Computer After Me, The: Awareness And Self-awareness In Autonomic Systems

We are increasingly seeing computer systems which are expected to function without operator intervention. This is perhaps acceptable for running computer networks or traffic lights; however, we are now seeing computer systems deployed to qualitatively influence human judgments such as rulings on legal disputes or fitness for work to evaluate disability benefits. In keeping with the precautionary principle, it is important that those who are developing this capability — technologists and scientists — think through its potential implications.

The aim of this book is to explore the technological and social and implications of computers and robots becoming increasingly ‘aware’ of their environment and the people in it, and their being increasingly ‘self-aware’ of their own existence within it.

The wide-ranging scope of the text covers three different angles of the concept of ‘the computer after me’: (1) the next generation of computationally powerful aware systems; (2) systems in which the computer is aware of qualitatively impact human concerns such as law, health and rules; and (3) computers and robots which are aware of themselves.
Contents:

 

Introduction: The Computer After Me (Jeremy Pitt)

What Comes After the 'Disappeared Computer'?:

Towards Self-Aware and Self-Composing Services (Giacomo Cabri and Franco Zambonelli)
Issues in Engineering Self-Aware and Self-Expressive Ensembles (Matthias Hölzl and Martin Wirsing)
Social Awareness in Technical Systems (Christian Müller-Schloer, Mathias Pacher, Yvonne Bernard and Lukas Klejnowski)
Self-Healing Software (Regina Frei and Giovanna Di Marzo Serugendo)
Bring It On, Complexity! Present and Future of Self-Organising Middle-Out Abstraction (Sebastian von Mammen and Jan-Philipp Steghöfer)

Is That Computer Out to Get Me?:

Self-Steering and Aware Homes (Marco Aiello, Roberto Baldoni, Alexander Lazovik and Massimo Mecella)
Assistive Awareness in Smart Grids (Aikaterini Bourazeri, Pablo Almajano, Inmaculada Rodriguez and Maite Lopez-Sanchez)
Norm-Aware Socio-Technical Systems (Bastin Tony Roy Savarimuthu and Aditya Ghose)
Interactive Design Activism (Petar Goulev and Joan Farrer)
The Social Computer (Giovanna Di Marzo Serugendo, Matteo Risoldi and Mohammad Solemayni)
Collective Awareness and the New Institution Science (Jeremy Pitt and Andrzej Nowak)
Be Vigilant: There are Limits to Veillance (Katina Michael, M G Michael and Christine Perakslis)

The Engineers of Computer Souls?:

Robotic Self-Modeling (Justin W Hart and Brian Scassellati)
Reflective Systems are a Good Step Towards Aware Systems (Kirstie L Bellman)
Robots with Internal Models: A Route to Self-Aware and Hence Safer Robots (Alan F T Winfield)
Awareness and Responsibility in Autonomous Weapons Systems (Nehal Bhuta, Antonino Rotolo and Giovanni Sartor)
Computational Self-Awareness and Learning Machines (Peter R Lewis)




Readership: Students and Professionals in the fields of computer science and artificial intelligence; Members of the general public with an interest in machine awareness and AI.
Key Features:


There is nothing else like it on the market, either in terms of content (i.e. computer awareness) and approach (social implications)
The book's treatment of the subject is eclectic, accessible and informative