Universal Positioning System
Experiments in Relating Individual Minds to ... Everything Else
The Big Sky hosts a family of thought experiments. Some tend toward possible solutions. Others create value by being impossible to solve, pointing towards horizons that we will not reach but get us looking in the direction of interesting things. This one is somewhere in between. It can never reach its goals but will generate usable approaches, perspectives and designs.
It explores the development of something called a Universal Positioning System (UPS). It builds off the idea of a GPS - a system which provides coordinates on the surface of the earth and fixes the location of people, places and things. The proposed UPS combines GPS with a theoretical system called a Cognitive Positioning System (CPS) - a system which provides a family of coordinates which locates the cognitive footprint of a mind, its attention, its mental resources and processes in Cognitive Space. Cognitive space includes many "All Possible Knowledge," "All Possible Thoughts," "Social Memory," and "Personal Memory."
At least three goals motivate this thought experiment: (1) generate models that provide first steps in mapping an existing individual mind in relationship to ... everything else. (2) to better understand the state of affairs experienced by minds, attention and memory within the infinitely complex contexts in which they are embedded. (3) Inform the design of models, systems, minds, intelligences and learning environments which interact with and expand into these infinitely complex environments.
Let's look in on a young student and her rabbit. What's it got to do with UPS!?
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Ellie finally completed her math problem "Paths - Connecting Steps to Reach a Goal." Immediately her Tutor spent several months (.5 seconds in Ellie's time) looking over some possible problems that would allow Ellie to nail down some of what she learned. The Tutor waited another few months of its time before acting. Then a rabbit on Ellie's phone interface stamped its foot.
Rabbit: "I found something interesting!" An image of a domino floated up on the screen.
Ellie: "I already know about dominos!"
Rabbit: "I know - but look at this! Look at this domino game you lost a few months ago - I think you can win it now!"
Ellie flicked the dominos around the screen a few times and pointed to one: "... so my end goal step is to use this domino here. It's got a 3 on it - so I'll think several steps backwards ... I should play this one just before the last one. But in order order to play that one I should play this one next and then I can play the last one and WIN!"
The Rabbit ducked its head to avoid several fireworks shooting across the screen. The Tutor took a long time (milliseconds in Ellie's world) to prepare the rabbit's next move. It went over all the games that Ellie knew about, found several that brought similar strategies together. It then picked one from an area of the world that Ellie was fascinated with.
Rabbit: "What about Mahjong? " A watercolor picture of a girl and boy (her brother probably) sitting by a stream in front of a pile of tiles. Ellie recognized the game but didn't say anything. She inspected it carefully - the rabbit gave her fun stuff to do but she had learned that there was usually more to it.
The Tutor processed its records of what Ellie knew about the game. It created list of 35 things that Ellie would likely say or ask. It looked ahead at her study curriculum and saw that next year Ellie would get some introduction to how symbols are combined to make characters. It made a connection. It checked the date and sent a message to the Rabbit. On the phone the picture reoriented to zoom in on a Chinese character and the Rabbit stamped its foot.
Rabbit: "Look at this!" Ellie examined the character and tried to guess what the rabbit was so excited about.
Ellie: "It's got a picture on it and a number and some writing. What's the writing?" This was number 3 of the useful questions the Tutor had expected.
Rabbit: "It's Chinese. You know what it means? What season is it now?"
Ellie: "Season? Spring! It means spring?!" The rabbit ducked a little but no fireworks yet.
Rabbit: "Right! I think there is more to it … maybe there is more to say about the writing!"
Ellie: “Well… The writing is made of parts. mmm.... like the domino was made of parts. Each part means something?!"
The rabbit nodded: "Like the domino is made up of two parts, each part of the character can be combined with other parts to a make a combination that creates options and suggests ways that they can be combined!"
Ellie: "So language is like game pieces! That's it, isn't it!"
The rabbit was knocked flat on its back as a barrage of fireworks went off! Ellie laughed, pushed the phone away and went outside.
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What does this have to do with UPS.... That's next!