How do we design systems that lead to generally wholesome states of mind? Having studied some of the psychological observations concerning social media, it is evident that cognitive interventions already feature prominently, generally in a way that fosters addiction, which is an unwholesome state.
However, cognitive interventions can also be incorporated in the design process so as to foster positive states. Furthermore, there are well-established methods, particularly Harvard University’s Project Zero thinking routines that suggest how this might be implemented. This was the subject of my paper: Cultivating sīla Online: the use of Cognitive Interventions in Systems Design, which I presented at the Ninth annual conference of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues. A copy of the paper is available on the conference website, as well as on Academia.
We may furthermore specify such systems mathematically using a formalism such as process algebra and then specify safety properties in a temporal logic, which we apply to the model for validation. Whereas in the last millennium, formal methods were considered too rarefied for general use, nowadays they have become much more mainstream spear-headed by Petri Nets and the Pi-Calculus.
These are only early intimations, but I’m quite sure this research would be worthwhile.
Tags
Harvard, interventions, mind, neuroscience, Project Zero, psychology, safety, sīla, software, system design, thinking routines, validation
This page was published on 7 June 2022 and last updated on August 16, 2022 .