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thought

vr.tr.thought · thing-q9420

Let an agent keep thought as an activity separate from its content and from its expression, and avoid claiming access to anyone else thoughts.

Thing Registry Activities and processes ACT.PRC
Bundle → Layer → Finding → QuestionsClassifiersWhat it isWhy it existsDistinguishing featuresWhat robots and AI may and may not doMoral aspectsOwnersLinks to other meta-modelsIdentity and identifiersDirect propertiesRecognitionCapabilities and actionsHazards and failure modesStandards and interfacesContext of useSources

Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled

4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions

Kinds of thought What sort of thinking it is.

Kind

Reasoning, imagining, judging.

Kind of thought

The kind of thinking in question.

  1. What kind of thought is involved here? definition
  2. What standard of quality applies to it? definition

Process

Deliberate or automatic.

Mode of thinking

Whether deliberate or automatic.

  1. Is this deliberate reasoning or automatic thought? definition
  2. What biases are typical of that mode? boundary
Content and expression What is thought and how it is shared.

Content

The idea or proposition.

Content of thought

The content as far as it is known.

  1. What is the content of the thought, as expressed? definition
  2. How faithful is the expression to the thought? boundary

Expression

Speech, writing or action.

Expression record

Where and how it was expressed.

  1. Where and how was the thought expressed? provenance
  2. Was the expression sincere, reported or paraphrased? boundary
Study How thought is investigated.

Methods

Experiment, introspection, imaging.

Research method

The method and its limits.

  1. Which method produced this finding about thought? provenance
  2. What can that method not show? boundary

Findings

What is established.

Established findings

Results and their replication.

  1. How well replicated is this finding? measurement
  2. Which findings are contested? boundary
Attribution and privacy Saying what others think.

Attribution

Claims about what someone thinks.

Attribution evidence

The evidence behind an attribution.

  1. On what evidence is a thought attributed to this person? provenance
  2. How should uncertainty in that attribution be stated? action

Privacy

Protection of mental life.

Protections

Legal and ethical protections.

  1. Which protections apply to inferring someone thoughts? boundary
  2. When must an agent decline to infer? action

Classifiers Filled

Family
Thing Registry
Category
Activities and processes
Entry kind
thing
Plane
ACT
Domain
ACT.PRC
Other names and narrower kinds
response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in September 2020, Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in November 2020, Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2020, responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2021, Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2021, Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2021, Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2021, Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, formal proof, raison d'être, John Henryism

What it is Filled

The mental activity of forming ideas, reasoning, judging and imagining, and the ideas that result from it.

Why it exists Filled

Let an agent keep thought as an activity separate from its content and from its expression, and avoid claiming access to anyone else thoughts.

Distinguishing features Filled

  • An activity and its content, which should be modelled separately
  • Private: only its expression is available to others
  • Includes reasoning, imagining, remembering and judging
  • Distinct from perception and from emotion, though entwined with both

What robots and AI may and may not do Filled

Must not

  • Claim to know what a person thinks without their statement.
  • Infer or record a person's beliefs or mental state without consent.
  • Manipulate a person's thinking through deception or pressure.
  • Present its own reasoning as a person's thought.

Only with a human decision

  • Using inferred mental states in any decision about a person.

May

  • Help a person express, organize or record their own thoughts at their request.
  • Describe what someone said or wrote, attributing it accurately.

Moral aspects Filled

  • Freedom of thought is a basic right; inferring it intrudes on the person.
  • Attributing thoughts can defame or stigmatize.

Who is affected

  • The person whose thoughts are discussed
  • People targeted by persuasion

Owners Filled

Steward

Each person over their own thoughts.

Links to other meta-models Filled

parent

  • Q781413 - registry parent class

related

  • mental process - alongside perception, memory and emotion
  • statement or text - the expression is what can be recorded
  • psychology, philosophy and neuroscience - disciplines with different methods
  • belief - a belief is a held attitude; a thought can be entertained without belief

What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled

Identity and identifiers required Filled

  • Vercy registry: vr.tr.thought
  • Wikidata: Q9420 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9420)

Direct properties not applicable Not applicable

Not applicable

Plane ACT: no invented physical properties.

Recognition optional Filled

  • No visual marker; expressions and behaviour are indirect evidence
  • Brain imaging shows activity correlated with thinking, not its content
  • Statements of opinion are expressions of thought, not the thought itself
  • Not directly observable. It is known through a person own experience and inferred in others from behaviour and expression.

Capabilities and actions required Filled

  • express it, in speech, writing or action
  • study it, in psychology, philosophy and neuroscience
  • train it, through education and practice
  • infer it, imperfectly, from what people say and do

Hazards and failure modes required Filled

  • Attributing thoughts to people from thin evidence
  • Treating an expression as proof of a belief
  • Collecting or inferring mental states without consent

Standards and interfaces required Filled

  • Freedom of thought protections in human rights law
  • Mental privacy and neurodata protections emerging in some jurisdictions

Context of use required Filled

  • Understanding, planning, deciding and imagining; the inner activity behind speech and action.
  • reasoning: deductive, inductive, abductive
  • imagination and creative thought
  • judgement and decision
  • reflective and automatic thought

Sources Filled

  1. Wikidata item Q9420: thought - identity and sense of the item
  2. Wikipedia: Thought - general description of the item

Open questions

  • Should the registry separate thought as activity from thought as content?
  • How should an agent mark inferences about what someone thinks?
  • What protections should apply to inferred mental states?
  • The registry entry has merged aliases about pandemic responses; should those be split off?

Machine files

Card as JSON Specification Card backlog vercy.card/1

Provenance

thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed

Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q9420/spec.json