Self-Aware Systems

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        12:05 PM, October 12, 2006
      
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        As Ron Brachman (DARPA-IPTO) has put it: 
      
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        A truly cognitive system would be able to ... explain what it was doing and why it was 
        doing it. It would be reflective enough to know when it was heading down a blind alley or 
        when it needed to ask for information that it simply couldn't get to by further reasoning. 
        And using these capabilities, a cognitive system would be robust in the face of surprises. 
        It would be able to cope much more maturely with unanticipated circumstances than any 
        current machine can. 
      
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        Proposed workshop themes are: 
      
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        What extra representations or architectural features are required for a system to be 
        self-aware? 
      
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        What are some specific aspects of a system that it should be aware of, and for what 
        purposes? 
      
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        What behaviors might a self-aware system be capable of that are not possible for a 
        non-self-aware system? 
      
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        <b>Discussion:</b>
      
      
         A system could be said to be aware of many aspects of itself, ranging from simple 
        physical properties such as the state of a battery or the system's spatio-temporal 
        location, up to higher mental properties such as the system's own intentions, desires, 
        knowledge or goals, and its role or 'location' in a community. 
      
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