together, they display ‘Connectionism’. An example is the evolution of
Hotmail and Geocities. Those who created Hotmail could not imagine many people
all over the world would be using it. Hotmail has evolved through the enormous
usage by people. This is ‘Connectionism’.
The artificial human includes
pacemakers and robots. Modern pacemakers react cognitively. For example, when a
person is climbing the steps, the pacemaker pumps more blood to the heart
enabling the person to climb without difficulty. It is proactive and adaptive.
The non-human segment too has
natural and artificial members. The natural non-human includes animals. Take
animal behavior, such as in an ant colony or a beehive. A single bee or an ant
cannot produce anything concrete. Collections of these create beehives or
anthills. And there is a discontinuity in numbers. Three bees cannot build a
beehive, a thousand can. These phenomena display ‘Collectivism’. The
emergence of the Linux OS is a good example of a collective phenomenon that is
artificial, non-human and cognitive.
Finally, there are artificial
non-human systems. These include computer-based training packages and other
softwares.
Paradigm shift
In the near future, our PCs will
act as watchdogs, personal secretaries or companions. They will cajole us, scold
us and even pamper us. They will take the role of just about anybody and
everybody. So, do not be surprised if suddenly, while you are working, a message
pops up saying, "Hey Ruchi, you have a meeting at two," and a few
minutes later, "Ruchi, I think you really should get moving if you want to
make it on time". Or if you are angry and are pressing the keys too hard,
it might respond, "Look, don’t take out your anger on me! I have feelings
too!"
The next generation PCs will no
longer be ‘dumb’ or ‘stupid’. They will be responsive, adaptive and more
‘human-like’ in their interactions. They will respond differently to
different users, even throw tantrums on being misused and refuse to work.