Conclusions and Next Steps

Abstract

So we have given a SELF the ability to think, reason, adapt, and evolve, as well as Metacognitive and Metamemory capabilities to understand its own abilities and limitations; including cyber security within its cognitive framework. The Cognitrons within the system themselves can learn, adapt, and evolve and can communicate with each other, allowing cognitive collaboration and cognitive economy within a SELF. So if we can actually build the complete system, if a SELF becomes a real-time, fully functioning, autonomous, self-actuating, self-analyzing, self-healing, fully reasoning and adapting system, what do we have and what are the ramifications? In Chap. 3 we discussed how people from different cultures might respond to a SELF, and the differences between accepting the system when it looks like a machine versus when it looks like a person. We explored the ramifications of giving a SELF basic emotions and emotional memories. How might its memories and actions be influenced by how people react to it? We also discussed how those reactions might influence how a SELF handles being around people. The overall purpose of the book was to begin to describe the capabilities, methodologies, and subsystems that must be in place in order to create a real-time, autonomous, thinking, reasoning system. We hope we have allayed fears that a SELF is going to decide to take over and eliminate the human race, as Hollywood is so fond of portraying. However, we also are not describing a cute, lovable robot, as depicted in the movie “Wall-E.” There are other questions that need to be explored such as how to create versions a SELF at different levels in its evolutions so as not to have to start over again with each SELF we create, i.e. how do we clone a SELF. We also need to explore the advantages and disadvantages of SELF entities communicating with each other.