5/13/25, 7:20 PM Intelligence amplification - Wikipedia

Intelligence amplification
(Redirected from Augmented intelligence)
Intelligence amplification (IA) (also referred to as cognitive augmentation, machine
augmented intelligence and enhanced intelligence) is the use of information technology in
augmenting human intelligence. The idea was first proposed in the 1950s and 1960s by cybernetics
and early computer pioneers.

IA is sometimes contrasted with AI (artificial intelligence), that is, the project of building a human-
like intelligence in the form of an autonomous technological system such as a computer or robot. AI
has encountered many fundamental obstacles, practical as well as theoretical, which for IA seem
moot, as it needs technology merely as an extra support for an autonomous intelligence that has
already proven to function. Moreover, IA has a long history of success, since all forms of information
technology, from the abacus to writing to the Internet, have been developed basically to extend the
information processing capabilities of the human mind (see extended mind and distributed
cognition).

Major contributions

William Ross Ashby: Intelligence Amplification

The term intelligence amplification (IA) has enjoyed a wide currency since William Ross Ashby wrote
of "amplifying intelligence" in his Introduction to Cybernetics (1956). Related ideas were explicitly
proposed as an alternative to Artificial Intelligence by Hao Wang from the early days of automatic
theorem provers.

... "problem solving" is largely, perhaps entirely, a matter of appropriate selection. Take, for
instance, any popular book of problems and puzzles. Almost every one can be reduced to the
form: out of a certain set, indicate one element. ... It is, in fact, difficult to think of a problem,
either playful or serious, that does not ultimately require an appropriate selection as
necessary and sufficient for its solution.

It is also clear that many of the tests used for measuring "intelligence" are scored essentially
according to the candidate's power of appropriate selection. ... Thus it is not impossible that
what is commonly referred to as "intellectual power" may be equivalent to "power of
appropriate selection". Indeed, if a talking Black Box were to show high power of appropriate
selection in such matters—so that, when given difficult problems it persistently gave correct
answers—we could hardly deny that it was showing the 'behavioral' equivalent of "high
intelligence".

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If this is so, and as we know that power of selection can be amplified, it seems to follow that
intellectual power, like physical power, can be amplified. Let no one say that it cannot be
done, for the gene-patterns do it every time they form a brain that grows up to be something
better than the gene-pattern could have specified in detail. What is new is that we can now
do it synthetically, consciously, deliberately.

— W. Ross Ashby, An Introduction to Cybernetics (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/books/Intr

oCyb.pdf), Chapman and Hall, London, UK, 1956. Reprinted, Methuen and Company,
London, UK, 1964.

J. C. R. Licklider: Man-Computer Symbiosis

"Man-Computer Symbiosis" is a key speculative paper published in 1960 by psychologist/computer
scientist J.C.R. Licklider, which envisions that mutually-interdependent, "living together", tightly-
coupled human brains and computing machines would prove to complement each other's strengths to
a high degree:

Man-computer symbiosis is a subclass of man-machine systems. There are many man-

machine systems. At present, however, there are no man-computer symbioses. The purposes
of this paper are to present the concept and, hopefully, to foster the development of man-
computer symbiosis by analyzing some problems of interaction between men and computing
machines, calling attention to applicable principles of man-machine engineering, and
pointing out a few questions to which research answers are needed. The hope is that, in not
too many years, human brains and computing machines will be coupled together very tightly,
and that the resulting partnership will think as no human brain has ever thought and process
data in a way not approached by the information-handling machines we know today.

— J. C. R. Licklider, "Man-Computer Symbiosis" (https://web.archive.org/web/20051103

053540/http://medg.lcs.mit.edu/people/psz/Licklider.html), IRE Transactions on
Human Factors in Electronics, vol. HFE-1, 4-11, March 1960.

In Licklider's vision, many of the pure artificial intelligence systems envisioned at the time by over-
optimistic researchers would prove unnecessary. (This paper is also seen by some historians as
marking the genesis of ideas about computer networks which later blossomed into the Internet).

Douglas Engelbart: Augmenting Human Intellect

Licklider's research was similar in spirit to his DARPA contemporary and protégé Douglas Engelbart.
Both men’s work helped expand the utility of computers beyond mere computational machines by
conceiving and demonstrating them as a primary interface for humans to process and manipulate
information.[1]

Engelbart reasoned that the state of our current technology controls our ability to manipulate
information, and that fact in turn will control our ability to develop new, improved technologies. He
thus set himself to the revolutionary task of developing computer-based technologies for
manipulating information directly, and also to improve individual and group processes for
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knowledge-work. Engelbart's philosophy and research agenda is most clearly and directly expressed
in the 1962 research report: Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework[2] The concept
of network augmented intelligence is attributed to Engelbart based on this pioneering work.

Increasing the capability of a man to approach a complex problem situation, to gain

comprehension to suit his particular needs, and to derive solutions to problems.

Increased capability in this respect is taken to mean a mixture of the following: more-rapid
comprehension, better comprehension, the possibility of gaining a useful degree of
comprehension in a situation that previously was too complex, speedier solutions, better
solutions, and the possibility of finding solutions to problems that before seemed insolvable.
And by complex situations we include the professional problems of diplomats, executives,
social scientists, life scientists, physical scientists, attorneys, designers--whether the problem
situation exists for twenty minutes or twenty years.

We do not speak of isolated clever tricks that help in particular situations. We refer to a way
of life in an integrated domain where hunches, cut-and-try, intangibles, and the human feel
for a situation usefully co-exist with powerful concepts, streamlined terminology and
notation, sophisticated methods, and high-powered electronic aids.

— Douglas Engelbart, Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework,

Summary Report AFOSR-3233, Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, CA, October
1962.[2]

In the same research report he addresses the term "Intelligence Amplification" as coined by Ashby,
and reflects on how his proposed research relates.[3]

Engelbart subsequently implemented these concepts in his Augmented Human Intellect Research
Center at SRI International, developing essentially an intelligence amplifying system of tools (NLS)
and co-evolving organizational methods, in full operational use by the mid-1960s within the lab. As
intended,[4] his R&D team experienced increasing degrees of intelligence amplification, as both
rigorous users and rapid-prototype developers of the system. For a sampling of research results, see
their 1968 Mother of All Demos.

Later contributions
Howard Rheingold worked at Xerox PARC in the 1980s and was introduced to both Bob Taylor and
Douglas Engelbart; Rheingold wrote about "mind amplifiers" in his 1985 book, Tools for Thought.[5]
Andrews Samraj mentioned in "Skin-Close Computing and Wearable Technology" 2021, about
Human augmentation by two varieties of cyborgs, namely, Hard cyborgs and Soft cyborgs. A
humanoid walking machine is an example of the soft cyborg and a pace-maker is an example for
augmenting human as a hard cyborg.

Arnav Kapur working at MIT wrote about human-AI coalescence: how AI can be integrated into
human condition as part of "human self": as a tertiary layer to the human brain to augment human
cognition.[6] He demonstrates this using a peripheral nerve-computer interface, AlterEgo, which
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enables a human user to silently and internally converse with a personal AI.[7][8]

In 2014 the technology of Artificial Swarm Intelligence was developed to amplify the intelligence of
networked human groups using AI algorithms modeled on biological swarms. The technology enables
small teams to make predictions, estimations and medical diagnoses at accuracy levels that
significantly exceed natural human intelligence.[9][10][11][12]

Shan Carter and Michael Nielsen introduce the concept of artificial intelligence augmentation (AIA):
the use of AI systems to help develop new methods for intelligence augmentation. They contrast
cognitive outsourcing (AI as an oracle, able to solve some large class of problems with better-than-
human performance) with cognitive transformation (changing the operations and representations
we use to think).[13] A calculator is an example of the former; a spreadsheet of the latter.

Ron Fulbright describes human cognitive augmentation in human/cog ensembles involving humans
working in collaborative partnership with cognitive systems (called cogs). By working together,
human/cog ensembles achieve results superior to those obtained by the humans working alone or the
cognitive systems working alone. The human component of the ensemble is therefore cognitively
augmented. The degree of augmentation depends on the proportion of the total amount of cognition
done by the human and that done by the cog. Six Levels of Cognitive Augmentation have been
identified: [14][15]

Levels of Human Cognitive Augmentation

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In science fiction
Augmented intelligence has been a repeating theme in science fiction. A positive view of brain
implants used to communicate with a computer as a form of augmented intelligence is seen in Algis
Budrys 1976 novel Michaelmas. Fear that the technology will be misused by the government and
military is an early theme. In the 1981 BBC serial The Nightmare Man the pilot of a high-tech mini
submarine is linked to his craft via a brain implant but becomes a savage killer after ripping out the
implant.

Perhaps the most well known writer exploring themes of intelligence augmentation is William Gibson,
in work such as his 1981 story "Johnny Mnemonic", in which the title character has computer-
augmented memory, and his 1984 novel Neuromancer, in which computer hackers interface through
brain-computer interfaces to computer systems. Vernor Vinge, as discussed earlier, looked at
intelligence augmentation as a possible route to the technological singularity, a theme which also
appears in his fiction.

Flowers for Algernon is an early example of augmented intelligence in science fiction literature.[16]
First published as a short story in 1959, the plot concerns an intellectually disabled man who
undergoes an experiment to increase his intelligence to genius levels. His rise and fall is detailed in his
journal entries, which become more sophisticated as his intelligence increases.

See also
Advanced chess External memory (psychology)
Augmented learning Exocortex
Brain–computer interface Knowledge worker
Charles Sanders Peirce Mechanization
Collective intelligence Neuroenhancement
Democratic transhumanism Nootropic
Emotiv Systems Sensemaking (information science)
Extelligence The Wisdom of Crowds

References
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com/2013/07/04/technology/douglas-c-engelbart-inventor-of-the-computer-mouse-dies-at-88.htm
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3. "Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework" (http://dougengelbart.org/pubs/augment-

3906.html#2c2) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20110504035147/http://www.dougengelbar
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Discussion of the H-LAM/T System, in D. C. Engelbart Summary Report AFOSR-3233, Stanford
Research Institute, Menlo Park, CA, October 1962.
4. "Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework" (http://www.dougengelbart.org/pubs/aug
ment-3906.html#4d) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20110504035147/http://www.dougenge
lbart.org/pubs/augment-3906.html#4d) 2011-05-04 at the Wayback Machine, Section D:
Regenerative Feature, in D. C. Engelbart Summary Report AFOSR-3233, Stanford Research
Institute, Menlo Park, CA, October 1962.
5. Rheingold, Howard (2000) [1985]. Tools for thought: the history and future of mind-expanding
technology (https://archive.org/details/toolsforthoughth00rhei) (Reprint ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press. ISBN 978-0262681155. OCLC 43076809 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/43076809). See
also Rheingold's site: "About Howard Rheingold" (http://rheingold.com/about/). rheingold.com.
Retrieved 2017-12-28.
6. Kapur, Arnav (April 2019). Human-machine cognitive coalescence through an internal duplex
interface (Thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. hdl:1721.1/120883 (https://hdl.handle.n
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7. "AlterEgo" (https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/alterego/overview/). MIT Media Lab. Retrieved
April 30, 2019.
8. Kapur, Arnav; Kapur, Shreyas; Maes, Pattie (2018). "AlterEgo". 23rd International Conference on
Intelligent User Interfaces. New York, New York, USA: ACM Press. pp. 43–53.
doi:10.1145/3172944.3172977 (https://doi.org/10.1145%2F3172944.3172977).
ISBN 9781450349451. S2CID 3777401 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:3777401).
9. Willcox, G.; Rosenberg, L. (September 2019). "Short Paper: Swarm Intelligence Amplifies the IQ
of Collaborating Teams" (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9027782). 2019 Second
International Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Industries (AI4I). pp. 111–114.
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50439-7_3). Augmented Cognition. Human Cognition and Behavior. Lecture Notes in Computer
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Further reading
Engelbart, D.; Landau, V.; Clegg, E. (2009). The Engelbart Hypothesis: Dialogs with Douglas
Engelbart. NextPress. ISBN 978-0615308906.
Asaro, Peter (2008). "From Mechanisms of Adaptation to Intelligence Amplifiers: The Philosophy
of W. Ross Ashby" (http://peterasaro.org/writing/Asaro%20Ashby.pdf) (PDF). In Husbands, P.;
Holland, O.; Wheeler, M. (eds.). The Mechanical Mind in History (https://archive.org/details/mecha
nicalmindin00phil). MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-08377-5.
Ashby, W.R. (2013) [1960]. Design for a Brain: The origin of adaptive behaviour (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=Dc4hBQAAQBAJ) (2nd ed.). Springer. ISBN 978-94-015-1320-3.
Skagestad, Peter (1993). "Thinking with Machines: Intelligence Augmentation, Evolutionary
Epistemology, and Semiotic" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070522213854/http://www.cspeirce.c
om/menu/library/aboutcsp/skagesta/thinking.htm). Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems. 16
(2): 157–180. doi:10.1016/1061-7361(93)90026-N (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F1061-7361%289
3%2990026-N). Archived from the original (http://www.cspeirce.com/menu/library/aboutcsp/skage
sta/thinking.htm) on 2007-05-22. Retrieved 2007-01-12.
Bray, David A. (2007). "Smart Business Networks (or, Let's Create 'Life' from Inert Information)".
Smart Business Network Initiative (SBNi) Conference — Beijing, May 2008. SSRN.
doi:10.2139/ssrn.991163 (https://doi.org/10.2139%2Fssrn.991163). S2CID 113291050 (https://api.
semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:113291050). SSRN 991163 (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf
m?abstract_id=991163).
Waldrop, M. Mitchell (2001). The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution that Made
Computing Personal (https://archive.org/details/dreammachinejcrl00wald). Viking. ISBN 978-0-
670-89976-0. Licklider's biography, contains discussion of the importance of this paper.

External links
Intelligence Amplification using speech synthesis technology (http://www.turnkeylinux.org/blog/pra
ctical-intelligence-amplification)
IT Conversations: Doug Engelbart - Large-Scale Collective IQ (http://www.itconversations.com/sh
ows/detail378.html)
7 December 1951, Ashby first wrote about the possibility to build an 'information amplifier'. (http://
www.rossashby.info/journal/page/3609.html)
12 August 1953, Ashby mentioned an objection to his 'intelligence-amplifier'. (http://www.rossashb
y.info/journal/page/4584.html)

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