Computational infrastructure for experiments in cognitive leverage

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to raise some hard and interesting questions about the new relationships possible between humans and their artifacts: - What happens when we can have collaborative relationships with our responsive and knowledge-bearing artifacts? - What happens when group minds are mediated through new types of computing system that can support new and subtle forms of interaction among thousands of imaginations? The second purpose is to share our work on several enabling technologies that make it possible to experiment with these new types of relationships among humans and machines in new ways. We describe some of the new computing challenges that occur when we have more than one human interacting with the computing systems and with each other. Lastly, we raise some issues about remaining human and creating technology that we can not only live with but thrive with.