Neo-Symbiosis

Douglas Griffith, Frank L. Greitzer
2007 International Journal of Cognitive Informatics and Natural Intelligence  
The purpose of this paper is to re-address the vision of human-computer symbiosis as originally expressed by J.C.R. Licklider nearly a half-century ago and to argue for the relevance of this vision to the field of cognitive informatics. We describe this vision, place it in some historical context relating to the evolution of human factors research, and observe that the field is now in the process of re-invigorating Licklider's vision. A central concept of this vision is that humans need to be
more » ... corporated into computer architectures. We briefly assess the state of the technology within the context of contemporary theory and practice, and we describe what we regard as this emerging field of neo-symbiosis. Examples of neo-symbiosis are provided, but these are nascent examples and the potential of neo-symbiosis is yet to be realized. We offer some initial thoughts on requirements to define functionality of neo-symbiotic systems and discuss research challenges associated with their development and evaluation. Methodologies and metrics for assessing neo-symbiosis are discussed. BACkgRouNd In 1960, J.C.R. Licklider wrote in his paper "Man-Machine Symbiosis," The hope is that in not too many years, human brains and computing machines will be coupled together very tightly, and that the resulting partnership will think as no human brain has ever thought and process data in a way not approached by the information-handling machines we know today. This statement is breathtaking for its vision -especially considering the state of computer technology at that time, that is, large mainframes, punch cards, and batch processing. The purpose of this article is to re-address Licklider's vision and build upon his ideas
doi:10.4018/jcini.2007010103 fatcat:mucjdeulmjdavin5eoth2kdb2i