From Intelligence to Rationality of Minds and Machines in Contemporary Society: The Sciences of Design and the Role of Information

The presence of intelligence and rationality in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet requires a new context of analysis in which Herbert Simon’s approach to the sciences of the artificial is surpassed in order to grasp the role of information in our contemporary setting. This new framework requires taking into account some relevant aspects. (i) In the historical endeavor of building up AI and the Internet, minds and machines have interacted over the years and in many ways through the interrelation between scientific creativity and technological innovation. (ii) Philosophically, minds and machines can have epistemological, methodological and ontological differences, which are based on the distinct configuration of human intelligence and artificial intelligence. Their comparison with rationality and its various forms is particularly relevant. (iii) Scientifically, AI and the Internet belong to the sciences of the artificial, because they work on designs that search for specific aims, following selected processes in order to achieve expected results. (iv) Technologically, AI and the Internet require the support of information and communication technologies (ICT). These have an instrumental role regarding the existence of AI and the Internet. Also ICT shape their diverse forms of configuration over the years.