Abstract
for NRO Director’s Innovation Initiative
MindTel,
LLC
September, 2001
Methods for
Perceptually Enhanced Human Interaction with Information: the Perceptualization
Environment
Outline
Introduction
Perceptualization environment/chamber
The idea is to develop an environment with multisensory rendering and diverse expressional modalities.
Concept
Representational & Perceptual Cognitive enhancement via
1. Multi-sensory, multi-modal perceptualization of information
Creating renderings of information across the different senses which take advantage of the specific features of multi-sensory physiology to access overt and hidden information.
2. State specific sciences
modes of inquiry which take into account the neurocognitive state of the user in the perception and expression of information. The presupposition is that what is perceived, thought about, and known is deeply colored and determined by the particular state of mind one is in when interaction with the information occurs. This state may enhance or inhibit what is perceived, or both.
3. Perceptual state space modulation
altering the neurophysiological state of a user so as to alter perception and thus thinking about the information being interacted with at any given time. Modes of alteration include but are not limited to
· psychopharmacological
· bioenergetic
· bioacoustic
Conclusion
Interaction with information is limited only by the human
nervous system’s ability to access meaning in (sensory) representations. The perceptualization environment we propose
is a generic and malleable tool for targeting the nervous system’s dispositions
and capacities for getting into the mind.
The perceptualization chamber’s powers are built on those of the central
nervous system.
Abstract
for NRO Director’s Innovation Initiative
Mindtel,
LLC
September, 2001
Methods for
Perceptually Enhanced Human Interaction with Information: the Perceptualization
Environment
Introduction
In response to the NRO Director’s Innovation Initiation, MindTel will propose the ‘perceptualization environment’ as a tool for meeting the intensive information requirements and pressures the Office will experience in the 21st century. Our primary concern is with the interface between humans and information systems. Our goal is to make smart people smarter by fitting them with the most powerful and forward thinking technology by which their interaction with mission-critical information may be enhanced. In this document, we will sketch the idea of the perceptualization environment for human-information interaction. The NRO user will be gathering information from wide ranging sources (e.g., sensors, GPS, data bases, etc.). However, our purpose is the development of a generic interface tool which may be deployed in any number of diverse contexts of need. Specific content is to be separated conceptually from the perceptualization chamber itself. The chamber is the chamber, the information which appears in it, etc., depends only on who is using the tool and towards what ends.
Key terms: perceptualization of information; state specific sciences; perceptual state space modulation; neuromodulation;
Idea
The growing challenge for those required to interact with large volumes of diverse information with a view towards intelligent, and at times rapid, decision making is with perception. How does a human, in general, perceive information? What are ways in which perception is hindered or enhanced? Our research has shown that the answer to this question bears out the dual elements of
I.
the form in which the information is being represented
II.
the perceptual cognitive state of the human during
perception of information
In order to address these key features of the human interaction with information we must introduce a very practical yet novel perceptual philosophical schema called neurocosmology. This is quite an abstract idea at first and so will require time to understand. It is not suppose to be completely intuitive and simple on the first few runs at it, yet we believe it is a very helpful means for moving way beyond the current thinking about how humans interact with information and information environments. The basic idea is that our experience always indicates to us, if we pay but a moment’s attention, that we are always conscious of three things:
·
psyche, or mind(s)
·
biology, or life/living things
·
non-living physicality, or matter/inanimate things
Our linguistic shorthand for these three features of the known world are PSI, PHX, PHI, respectively. PSI is what we notice as the content of our mind (e.g., ‘I see a flower’, ‘I feel fearful’, I see a three dimensional object on my computer screen, etc.). PHX is living stuff, like our brain or body, or those of others. PHI refers to everything else which is not alive. In the image below, you see all three of these elements united into one abstraction which represents the human as related to all three of these elements. From top to bottom, you will see symbols for mind, life, and matter respectively. [1]
Our goal then is to talk about the challenges and technologies for human-information interaction in terms of this three fold structure of mind, life, and matter. Specifically, because the mind is the ultimate location of our perceptions and intentions, and because the mind is embedded somehow within the brain and its contents are subject to what the brain does, we will be talking about interaction with information in terms of how the brain, as mediator of what makes it into and out of the mind from the world of organics and inorganics, is best disposed to receive and express that information. This will lead to a discussion of how we might alter not only the representations of information, but also states of neurophysiology so as to alter perceptual states of the mind therefore optimizing the interaction with information in accord with how the brain best gets data into and out of the mind. The brain, then, is the gatekeeper of the mind. Thus, figuring out ways to massively enhance the mind’s commerce with information requires that we understand the options for making the brain more substantially able to receive and process data as well as access things in data which it may not regularly have access to. Here again is where the idea of altering the brain’s capacities for accessing information within data will be central to our proposal. The different possible means for altering the state of the brain will be explored when we look at the idea of state specific sciences. In summary, we must discern how to optimally exploit the abilities of the brain for perceiving information in both the areas of 1)representation of information, and 2) the cognitive processes themselves. Below is a brief discussion of these ideas.
The Two-Fold Interaction with Information
I. Representations of Information
After long consideration and empirical exploration of the problem, we have concluded that how information is presented to the human senses is a first order priority. Emerging interface systems will present information to the visual, auditory, and tactile senses of the human body. This means that forms of representation like text will be substantially transformed because human visual physiology is hindered in some especially time-critical tasks by text. Text is a non-optimal representation especially when coupling the factors of volume of information and time constraints (e.g., medical emergencies). Therefore, signifiers other than text must be explored. This means looking to visual forms of representation which are open to multi-modal features for conveying meaning (e.g., geometric shapes, colors, movements, morphings, etc.). Below are some examples of how we might transform textual data into new kinds of signifiers for rapid and meaning-rich visualizations. These are only arbitrary forms which if useful would then be assigned multi-modal significance.
These are merely examples of the kinds of thinking we are proposing for how to address the problem of altering the representations of information. The essential point is to open up new ways of thinking and talking about perceptualization and expression of information. The same thinking would aim to integrate auditory and tactile sensory systems into the perceptualization environment we are proposing here.
II. Perceptual Cognitive Alteration
A. Concept
‘State-specific sciences’ refers to the idea that states of
the brain affect states of the mind (i.e., perception and cognition). Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that
alterations in brain state will bring out some correlative alterations in
perceptual cognitive state. Following
Thomas Khun’s idea of how the reigning conceptual and methodological framework
in some particular scientific discipline makes some kinds of data visible and
significant while other kinds of data remain either invisible, or else noise or
a hindrance. Think of how within a
certain paradigmatic conceptual filter, a contaminant of cell cultures was an
ongoing nuisance which needed to be eliminated. However, for some reason someone decided to ask a different
question about that stubborn contaminant and thus discovered penicillin. Similarly, think of how long the placebo
effect was this nuisance in clinical drug trials which always was the enemy of
how we measured the effects of new medicines.
Eventually some folks thinking from within some other framework, or
boundary space, asked if there wasn’t something very interesting about positive
medical outcomes resulting from biologically inactive substances in the bodies
of patients who believed they were receiving a real drug. All this to say that changes in
perception disclose heretofore invisible information.
Given that an ASC is an overall qualitative and quantitative shift in the complex functioning of consciousness, such that there are new ‘logics’ and perceptions (which would constitute a paradigm shift), it is quite reasonable to hypothesize that communication may take a different pattern. For two observers, both of whom, we assume, are fluent in communicating with each other in a given SoC, communication about some new observations may seem adequate to them, or may be improved of deteriorated in specific ways. To an outside observer, an observer in a different SoC, the communication between these two observers may seem ‘deteriorated.’ (Tart, 1972)
State specific sciences are those scientific inquiries which take into account ‘states of consciousness’ (SoC) when interacting with particular data. For the well grounded suspicion is that we just do not know all that is to be accessed in experimental results. Thus, altering our perceptual cognitive states at calculated points during the design and execution of experimental process may open us to entire realms of information which would have remained totally invisible to us.
The idea of perceptual state space modulation is our attempt to conceptualize what it would look like to introduce state specific sciences into the discussion of human-information interaction. Not only do new representations of information promise to show us new and powerful contents of our information which we could not have otherwise seen, but so might changes in brain state give us new perceptions of that information. Ultimately it is the thoughts which one has about information which leads to decisions and thus processes set in motion to benefit maximally from that information.
Any logic consists of a basic set of assumptions and a set of rules for manipulating information, based on those assumption. Change the assumptions, or change the rules, and there may be entirely different outcomes from the same data … By changing the paradigm, altering the SoC, the nature of theory building may change radically. Thus a person in SoC2 might come to very different conclusions about the nature of the same events that he observed in SoC1. An investigator in SoC may comment on the comprehensibility of the second person’s ideas from the point of view (paradigm) of SoC1, but can say nothing about their inherent validity. A scientist who could enter either SoC 1 or 2, however, could pronounce on the comprehensibility of the other’s theory, and the adherence of that theory to the rules and logic of SoC 2. Thus scientists trained in the same SoC may check on the logical validity of each other’s theorizing. We have then the possibility of a state specific logic underlying theorizing in various SoC’s…If such sciences could be created, we would have a group of highly skilled, dedicated, and trained practitioners able to achieve certain SoC’s and able to agree with one another that they have attained a common state. While in the SoC, they might then investigate other areas of interest, whether these be totally internal phenomena of that given state, the interaction of that state with external, physical reality, or people in other SoC’s. (Tart, 1972)
B. Modalities
How might one think about modulating states of the brain so as to modulate states of the mind? We have identified several. The most obvious one is pharmacological. Many psychopharmacological interventions exist which have shown promise in enhancing the perceptual and cognitive processes of the brain. Hallucinogens such as LSD, nootropics like Peracitam, or even certain combinations of the more recent dopamine/serotonin enhancers all are possible candidates for neuromodulations of psi states. As neuroscience elucidates the different neurochemical and phenomenological associations with different chemicals, more possibilities for safe and effective use of such substances will be made available. Another means of inducing alternative SoC is with bioenergetic modulations. Microwaves and other kinds of energy modulations have been shown to have diverse influences on neurophysiology. Perhaps it would be possible to also include certain frequency modulations into the perceptualization environment. Acoustic modulations may also be an avenue for perceptual state space modulation. Manipulated sound can have effects on the central nervous system which may enhance perception and cognition in important ways. All of this aims at the goal of massively enhancing the human interaction with information so that the best decisions can be made which affect lives, resources, and relationships between government and support entities.
Summary
In this abstract our purpose has been to climb out of the
box to think in new ways about the perceptual basis of human interaction with
vast and diverse data sources. There is
no mystery that what we are proposing is far outside the present discussion of
interface development. However, there
is a larger issue at stake. Without
pushing the boundaries of what can count as an acceptable means for accessing
information and making decisions based upon it, unrealized possibilities to
help go unseen. Multisensory
perceptualization of information, state specific sciences, perceptual state
space modulation, and PHX modulated representational efficiencies we have found
to be critical in the development of truly cutting edge interface
resources. We aim to make smart people
smarter. The perceptualization environment
is a tool which we propose to design and develop such that the National
Reconnaissance Office would be substantially bolstered in its important mission
of interacting with immense quantities of diverse intelligence data.