Towards a Definition of Symbiotic Relations Between Humans and Machines

Abstract

Abstract. What are symbiotic systems? In this short paper, the workshop chairs describe the focus of this workshop and elaborate on the definition of symbiotic human-machine relation.Keywords: Symbiotic system · Human-computer interaction Symbiotic relationships are probably most known from biology. In a symbiotic relationship between animals and/or plants, some organism closely interacts with another type of organism to ensure its own survival, so that both end up sharing the same habitat [3]. This biological phenomenon, exemplifying a very tight kind of relationship, is used metaphorically 1 to characterize a growing part of the current human-machine relations, where machines collect users' data that are not even available to the human conscious cognition (e.g. brain signals, social data collected on the web), and then elaborate solutions and make decisions based on such data. Here machines are so interconnected to humans that the term interaction sounds like an understatement [13].After the pioneering discussion on men-computer [sic] symbiosis stimulated in the early 60 by J.C.R. Licklider [9], the reference to symbiotic human-machine interaction appeared again around 2013 in a European Union ICT workprogram stressing that concept 2 and has grown ever since, as is partly documented in the Symbiotic Interaction workshops and proceedings [2,5]. Surely, in the field of human-computer interaction as well as in philosophy and sociology of technology, the close connection between humans and machines has been emphasized several times: by the concepts of artifacts and embodied cognition, where the propriety of a technology depends on the users' needs and the users' ability depends in turn on the tools s/he is endowed with (e.g., [7]); by the notion of sociotechnical systems, where a technology inevitably includes some symbolic, politic elements as part of the package (e.g., [8]); by the idea of humans as hybrids or cyborgs, which finds real-life incarnations in medical prosthesis and augmentation devices (e.g., [1]). However, the term symbiotic emphasizes a noteworthy change 1 Of course, a metaphor is able to illuminate some aspects of a domain by similarity with some other domain [12], but not all aspects. Where the biological metaphor stops is in referring to two leaving organisms in partnership, since a symbiotic technology is not credited to share the same needs (and rights) as the human being to which it is joined. 2 http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/docs/ict-wp2013-10-7-2013-with-cover-issn.pdf.

Assessment of Implicit and Explicit Measures of Mental Workload in Working Situations: Implications for Industry 4.0

“…Licklider first coined the term man-computer symbiosis to describe this partnership characterized by cooperative interaction interaction between the two coupled agents, as happens in nature between two living organisms that draw mutual support [2]. When these conditions are met, human beings are able to receive more customized support in performing tasks, and technological devices improve their functioning due to continuous human-computer interactions (HCI) [3].…”

Conceptualization of the Human-Machine Symbiosis – A Literature Review

“…Licklider made use of the definition from biology and was the first to extend the term to non-biological artifacts [27,40]. Several authors emphasize that Licklider' made metamorphic use of the term symbiosis, since computers are not living entities [17,18]. In the literature, however, the term symbiosis is no longer restricted to organisms, but has been extended to non-living entities, including machines, as possible actors in symbiotic relationships [9,11].…”

“…In this way, it can perceive the environment (space awareness) and collect information about the state of the human and itself (representation). This goes hand in hand with the idea that data are collected constantly or at least periodically [17]. This information retrieval process takes place through information and data input by both actors (r1) [23,38,39].…”

Transparency as an Ethical Safeguard

“…Transparency has increasingly become the focus of many initiatives trying to deal with the ethical issues raised by systems that make decisions for us autonomously, such as those developed by Artificial Intelligence (AI), and especially those that are fed with personal information implicitly remitted to them, as is the case in what we call symbiotic systems [2]. In both these instances, transparency seems to be a critical safeguard protecting the user from unethical exploitation of their data and reducing the chance of unforeseen unethical actions resulting from system output.…”

“…http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679 2. http://standards.ieee.org/develop/indconn/ec/autonomous_systems.html 3.…”