Introduction
Cognitive
Science is a very specific and precise study of the mind and brain. It is also a study that has been around for
millennia. A basic question such as
“how do we think?” can be answered in great detail through the massive study of
Cognitive Science.
This
study started with great philosophers such as Confucius and Aristotle. In attempt to answer demanding inquiries of
the mind, these two pressed on to discover the nature of thought, how we
reason, how we learn and use language, the meaning of consciousness, how we
recognize shapes and faces, how we understand each other, etc.
While
philosophy remained important in providing a base for the study of Cognitive
Science, it’s physiology that has separated this science from psychology or any
other related science. Currently, most
cognitive scientists are more interested in the physiological reasoning for the
accomplishments of the mind--discovering exactly how complex the human mind is,
and if and when functions of the mind can be linked with specific parts of the
brain.
There
are billions of highly interconnected neurons that form our brains. Cognitive Science--the study of
thinking--brings us closer to finding out exactly how these neurons affect our
every thought, memory, emotion, or anything else in our mind, conscious or
otherwise. After a while, computers
began to make solving this puzzle somewhat easier, but also offer a lot more to
study. As the computer age arrived,
scientist began to wonder whether computers could help humans understand
thinking better and improve our knowledge of thinking processes.
Artificial
Intelligence is a broad topic. Its
fields span from diverse areas such voice recognition to expert systems, and
cover a wide area in between. In
solving problems in the mentioned fields, Artificial Intelligence is makes use
of the idea that we can create software or machinery with the ability to
“think.” In order to simulate thinking,
however, we need to define intelligence.
With technology, we cannot create actual
intelligence, thus Artificial
Intelligence, or AI, comes into
play.
So
by what makes our AI technology “intelligent,” artificial or otherwise? Does it need to solve complex problems, make
generalizations and relationships? Does
it need to perceive and comprehend exactly as human do? To an extent, yes. AI is a mixture of all of these different things.
The
main purpose of AI is to build an intelligent machine. At its simplest, a machine capable of taking
in a problem and thinking of a solution on its own. Researchers have used their
studies of learning, language, sensory perception, and comprehension to aid
them in building intelligent machines.
Possibly, the most challenging approach that experts face is building a
system that mimics the behavior of the human brain, which is made up a billions
of neurons. This has been called the
most complex matter in the universe.
So
how exactly are Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence related? Well, most would consider Cognitive Science
and AI separate fields, and with good reason.
Cognitive Science is the study of the human mind and its many
quirks. AI, on the other hand, is the
attempted recreation of the human mind and its many quirks, in technology. Is it my theory that it is possible to
connect Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence in a way that could
greatly improve the knowledge and successes of both fields.
In
this paper, I will demonstrate the
importance of both Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence in past,
present, and what I perceive as the future.
And from that research, I will give my theory on how the two different
studies can be combined to improve upon both, as well as offer opinions on
existing theories similar to this.
The History
and Importance of Cognitive Science
You
could call the study of Cognitive Science an amalgam if you wished, as it is a
mixture of different sciences.
Cognitive Science made it’s first step towards becoming an individual
field when researchers in anthropology, computer science, neurobiology,
philosophy, psychology and sociology realized that a lot of the problems they
all were working on were similar, if not related. Researchers in each field were trying in their own way to answer
the same questions. Once information
technology became mainstream, increased methods of communication made it
possible for these researchers to communicate with each other and use different
tools developed within each field to understand the mind. Together they would work by combining all of
their knowledge and resources to find out as much about the brain and its
though processes as possible.
Not
only did this newfound science of the mind provide its aspiring experts with
many things to study, but it also created applications for other fields as
well. Information technologies such
computers, the internet and virtual reality have succeeded because studies in
Cognitive Science has allowed programmers to understand the abilities and
limitations of computer users--thus, making their systems more user-friendly. Another application is voice
recognition. Cognitive Science was one
of the fields that broke ground in forging technology that actually allows
computers to process and understand spoken language. Were it not for the understanding of how humans perform the
complex task of speaking, no piece of technology would be able to recognize our
voice patterns.
Cognitive
Science “officially” got its start 40 years ago. A journal of important papers, theories, and ideas on topics such
as categorization, linguistics, and memory had brought a hidden new study to
the forefront. It was just then that
computers had first became major research recourses. By the 1990s, the study became so great that cognitive scientists
could be found in various university departments, industrial and professional
settings, and many other places. The
1990s has even been labeled “The Decade Of The Brain,” by many, as developments
have been made in brain-imaging techniques, computer-modeling and neurophysiology--expanding
upon our knowledge of how the brain functions.
Because the brain is arguably
the most complex thing in the world, with billions of nerve cells that have
interconnections in the trillions, many philosophical questions have
arrived. Cognitive Science helps us understand
more about these things, such us how we form categories out of things, how they
relate to our languages, etc. It has
also helped us develop visualization techniques in the form of virtual worlds
that has led to the exploration of environments that couldn‘t previously be
explored. These environments include
the inside of a human heart, the hallway of an building not yet built,
etc. These findings have benefited
architecture, engineering, medical research and many other fields.
Currently,
there are applications of Cognitive Science arriving in our lives at a
still-accelerating pace. Helping to
forge the interface and layouts on our computers, the video games we play,
Cognitive Science has definitely impacted society to the point where we
regularly use its applications without noticing.
The History
and Importance of Artificial Intelligence
While
evidence of Artificial Intelligence can be traced way back to ancient Egypt,
the ability to create Artificial Intelligence in machinery did not become
available to us until the development of the computer in 1941. Although the resources for AI were available
throughout the 1940s, the possibility for human intelligence in computers was
not really observed until the 1950s, most notable with Norbert Weiner. Weiner made important observations on the
principle of the feedback theory.
Weiner theorized that all intelligent behavior was the result of
feedback from a given stimulus. For
example, a thermostat, which automatically lowers or raises heat, when the
temperature is above or below a desired amount. At this point, feedback mechanisms were very important in paving the way for AI.
Newell
and Simon were the next major players in
developing AI. They developed
The Logic Theorist, which is considered to be the very first AI program by
many. The program took problems and
represented them as trees, then would select the branch with the most plausible
solution. This was an amazing
breakthrough for AI.
It
wasn’t too long after that when John McCarthy organized a conference for
experts interested in machine intelligence to study and brainstorm. The term “Artificial Intelligence,” was
coined in 1956 at that conference and since its birth that night, the name
would go on to be associated with many advancements over the coming decades.
The
first of these major programs would be a new protocol called The General
Problem Solver or GPS, which arrived
in 1957. Developed by AI veterans
Newell and Simon, it took off right where Weiner left off with his feedback
principle. The GPS was able to solve a
vast degree of common sense problems.
Years later, IBM finally sought a team to research Artificial
Intelligence.
Many
more inventions in Artificial Intelligence have popped up over the
decades. These include programs
like: STUDENT, which could solve
algebra problems; SIR, which could understand simple English sentences; Expert
systems, which predict the probability of a solution under given
conditions. Expert systems, one of the
most groundbreaking technologies, were created to read statistics and recognize
patterns, and has actually helped diagnose diseases, predict the stock market,
instruct miners to mineral locations, and much more. By the 1980s, companies such as DuPont, General Motors, Boeing,
Digital Electronics and VAX all relied
heavily on expert systems to complete their day-to-day business.
Artificial
Intelligence has always been at the most innovative and breakthrough branch of
the computer science industry. Were it
not for AI, advanced-level language, computer interfaces and word-processors
would not exist. AI research offers new
innovations and theories that will assuredly set the standards for computing in
the future. If the amazing findings out
today are a small example of what’s to come, it’s clear that Artificial
Intelligence will continue to affect the way we learn, work, and live.
Can Cognitive
Science and Artificial Intelligence be Intermingled?
We
know that Cognitive Science is the study of the human mind and all of its
functions. We know that Artificial
Intelligence is the formation of intelligence in software and machinery. And while one has lead to the other, few
scientists in either field would consider combining the use of one with
another. So if this is the case, can it
be done? Can Cognitive Science and
Artificial Intelligence be joined together in a way that serves and improves
both sciences?
One
of the most known theories in the field of Artificial Intelligence is that of
Alan Turing, often referred to as the Turing Test. Turing theorized that in order to insure that a machine really
possessed “intelligence” (even if artificial), was to see if that machine could
fool a human into thinking it was human.
Is there a machine known to mankind that can do such things? No, not yet. However, if Cognitive Science can tell us exactly how many
neurons make up the human brain and how they are connected, is there any reason
not to believe that eventually, these neurons will be able to be simulated
within a machine? No, there is not.
The
first idea that I have that can be used to merge Artificial Intelligence with
Cognitive Science is the age-old problem of creating an Artificial Human with
all the basic human functions of a human being. In this day and age, we have virtual pets that learn their own
names, have motion censors, can feel touches, and react to stimulus as a pet
would. With the necessary technology,
we can do the same for human beings.
So
what exactly will the Artificial Human need to function? Well, it’s given that this would take more
resources than any other project in AI or
possibly the any field, in history. But
concerns like have arrived during every breakthrough piece of technology. Possibly, the only thing as difficult as
gaining the recourses for such an amazing machine would be properly programming
it. The perfect Artificial Human should
have the following qualities:
Ÿ
Basic human emotions such
as: happiness, sadness, anger, loneliness, desperation, etc.
Ÿ
Sensors that deal with
touch, sight, smell, taste, and sound.
Ÿ
Temporary and long-term
memory, and the ability to associate experiences to future experiences, as a
human would.
Ÿ
The ability to learn, as a
human would.
Ÿ
Billions of artificial
neurons with billions of interconnections, in order to process the above, as a
human would.
Those
are just a few basic things the Artificial Human would need.
What
are experts’ takes on ideas such as the Turing Test? Well, this goes back to the origin of Artificial Intelligence and
the associated ethical issues.
Basically, it’s been feared that when you program a machine with the
ability to think, you’re endangering yourself and your world with the risk that
machine may rise to become too powerful.
Many of those few scientists that think that this “passing” the Turing
Test will one day be accomplished are generally fearful of the chance that
these machines may rise to a level where they pose a threat to authentic human
intelligence.
I,
personally, do not think that this is as important of an issue as some would
make it seem. Even if the Artificial
Human got off the ground, it would take an extraordinarily amount of
programming to get it to the point where it would be a danger to mankind. I definitely think that there is nothing to
be worried about, as long as the proper security precautions are being taken.
Another
argument against studies like this is the common from experts who think that AI should be rejected instantly,
wherever Cognitive Science is concerned.
Some think that it simply has not place in physiology, as it has little
or nothing to do with the subject. I
disagree with this thinking, very much.
Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence are both related in a
sense that they both deal with the mind and intelligence. It just so happens that with Cognitive
Science, the mind is human and real; with Artificial Intelligence, the mind is
programmed and artificial.
Conclusion
Over
the past millennia, Cognitive Science has arrived and changed the way experts
look at the human mind. What was once a
total mystery, is now something comprehendible and explainable. While many mysteries still exist in exactly
how the mind works, there have been breakthroughs that have allowed us to
discover many things about the mind that we never thought we would know, just
some decades earlier.
Artificial
Intelligence, since its arrival, has also changed a lot of how we spend our
lives. Computers are now powerful enough to make logical problem solving a lot
easier not only for entertainment purposes, but also in business and health. It has affected the way we learn, work, and
live our lives, and it will continue to do so.
Combining
Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence may not be seen as “possible” or
“safe” by many experts. However, it’s
clear that the ultimate accomplishment would be the result if it were attempted
successfully. Together, both fields
could generate the solution to what is possibly the most complex “problem” in
history.
References
http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/psyc-bin/ptopic?topic=Ai-cognitive-science&submit=View+Topic
http://www.psych.indiana.edu/general/general.html
http://cognet.mit.edu/MITECS/Entry/mataric.html
http://cognet.mit.edu/MITECS/Entry/lewis.html
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cognitive-science/
http://www.lucs.lu.se/Abstracts/LUCS_Studies/index.html
http://www.lucs.lu.se/Projects/index.html
http://www.ai.mit.edu/research/projects/projects.shtml
http://www.cs.washington.edu/research/jair/home.html