Telepolis Symposium
In cooperation with Artificial Intelligence Lab, Brussels,
Artificial Intelligence Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)
Intelligent AgentsGiven the vast and constantly growing amount of information available in the global networks an overall view is no longer possible. At the same time, though, the chances to contact people from all over the world for the benefit of all is expanding rapidly. Finding the right balance between offers and lures will be one of the major challenges of the future. Intelligent agents can help individuals, but also institutions and companies, to purposefully select required information from the data flow circulating in the networks in a time-saving way, by preparing specific information for each individual user. At the same time, intelligent agents can be used for surveying the data flow in the networks. At the end of this part of the symposium dealing with intelligent agents international experts in this rather new field of science will be at your disposal for advice on software developments, current technical applications, common approaches, and inherent dangers.
Collective IntelligenceIn contrast to mass media the close and global contacts made possible by computer networks allow the envisioning of collective intelligence. An intelligence resulting from shared knowledge, easy access to information that is open to many people, and intensified communication amongst producers of information. If we succeed in using the computer networks like exposed electronic nerves, thus creating a kind of global brain (where all knowledge is linked to the neverending NOW) it could lead to a better understanding of the people themselves or to an increased competence in solving questions of global dimensions. The utopia of collective intelligence implies new virtual and decentralized structures of organization. The contours are already materializing among the "inhabitants" or the users of cyberspace whether they be virtual communities, virtual enterprises or virtual cities. In a decentralized global society which due to network communication is constantly growing closer , a collective intelligence that is no longer restricted to a location, is a reasonable alternative to the programs of individual, ehnical and national assertion.This second part of the symposium will focus on the chances of a collective intelligence, on the conditions that will have to be created and preserved to bring it into existence and make it grow. After the symposium there will be a panel of all the participants. The panel will be linked to a conference in Amsterdam (Doors of Perception) which will be headed by Derrick de Kerckhove (McLuhan Program, University of Toronto). Taking part:
Luc Steels, Artificial Intelligence Lab, VUB Brussells
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