Artifact-mediated society and social intelligence design

Abstract

Human society is increasingly dependent on artifacts. The progress of artificial intelligence accelerates this tendency. In spite of strong concern about heavy dependence on artifacts, it appears an inevitable consequence of the knowledge society. In this chapter, I am seeking a better way of living with advanced artifacts to realize an artifact-mediated society where people are supported by human-centered socially-adequate artifacts. The proposed framework consists of surrogates that work on behalf of the user and mediators that moderate or negotiate interactions among surrogates. I survey recent work in social intelligence design, and discuss technological challenges and opportunities in this direction. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.