Bounded Rationality and Heuristics in Humans and in Artificial Cognitive Systems

In this paper I will present an analysis of the impact that the notion of “bounded rationality”, introduced by Herbert Simon in his book “Administrative Behavior”, produced in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In particular, by focusing on the field of Automated Decision Making (ADM), I will show how the introduction of the cognitive dimension into the study of choice of a rational (natural) agent, indirectly determined - in the AI field - the development of a line of research aiming at the realisation of artificial systems whose decisions are based on the adoption of powerful shortcut strategies (known as heuristics) based on “satisficing” - i.e. non optimal - solutions to problem solving. I will show how the “heuristic approach” to problem solving allowed, in AI, to face problems of combinatorial complexity in real-life situations and still represents an important strategy for the design and implementation of intelligent systems

An exercise in learning what "they" don't say when they speak

Abstract Artificial Intelligence (AI) will surpass human intelligence significantly in less than 50 years if the trend of exponential growth of its computing power holds true. AI’s ability to process trillions of gbs of data patterns within hours and to predict outcomes with increasing accuracy has made it the most sought-after technology of the 21st Century. Its use by governments and multinational corporations without gathering much attention has radically impacted all aspects of human life. AI technologies have maintained complete invisibility yet are omnipresent, precisely the reason for the illusion of absence of their political and material effects. AI machines are modeled after the human brain and much like the latter they create learning methodologies (algorithms) on their own in their digital computational space to handle complexities that only the human brain could have dealt with previously. The evolution of these machines into entities that can soon match the complexity of thought of a human brain has raised multiple philosophical and ethical questions. Amongst these is the classic conundrum of machines becoming conscious and developing emotions and intentionality of their own. How should humans treat such entities and how will such entities treat humans? Can they co-exist? A new paradigm of cognitive, imaginative and physical change awaits us. In order to reconfigure our agency in a world run by AI it is crucial to understand the technology we are dealing with. For this purpose, the thesis adopts a methodology which splits in two. The thesis work for its first part employs textual research based argumentative analysis of the origination of Artificial Intelligence and the developing concerns regarding machine consciousness. The work also identifies and deconstructs the functioning and effects of systems employed by owners of AI for computation and control of society. The work utilizes its findings to suggest installation of ethical codes in the AI and testing of these technologies in Virtual Reality (VR). Such an experiment promises to disclose secrets about human consciousness itself and also enrich the developing field of ethics. The second part of the thesis adapts the Truing test format to engage with an actual AI in a game of Chinese whispers instead of a direct recursive interrogation of AI. Through feeding non-language sounds as inputs to the AI the work excites and reveals the imagination of AI which remains locked in its computational space otherwise. The project is presented as a Video Artwork and supplements the learnings from the textual part of the thesis. The thesis work in its entirety is not an attempt to further an agenda against AI technologies but rather encourages investigation of this technology through the lenses of Art and Philosophy. These fields are perhaps better equipped to understand the abstractions of a technology that mimics its complex human creators

ICT and pedagogy in the context of transformation and design & technology teaching

This research addresses pedagogy in relation to Information & Communication Technology (ICT) in secondary education. Computers have been used in classrooms for approximately thirty years, but it remains unclear whether teachers’ pedagogies have changed much in consequence. Thus this research explores the transformation of pedagogy through Information and Communication Technology (ICT). In 1998 a 2-year, multi-site case study linking teams of students and teachers within four broad UK regions was begun. A further six-year period allowed analysis of research data, to support theory building in relation to transformation of teachers’ pedagogy and the conditions necessary to make pedagogical transformation possible. The research made use of Grounded Theory within a case study methodology. Varied data were collected through my records of planning meetings with teachers and engineers during the project; of pedagogical transformation while visiting schools involved in the project; of teachers’, engineers’ and pupils’ case study interview data where more insightful and directly focused questions on pedagogical issues from their different perspectives were involved, and of teachers’ subject knowledge arising from the combined school and industrial manufacturing situated context of the project. The case study interviews involved a representative sample of those taking part in the two-year school and industry project. Theory on pedagogical transformation has resulted from the analysis of these data. Developing this involved modelling alternative meanings of phenomena observed during the case study and developing new concepts as building blocks of the theory. I also used NVivo as a tool to help with handling the mass of raw data collected during the project and with aspects of the qualitative data management. The research concludes that teachers may personally reconstruct their pedagogies when faced in certain ways with certain new pedagogy precedents, and develops precedence as a pre-condition of pedagogical transformation.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Designing and Evaluating a User Interface for Multi-Robot Furniture

A chair, once placed, will stay put until moved. Or will it? With the rise of technology being embeddable into everyday objects, what if that chair could move itself? Such robotic furniture has been featured in advertisements, art, and Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) research. Existing methods for operating robotic furniture have been limited to commands at a low level of abstraction which limits the number of furniture robots usable at once as the operator becomes overwhelmed. This thesis explores how user interfaces can support the needs of human operators and interaction partners for arranging multi-robot furniture by iterating an interface for operating three chair robots (ChairBots) over two experiments. The first explores multi-robot furniture in a needfinding experiment to derive user-centric requirements. These requirements included a screen-based modality, autonomy, and geometric (i.e., spatial furniture-specific) intelligence. Requirements were met by implementing high-level affordances, and precise motion on the ChairBots. The second experiment extended the screen-based interface to enable tele-operation over the internet and refined affordances to three diverse levels of abstraction. This iteration of the interface was evaluated in a novelly remote user study wherein participants arranged the ChairBots in a simulated multi-phase event. Participants were able to arrange the ChairBots successfully proving the utility of a screen-based interface, and affordances at diverse levels of abstraction. Insights from this research can be used by future designers of multi-robot furniture and HRI researchers alike

Psychophysiological correlates of dynamic imagery

Dynamic imagery refers both to the imaginary transformation of objects and to the imagination of bodily movements. It is hypothesised that dynamic imagery involves both motoric and visuo-spatial representations and to demonstrate that they operate at the cortical level of the brain, subjects' electroencephalograms (EEG) were recorded whilst they performed a variety of dynamic imagery tasks. It was further hypothesised that cortical activity recorded during these tasks would vary as a function of individual differences in imagery ability. Due to the lack of consensus on the validity both of 'objective' and 'subjective' measures of imagery ability, both kinds of instrument were used in this thesis. It was hoped that the EEG would provide objective evidence of the validity of these measures. During imaginary transformation there was an increase in cortical activation over prefrontal and parieto-occipital cortex, suggesting that high-level motoric and visuo-spatial representations are active during this task. No difference was observed in the EEG of subjects classified according to subjective report but differences were observed when they were classified according to task performance. During movement imagery, an increase in activation over the pre-frontal and parietooccipital cortex was observed, supporting the involvement of motoric and visuo-spatial representations. However, significant results were only obtained when the experimental task imposed sufficiently high cognitive demands on subjects. Only objective measures of imagery ability were correlated to imagery related changes in cortical activity. These studies demonstrate the difficulty of modifying behavioural tasks to suit the restrictions of the psychophysiological environment. It is suggested that while having some benefit, the EEG presents major difficulties to the investigation of dynamic imagery. Given the restrictions of the experimental environment only simple movements are possible, thereby limiting the scope of experimental design

NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program

The contractor's report contains all sixteen final reports prepared by the participants in the 1989 Summer Faculty Fellowship Program. Reports describe research projects on a number of different topics. Interface software, metal corrosion, rocket triggering lightning, automatic drawing, 60-Hertz power, carotid-cardiac baroreflex, acoustic fields, robotics, AI, CAD/CAE, cryogenics, titanium, and flow measurement are discussed

The Nature of Schizotypal Symptoms and Social Recovery in Psychosis

Schizotypy is traditionally conceptualised as a personality trait reflecting vulnerability to the opment of psychosis. This thesis introduces the concept of schizotypal symptoms as state phenomena, related to both the development of psychotic symptoms, and to long-term recovery from the disorder, ft is argued that schizotypal symptoms may be at the core of psychosis, occurring both prior to onset and following the remission of an acute psychotic episode. Schizotypal symptoms may therefore provide a bridge for the symptom-disability gap which has long been established in psychosis.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo