Readings Discussion 4

I hope that throughout this course you have been thinking about epistemology: the question of how we gain knowledge about the world we live in. We have talked a bit about representation, the notion that we don't sense and perceive the world directly, but only through representations of reality. We "understand" the world by running simulations in our minds. In the history of human evolution we have developed a suite of new technologies, new media, which are an intimate part of our cognitive world. In the same way that our cognition is distributed throughout culture, it is also distributed among different media. Hence we can begin to look at the rich web of "Intermediated Cultural Cognition" in which we are immersed.

We've focused a great deal on computational multi-agent simulation in this course. But for this discussion I would like you to consider some other sorts of simulations of reality - models, visualizations and computations.

We will screen the film NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY (1998) which is a documentary on the evolution of the technology of computation from its early days as a code-making and code-breaking device up to the present uses of computation (and parallel computing) for the purpose of intelligence and espionage. Why look at the NSA? Because we should not forget that these technologies were, and are being, pioneered where lives hang in the balance.

For discussion, I would like you to focus on three "models:"

1) Pick one form of computation, visualization or model of your own choosing from the film NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY.

2) Consider the "models" in the box which I will bring and show in class.

3) Do your own "intelligence" work with these two "mystery" locations visualized Google Earth:

Google Earth - go low to 7000 feet:
38° 15' 55.76" N
105 °57' 20.13" E

Google Earth - go high to 316 miles:
33° 50' 11.70" N
79° 7' 27.35" E

Don't Got Google Earth? Check our "Sandbox" page.
Also check out the other "Sand-Tables" links in our "Topics" index.

For each of the above three types of "models" discuss the pros and cons of that type of simulation. What kinds of cognitions does each support and in what social settings? What sorts of cognitions does each ignore? What is the construction and maintenence cost and value of each? What is the social cost and value of each? I am not interested in moral costs and values but with the relative functionality of each of these? Perhaps the term "fitness advantage" would be more appropriate.

Feel free to do your own limited research on these topics but it is your assessment (as social scientists) of the cognitive characteristics of each that I am interested in.