Mind-Expanding Machines
Artificial intelligence meets good old-fashioned human thought
Bruce Bower
When Kenneth M. Ford considers the future of artificial intelligence, he doesn't envision legions of cunning robots running the world. Nor does he have high hopes for other much-touted AI prospects?-among them, machines with the mental moxie to ponder their own existence and tiny computer-linked devices implanted in people's bodies. When Ford thinks of the future of artificial intelligence, two words come to his mind: cognitive prostheses...
...In short, a cognitive prosthesis is a computational tool that amplifies or extends a person's thought and perception, much as eyeglasses are prostheses that improve vision. The difference, says Ford, is that a cognitive prosthesis magnifies strengths in human intellect rather than corrects presumed deficiencies in it. Cognitive prostheses, therefore, are more like binoculars than eyeglasses...
...Current IHMC projects include an airplane-cockpit display that shows critical information in a visually intuitive format rather than on standard gauges; software that enables people to construct maps of what's known about various topics, for use in teaching, business, and Web site design; and a computer system that identifies people's daily behavior patterns as they go about their jobs and simulates ways to organize those practices more effectively.
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Mind Expanding Machines
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