Adaptive Experiences
Adaptive technologies are those
that change the experience based on the behavior of the user,
reader, consumer, or actor. These can include "agents,"
modifying behaviors, and "pseudo-intelligence." Agents
are processes that can be set to run autonomously, performing
specific, unsupervised (or lightly supervised) activities and
reporting back when finished. Modifying behaviors are
those that change the tools and/or content involved based on
the actions of techniques of the user. Some games, for example,
do this, becoming more difficult as the player becomes more proficient.
Other possibilities include content changing to reflect point
of view, level of proficiency required, or amount of detail desired.
Both of these techniques might have the effect of making a device
or person in an experience appear intelligent, as might other
techniques. However, this calls into question a much larger discussion
of intelligence, life, and how these are defined. Suffice it
to say that certain kinds of choices in changing behavior based
on the actions of others (whether random, instinctive, or algorithmic)
can create the appearance of a more sophisticated system or process
and imply a kind of intelligence.
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Copyright 1994 Nathan Shedroff