I have always had a strong interest in human behaviour and cognitive processing. That is one reason I am fascinated with innovation.
Having worked as a counselling psychologist, I have been researching and trying to understand the individual’s unique subjective psychological experience to empower their abilities and full cognitive potential.
I specialised in Psycholinguistics, which is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, use, and understand language.
Therefore, taking into account my background, I find cognitive computing very fascinating, which is a new type of computing with the goal of more accurate models of how the human brain/mind senses, reasons, and responds to stimulus.
In his recently published article, Smith talks about how companies have been redesigning computing technology. He mentioned IBM’s latest development of a SyNAPSE (Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics) chip that shares data in a new way. Such chip has the potential to transform mobility by spurring innovation around an entirely new class of applications with sensory capabilities at incredibly low power levels (IBM 2014). SyNAPSE chip is powered by an unprecedented 1 million neurons and 256 million synapses. What is unique about this chip is that it is able toabsorb raw sensory data, process, analyse and produce an outcome. Therefore, SyNAPSE chip has been compared to a human brain with its ability to create a cognitive processing.
Also, I recommend watching the following video, prepared by IBM : What will you do with Watson? IBM Watson is defining a new era of cognitive technology.
Watson is a cognitive technology that processes information more like a human than a computer—by understanding natural language, which means it can read and understand natural language, important in analyzing unstructured data that make up as much as 80 percent of data today. When asked a question, Watson relies on hypothesis generation and evaluation to rapidly parse relevant evidence and evaluate responses from disparate data. As a cognitive technology, Watson is a natural extension of what humans can do at their best.
Even though scientists are working very hard to learn more about technology and its potential and influence on everyday life, computer won’t replace people, but it will support decision-making, since according to IBM:
"Computers today are just very large, very fast number crunchers and information manipulators, They can process lots of data, but they really don’t think. "
