Reservations about Qualitiative Models

Very little of the knwoledge that an operator of a complex physical system brings to the job is purely quantitative in form. Virtually all of an operator's knowledge can be represented as qualitative relations or quasi-quantitative relations such as rough proportionalities. The realization that computer-based Instruction syste,s need to provide instructions and explanations In terms that students can use, that is, often in qualitative terms, has led to recent efforts in cognitive science and artificial intelligence to develop qualitative simulation models of complex dynamic systems. In this paper we discuss theoretical and pragmatic problems involved in using qualitative models to support automated explanation facilities

Learning from Error

Distributed systems of cognition are receiving increasing attention in a variety of research traditions. A central question is h o w the specific features of cognitive functions will be affected by their occurrence within a system of cooperative agents. In this paper, we will examine the less often considered aspects of the organization of cooperative work settings that can become important in terms of error within a system. Specifically, w e examine how response to error in a cooperative task can in some ways benefit future task performance. The goal is to facilitate learning from error so that future errors become less likely. The study involved an analysis of observations of several cooperative teams involved in coordinated activity for the navigation of a large ship. The analysis of the team member's activities revealed a surprisingly high rate of errors; yet, the final product of the group work showed that the error had been removed somewhere within the system.Features of the distributed system that facilitated this error removal included the monitoring of other's performance, as constrained by a horizon of observation, Umiting exposure to particular subtasks; the distribution of knowledge within the team, such that more knowledgable members were also ones in a position to detect other's errors; and methods of providing feedback. In particular, specific design tradeoffs were found to underlie the functioning of the system. For example, evaluation depends on utilizing objective knowledge of h o w the product reconciles with the real world; however, separating evaluation from the system means "wasting" the knowledgable potential participant. Thus,the distributed system was found to contain certain properties that can be exploited for their utility in error detection, diagnosis, and correction. The results m a y be applied to the design of such cooperative tasks, including a role for technology, with the goal of designing cooperative systems that can more easily learn from their errors

Altitude deviations: Breakdowns of an error-tolerant system

Pilot reports of aviation incidents to the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) provide a window on the problems occurring in today's airline cockpits. The narratives of 10 pilot reports of errors made in the automation-assisted altitude-change task are used to illustrate some of the issues of pilots interacting with automatic systems. These narratives are then used to construct a description of the cockpit as an information processing system. The analysis concentrates on the error-tolerant properties of the system and on how breakdowns can occasionally occur. An error-tolerant system can detect and correct its internal processing errors. The cockpit system consists of two or three pilots supported by autoflight, flight-management, and alerting systems. These humans and machines have distributed access to clearance information and perform redundant processing of information. Errors can be detected as deviations from either expected behavior or as deviations from expected information. Breakdowns in this system can occur when the checking and cross-checking tasks that give the system its error-tolerant properties are not performed because of distractions or other task demands. Recommendations based on the analysis for improving the error tolerance of the cockpit system are given

Legal linked data ecosystems and the rule of law

This chapter introduces the notions of meta-rule of law and socio-legal ecosystems to both foster and regulate linked democracy. It explores the way of stimulating innovative regulations and building a regulatory quadrant for the rule of law. The chapter summarises briefly (i) the notions of responsive, better and smart regulation; (ii) requirements for legal interchange languages (legal interoperability); (iii) and cognitive ecology approaches. It shows how the protections of the substantive rule of law can be embedded into the semantic languages of the web of data and reflects on the conditions that make possible their enactment and implementation as a socio-legal ecosystem. The chapter suggests in the end a reusable multi-levelled meta-model and four notions of legal validity: positive, composite, formal, and ecological

Naturalizing Institutions: Evolutionary Principles and Application on the Case of Money

In recent extensions of the Darwinian paradigm into economics, the replicator-interactor duality looms large. I propose a strictly naturalistic approach to this duality in the context of the theory of institutions, which means that its use is seen as being always and necessarily dependent on identifying a physical realization. I introduce a general framework for the analysis of institutions, which synthesizes Searle's and Aoki's theories, especially with regard to the role of public representations (signs) in the coordination of actions, and the function of cognitive processes that underly rule-following as a behavioral disposition. This allows to conceive institutions as causal circuits that connect the population-level dynamics of interactions with cognitive phenomena on the individual level. Those cognitive phenomena ultimately root in neuronal structures. So, I draw on a critical restatement of the concept of the meme by Aunger to propose a new conceptualization of the replicator in the context of institutions, namely, the replicator is a causal conjunction between signs and neuronal structures which undergirds the dispositions that generate rule-following actions. Signs, in turn, are outcomes of population-level interactions. I apply this framework on the case of money, analyzing the emotions that go along with the use of money, and presenting a stylized account of the emergence of money in terms of the naturalized Searle-Aoki model. In this view, money is a neuronally anchored metaphor for emotions relating with social exchange and reciprocity. Money as a meme is physically realized in a replicator which is a causal conjunction of money artefacts and money emotions

Differential Geometry, the Informational Surface and Oceanic Art: The Role of Pattern in Knowledge Economies

Graphic pattern (e.g. geometric design) and number-based code (e.g. digital sequencing) can store and transmit complex information more efficiently than referential modes of representation. The analysis of the two genres and their relation to one another has not advanced significantly beyond a general classification based on motion-centred geometries of symmetry. This article examines an intriguing example of patchwork coverlets from the maritime societies of Oceania, where information referencing a complex genealogical system is lodged in geometric designs. By drawing attention to the interplay of graphic pattern and number-based code and its role in the knowledge economies of maritime societies, the article offers new insight into possible ways of designing a digital informational surface that captures the behaviour of an operational system, allowing both for differentiation and integration

Making Sense of Institutional Change in China: The Cultural Dimension of Economic Growth and Modernization

Building on a new model of institutions proposed by Aoki and the systemic approach to economic civilizations outlined by Kuran, this paper attempts an analysis of the cultural foundations of recent Chinese economic development. I argue that the cultural impact needs to be conceived as a creative process that involves linguistic entities and other public social items in order to provide integrative meaning to economic interactions and identities to different agents involved. I focus on three phenomena that stand at the center of economic culture in China, networks, localism and modernism. I eschew the standard dualism of individualism vs. collectivism in favour of a more detailed view on the self in social relationships. The Chinese pattern of social relations, guanxi, is also a constituent of localism, i.e. a peculiar arrangement and resulting dynamics of central-local interactions in governing the economy. Localism is balanced by culturalist controls of the center, which in contemporary China builds on the worldview of modernism. Thus, economic modernization is a cultural phenomenon on its own sake. I summarize these interactions in a process analysis based on Aoki's framework

The Challenges of Partially Automated Driving.

AUTONOMOUS CARS PROMISE to give us back the time we spend in traffic, improve the flow of traffic, reduce accidents, deaths, and injuries, and make personal car travel possible for everyone regardless of their abilities or condition. But despite impressive demonstrations and technical advances, many obstacles remain on the road to fully autonomous cars.20 Overcoming the challenges to enabling autonomous cars to safely operate in highly complex driving situations may take some time. Manufacturers already produce partially automated cars, and a spirited competition to deliver the most sophisticated ones is under way. Cars that provide high levels of automation in some circumstances (such as highway driving) have already arrived in the marketplace and promise to be in the hands of a large number of car owners in the next few years