cyber space

Looks like a pair of ski goggles with a cheap and easy interface ‘app’ to a video game console is all it takes to bring virtual reality into focus [link]. They’re called ‘Rift’ headsets and they perform close to high-end simulators used in flight training. They use motion-detectors developed for mobile computing and head-tracking sensors developed by psychophysicists. The result is faster response-time with minimal lens-distortion, which means you get a seamless look at the action in cyber space. They’re made by Oculus in Irvine and now come ready to use with the video game ‘Hawken’ (Meteor Entertainment).

Peer-mediated buzz

James Fowler, professor of psychology at UCSD, found that messages from our peers are more likely to initiate action than messages from a political committee [ link ]. Last year, Obama’s reelection committee learned the same thing [ link ]. They developed a system that leverages database technology and social-media to deliver their messages. In an instant, this system allows them to:

1. mobilize grassroots support for White House concerns 
2. provide White House support for local concerns

Apparently they took an extra step, conducted surveys ..and learned that nothing energizes participation better than ‘reciprocity’. Brilliant use of technology combined with Obama’s experience as a community organizer. Politically I’m independent and pretty damn naïve ..but I can see why this may give Republicans cause for alarm.

Take a Leap

A new interface to information ..using point and grasp gestures

 

Speech recognition

Theory has it that language development is an ‘innate biological process’. First we learn to segment a stream of sound into syllables and words, and then we begin extracting the rules of syntax needed to generate sentences. What’s amazing is that exposure to speech is all that’s required. No formal training is needed ..interaction in a verbal community is sufficient. Based on this theory, a humanoid named DeeChee was created to mimic the way infants learn to recognize syllables and words. It was also tuned to boost the prominence of words signalling encouragement. Starting from scratch, DeeChee was able to learn simple words in minutes by just having a conversation with someone [ link ]. One small conversation for a robot; a canticle of possibilities for mankind..

A cure for Siri

Consider the phrase, “Man on first.” It doesn’t make much sense unless you know baseball. Or imagine a sign outside a store that reads, “Baby sale - One week only!” You easily infer that the store isn’t selling babies. Computers can’t do that. They haven’t mastered the pragmatic component of language yet .. information that is only available by knowing what social context prevails. However, Stanford psychologists have created a mathematical model that helps predict pragmatic reasoning [ link ]. This could allow computers to recognize when to apply commonly held social rules. Who knows, they may have just discovered a cure for the speech impediment suffered by Siri – a natural language interface for the Apple iPhone [ link ].

Siri don't parse

Siri is a natural language interface for the Apple iPhone 4S. It stands for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface and can answer your questions or make recommendations by delegating your requests to services on the web [ wiki link ]

Siri can’t parse pragmatics. The literal and rule-based contents of speech (semantics and syntax) are no problem. But the pragmatic content that’s supplied by context and culture is beyond Siri. However, roughly two-thirds of human communication requires intuiting one anothers meaning on a pragmatic basis [ thesis ]. We are pretty good at striking a balance between how specific and how general we need to be in order to keep the conversation rolling ..without either getting bogged down or sounding incomprehensible [ link ]. Computers on the other hand can’t do this. So, half the time I expect Siri to be either clueless ..or respond in gibberish.

Network theory of communication

I have a theory that says whenever messages are transmitted between people in different locations; the accuracy of communication drops by 60%. I call it the ‘displacement theory of communication’ and it's an extension of findings in the field of human information-processing [link].

This drop in communication is wide-scale and can occur anywhere from cell phones to air traffic control systems. Messages are by nature incomplete and often assume knowledge of local conditions that aren’t available to the receiver. Without exacting protocols, like those developed in the air traffic control industry, incomplete messages are at best probabilistic and rely on the receiver to supply the most likely meaning intended. Since this is an innate function of human information-processing; it can happen quickly and imperceptibly. When it does, we are prone to making overconfident and faulty decisions about the most likely meaning intended. It has long been know that the most frequent decision we make during conversation is about the intention of others .. it’s also the one we get wrong most often. So, facebook users and text messagers ..beware! We are making the rules up as we go.

Psychology of facebook

Presented to the Santa Barbara Institute
for Consciousness Studies

Part two

Continued from [ part one ] below:   Now I want to talk about ‘discourse analysis’ and what it reveals about communication over social networks. Discourse analysis is the branch of psychology dealing the way people process information from what they hear and read. I think it’s telling. Face to face communication is a probabilistic event. Language is a relatively narrow band of communication that can only suggest what the speaker has in mind. This presents the listener with a range of possibilities. Communication is successful only when the listener infers the most likely meaning intended by the speaker. Ordinary conversation is generally successful because we have context to help guide us along. We rely on facial expressions, intonation, emphasis, location and other visual and auditory cues. However, where ordinary communication is probabilistic, text messaging is a crapshoot. Text is cryptic. Context is lost and we rely on memory to supply the missing cues. However, memory is fallible. Research in discourse processing has shown that the biggest piece of missing information we supply is the intention of the speaker ..and it’s their intention that we most often get wrong. We perceive threat where none was intended. Offense at what may have only been sarcasm. By nature, the flow of conscious experience is displaced over social networks. This simply means it occurs outside the context of our immediate situation. That’s the beauty of the Internet. It allows us to share experiences that are ‘displaced’ in time and space with users from all over the world. It also places a heavy burden on text comprehension, which is much less developed than speech comprehension in the language centers of the brain. I believe this will provide a rich source of field-observation for the study of human consciousness for years.

Psychology of facebook

Presented to the Santa Barbara Institute
for Consciousness Studies

Anthropology:   I’m going to start with what I know about anthropology, which isn’t much but I feel it’s relevant. In my view, facebook is a fairly tame and nontoxic community – unlike others I’ve been in (such as high school, workplaces, dinner tables, neighborhoods, yahoo chat rooms). Without a constitution or written protocol, congeniality prevails. I think this says something about human nature.  Social networks are tuned to the way we are wired.  Like taking the first step out of a cave and into a larger community where there’s no anonymity – it’s best not to offend anyone. Privacy is a recent development. Tribal villages are more typical of human existence. Just look at the indigenous people of the Amazon. They live in circular settlements with one wall surrounding the perimeter, but no walls on the inside. They’re never alone and everyone can see what everyone else is doing. It pays to be on-guard and congenial otherwise you risk offending others and being banished from the tribe. In the Amazon, that means certain death. I believe that’s where the fear of abandonment comes from. I’m not talking about some trendy catch-phrase from pop psychology. It’s built into our constitution because it was essential for our survival. The threat of death-by-banishment is no longer real but the feelings certainly are. So, on facebook ..we tread carefully.

Behavioral science:   Psychologists have known for a long time now that there are few things more rewarding in life than validation from our peers. It beats television and ice cream and it’s the motivation underlying most communication. That’s why Twitter is so widely popular. Without let-up, it provides a constant stream of validation for every thought that crosses our brain.

“Still your mind and you will not age as fast as people whose minds are constantly struggling to hold their personalities together.” 

This is a Buddhist recommendation aimed at countering a very active function of the human ego:  impression management.   We put a lot of effort into presenting the right ‘persona’ .. or the way we want others to see and remember us. There’s nothing spontaneous going on there. The messages we broadcast are anxiously crafted to make us look the way we want to be perceived. Don’t believe me ..? Look no further than politicians approaching an election year. Newt Gingrich recently found religion because it sends the right message to Christian conservatives. Mitt Romney has ‘reinvented’ himself to look stupid and appeal to the average voter. What people choose to share on facebook in no way presents the whole picture. It’s not our nature.