Emergent Structures of Social Exchange in Socio-cognitive Grids

Abstract

Several different forms of peer-to-peer interactions, associations and interpersonal relations between human and artificial intelligences are described. We build upon a new form of grid computing which integrates human and artificial ‘processes’ in electronically saturated physical spaces, called socio-cognitive grids. We start from the analysis of three scenarios in P2P applications: digital rights management, mass user support and customer-to-customer interaction. These enable us to identify those factors that motivate the computing components in the socio-cognitive grids to form social structures, individually incorporating socio-cognitive intelligence and social awareness. In order to study the emergent properties of these social structures, such as reciprocity, social exchange and social networking, we need a theory that will help us understand the dynamics of social integration and support. We explore the use of a classical sociological theory of social structures and interpersonal relations. Subsequently we outline the components of a software simulation built on this theory and designed to formalize and evaluate this socio-computational intelligence. Ultimately our main aim is to analyse and understand those emergent properties that lead to the formation of stable and scalable social structures in socio-cognitive grids.