Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Human, Machine, and Network Functional, Symbiotic Integration On Neural Systems (Human Fusions)

工程研究中心规划奖助金竞赛是作为ERC计划的试点征集活动进行的。该项目将开发一个工程研究中心(ERC)的基本计划，以形成一个独特的、变革性的、跨学科的团队，该团队将创造、定义、理解和教授科学、技术、伦理、监管框架、创业方法和快速发展的人类与技术融合的社会影响。广播、电视和互联网等通信和技术革命导致了深刻的社会变革。然而，人类基本上保持在系统的外部，技术只是一种工具。我们认为，向人与技术共生融合的观念转变将带来下一次社会转型，导致一个更紧密联系的全球社会，拥有新的工作模式、以人类为中心的技术和人与人之间的互动。我们设想一个由学者、企业家、伦理学家和来自合作机构(包括公司)的成员组成的一个技术+跨学科团队，将在人类将技术融入自我意识的新前沿进行汇聚研究，即人类与技术之间的共生。核心是从目前以技术为中心的方法，即人和技术是分开的，转变为以人为中心的技术开发范式。我们寻求将社会对话从人类与技术(如人工智能和机器人技术)之间的战争，转变为一种更有成效的对话，融合人类和技术的最好之处，以实现双方的共同利益。技术的共生结合需要新的人类界面，在当前的音频和视觉输入之外增加多个感觉连接。这种共生关系将增强人类与技术和网络系统的能力。新的共生技术将从根本上改变工作、人类学习、人与人之间的互动、人类网络、人类健康、人类能力和整个社会的未来，以实现一个更安全、更繁荣的未来。总体目标是对模型进行充分的改进，以便在ERC中通过功能、共生、神经系统集成或人类融合ERC融合人、机器和网络的持续研究和开发工作具有说服力。先前的重要研究表明，将技术融入人的自我意识的核心需求，需要1)对技术的代理感，2)与技术的多感官同步。严格地说，这个项目是一个规划赠款，旨在开发ERC结构和流程，从而合理地发展人与技术之间的关系。团队科学(SCHTS)的方法将被用来在这一人类-技术共生的新的跨学科努力中，建立承诺的、充满活力的利益相关者之间的关系，以及发展和建立可持续研究能力的战略计划。该项目的目标是：1)汇集专门知识，以确定跨学科的技术+框架；2)为持续、有重点地开发和研究新的人-技术范例开发一个程序和协作工具；3)为利益攸关方和外部社区建立一个中心参与点。该项目将促进关于人类-技术关系演变的新对话。规划过程的具体成果将包括社交媒体网络平台、中央协作和传播网站，以及衡量利益攸关方对人类-技术进化共生模式的承诺和改进的调查。成功实现人类-技术共生范式需要跨学科的方法来应对重大的科学、技术、伦理和社会挑战。人类融合ERC的跨学科模型有一个技术核心，涉及以人类为中心的技术、多感官人机界面和连接基础设施。围绕这一点展开的是解决共生技术伦理问题的学科，支持伦理原则的监管框架，引入新技术的创业模式，以及理解共生技术如何影响社会的社会学。这些都是高度整合的，因此每一个都是发展和理解对方不可或缺的一部分。潜在的ERC将提供领导力、智力资源、为负责任和有效的科学发现建立世界级设施、技术创新，以及在新的共生科学领域为教育、研究和开发和翻译提供资源。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers competition was run as a pilot solicitation within the ERC program. Planning grants are not required as part of the full ERC competition, but intended to build capacity among teams to plan for convergent, center-scale engineering research.This project will develop the foundational plan of an Engineering Research Center (ERC) to form a unique, transformative, and transdisciplinary team that will create, define, understand, and teach the science, technology, ethics, regulatory framework, entrepreneurship methodologies, and societal impact of the rapidly evolving integration of humans and technology. Communication and technology revolutions, such as radio, television, and the internet, have resulted in profound societal changes. The human, however, has basically remained external to the system with technology serving only as a tool. We propose that a conceptual shift toward symbiotic integration of the human with technology will bring the next societal transformation leading to a more connected, global society with new operational models of work, anthropocentric technology, and human-human interaction. We envision a tech-plus, transdisciplinary team of scholars, entrepreneurs, ethicists, and members from partnering institutions (including companies) that will perform convergent research at a new frontier of human incorporation of technology into a sense of self, i.e. a symbiosis between humans and technology. The core is a shift from the current techno-centric approach, where human and technology are separate, to a human-centric technology development paradigm. We seek to shift the societal dialogue from that of a battle between humans and technology (such as artificial intelligence and robotics) to a more productive dialogue of merging the best of humans and technology for the mutual benefit of both. Symbiotic incorporation of technology requires new interfaces to the human that add multiple sensory connections beyond current audio and visual inputs. This symbiotic relationship will augment human capability with those of technology and networked systems. New, symbiotic technology will radically change the future of work, human learning, human-human interaction, human networks, human health, human capability, and society overall for a safer, more prosperous future. The overall goal is to refine the model sufficiently to be compelling for a sustained research and development effort in an ERC for merging Humans, Machines, and Networks through Functional, Symbiotic, Integration On Neural Systems or an ERC for Human Fusions. Prior significant research shows that the core need of incorporation of technology into a human's sense of self, requires 1) a sense of agency over technology and 2) multi-sensory synchrony with technology. Strictly, this project is a planning grant to develop the ERC structure and processes that will rationally evolve the relationship between humans and technology. Methods from the Science of Team Science (SciTS) will be employed to establish relationships between committed, energized stakeholders in this new, transdisciplinary effort in human-technology symbiosis and a strategic plan to grow and establish sustainable research capacity. The objectives of the project are to 1) assemble the expertise to define the transdisciplinary, tech-plus framework; 2) develop a process and the collaborative tools for the sustained, focused development and study of the new human-technology paradigm, and; 3) establish a central point of engagement for stakeholders and external communities. This project will foster a new dialogue regarding the evolution of the human-technology relationship. Tangible outcomes from the planning process will include social media networking platforms, a central collaboration and dissemination website, and surveys to gauge stakeholder commitment to and refinement of the symbiotic model of human-technology evolution. Successful realization of a symbiotic human-technology paradigm requires a transdisciplinary approach to address significant scientific, technical, ethical, and social challenges. The transdisciplinary model of the ERC for Human Fusions has a technical core addressing anthropocentric technology, multisensory human interfaces, and connection infrastructure. Expanding around this are disciplines to address ethical questions of symbiotic technology, regulatory frameworks to support the ethical principles, entrepreneurial models to introduce new technology, and sociology to understand how symbiotic technologies impact society. These are highly integrated such that each is integral to the development and understanding of the other. The potential ERC will provide leadership, intellectual resources, the establishment of world-class facilities for responsible and effective scientific discovery, technological innovation, and resources in the new symbiotic sciences for education, research and development and translation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.