Wisdom service systems: Harmonious interactions between people and machine

Abstract

Wisdom is the highest-level decision-making performance, acquired by gaining experience that can be applied in complex, conflict situations as well as interacting with other wise people. We conceptualize wisdom service systems as socio-technical systems in which people use cognitive mediators (smart machines that know people in some ways better than they know themselves and provide a type of weak immortality for people) to augment interaction and decision-making capabilities in a kind of Reality 2.0. Someday cognitive mediators may provide scaffolding and offer options (appropriate recommendations) associated with a situation to help people make wiser decisions to manage complex situations more wisely, overcoming some of the problems of bounded-rationality and becoming more T-shaped in their skillsets and mindsets to communicate better with people from other disciplines, systems, or cultural depth areas. To introduce this concept, we develop a framework for wisdom service systems showing how appropriately designed cognitive mediators may eventually harmoniously interact with people and machines, adapt to evolving situations and contexts, as well as provide prioritized recommendations. The digital cognitive systems framework provides a way to understand the progression: tool, assistant, collaborator, coach, mediator, and sheds light on one interpretation DIKUW: data, information, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Finally, this paper concludes with future research directions to help realize this vision.