Project Konrad: A Network Database Simulation of Mental Associationism

 

Copyright Notice: This material was written and published in Wales by Derek J. Smith (Chartered Engineer). It forms part of a multifile e-learning resource, and subject only to acknowledging Derek J. Smith's rights under international copyright law to be identified as author may be freely downloaded and printed off in single complete copies solely for the purposes of private study and/or review. Commercial exploitation rights are reserved. The remote hyperlinks have been selected for the academic appropriacy of their contents; they were free of offensive and litigious content when selected, and will be periodically checked to have remained so. Copyright © 2007-2008, Derek J. Smith (Chartered Engineer).

 

 

First published online 12:00 BST 11th October 2007; this version [2.2 - extended content] dated 09:00 BST 21st August 2008

 

 

1 - Introduction

The Konrad Project represents a long-overdue application of computer software to one of the most enduring problems of mental philosophy. The software in question is the CA-IDMS network database, the latest in a long line of "Data Base Task Group" (DBTG) databases going back to the late 1960s, and the philosophical problem is that of the associative network nature of the biological mind. The author learned of the latter as a psychology undergraduate, and became deeply immersed in the former during his years as analyst-programmer in the data-processing industry in the 1980s. He then drew on both bodies of knowledge when in November 1990 he acquired a lectureship in cognitive neuropsychology at what is now University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, and his personal analysis of the hierarchical structure of cognition, complete with a long-term memory database separated out from a short-term memory executive system was published in Smith (1993c).

 

Little then changed until in 1996 the author came across the theory of "second messenger" neurotransmission, whereupon he noted a degree of resonance between descriptions of the DBTG concept of "database currency" and the biological mechanisms of "calcium switching" implicated in medium-term neural sensitisation. Both allow their respective systems to maintain a particular mental theme across a time-span larger than the span of the immediate here and now, both do this by holding material momentarily somewhere between short term memory and long term memory, both combine storage and retrieval functions, and - above all - both exist to help "bind" widely scattered memory fragments into logical wholes [for more on the biochemistry of calcium sensitisation, see Appendix A at the end of the present document]. These similarities were duly reflected upon in Smith (1997a, 1997b, 1997e), and then presented as animated cognitive models in Smith (2000a, 2000b, 2002a; 2005c).

 

ASIDE: For a fuller history of the DBTG type of database, see the companion resource on "Data Modelling". For a gentler introduction in PowerPoint format, see the first dozen slides of Smith (2005b).

 

Work on the Konrad Project - named in tribute to Konrad Zuse, a largely unsung pioneer of digital computing - began in earnest following a in-house research presentation on 8th December 2003, and to date [August 2008] has generated four qualitatively distinct bodies of work, as now described.

 

 

2 - The First Project Element - An Interdisciplinary Glossary

The Associationist view of the network structure of the biological mind emerged originally from classical thinkers such as Aristotle, was popularised by Enlightenment philosophers such as Locke and Hartley, and was then invoked by two of the 20th century's most famous new explanatory perspectives. The first of these was the psychotherapeutic usage of the "free association" and "association of ideas" investigatory paradigms (see, e.g., Freud, 1916, and Jung, 1918, respectively). The second was the recognition in the early years of Artificial Intelligence research that there was a network structure of sorts to what psychologists now describe as "semantic memory" [Glossary] (see, e.g., Richens and Booth, 1955; Ceccato, 1961). This latter has gone on to become the research area now commonly referred to as "semantic networks" [click here for Wikipedia's introduction to this subject, and here for John F. Sowa's detailed historical review].

 

Now the problem with semantic networks as a general area of study is that its material belongs to no single science. If we want to do the topic proper justice we require the full resources of the interdisciplinary superscience known as "cognitive science", whose member disciplines include (in alphabetical order) cognitive psychology, computing, "Connectionism" [the science of "neural networks"], cultural anthropology, epistemology [the philosophy of knowledge], medicine (notably neurology and neuropsychology), mental philosophy, palaeontology, philology [linguistics as language theory rather than language ability], physical anthropology, robotics, and zoology (notably ethology and primatology).

 

Sadly, each of these member sciences is already bursting at the academic seams with its own jargon and its own literature, and interdisciplinary collaboration tends as a result to be rendered inefficient by lack of mutual understanding. The first thrust of the Konrad Project was therefore to support interdisciplinary collaboration with a back-to-basics online glossary - an encyclopaedia of the mind - which will teach computing jargon to mental philosophers, electronics to neuroscientists, phenomenology to physicians, and so on. This turned out to be pretty much a never-ending task, but here is the product as it currently stands .....

 

Glossary Section

Notes

Menu and Introduction

Contains only general notes; avoid unless and until specifically directed

A B

Readers may find the entries for associationism, Bachman diagram, and borderline personality disorder particularly helpful

Cases .....

Contains general notes; avoid unless and until specifically directed

Consciousness .....

Contains introductory notes on a number of important philosophical analyses of the highest mental functions. Readers may find the entries for Kant and Heidegger particularly helpful in setting the philosophical scene within which machine consciousness research takes place.

C (remainder)

Readers may find the entries for chain pointers, cognitive deficit, cognitive modelling, <CONNECT>, and current of ..... particularly helpful

D

Readers may find the entries for Dasein, data ....., and dualisms or monisms particularly helpful

E F

Readers may find the various entries for Freud particularly helpful

G H I

Readers may find the entries for Gegenstandstheorie, homunculus fallacy, inner speech, and intuition particularly helpful

J K L

Readers may find the entry for long term working memory particularly helpful

M N O

Readers may find the entries for machine consciousness, massive modularity, mind-brain debate, minute perceptions, and object ..... particularly helpful

Persona .....

Readers may find the entry for personality, splitting of particularly helpful

P (remainder) Q R

Readers may find the entries for perception ....., phenomenology, pragmatic ....., preconscious, protein kinase studies, and relationship ..... particularly helpful

S

Readers may find the various entries for self and soul particularly helpful

T to Z

Readers may find the various entries for the unconscious particularly helpful

 

 

3 - The Second Project Element - A "Proof of Concept" DBTG Network

The second thrust of the project was then to produce some actual DBTG software. Progress under this heading has been slow due to the size of the computers required to execute said software [that is to say, none of the commercial DBTG systems has ever been down-scaled to run on PCs]. Following the 2003 in-house presentation, various feelers were put out to companies operating IDMS systems in the hope that one would be able to provide testbed access. These requests were heard sympathetically enough, but no concrete offer of support was forthcoming until April 2006 when International Software Products [corporate profile] kindly offered their services. The resulting software - the Konrad1 "proof of concept" system - went into development on 1st November 2007, and successfully ran its test program on 11th March 2008 [click here to see the Press Release]. Here are some useful descriptive documents .....

 

Konrad1:  Technical Scope and Aims

Konrad1: Bachman Diagram [Draft] - pdf format (use for the on-screen zoom facility)

Konrad1: Bachman Diagram [Draft] - PowerPoint poster format (with hyperlinks)

 

 

4 - The Third Project Element - A Formal Prototype DBTG Network [WORK IN PROGRESS]

The third thrust of the project is now to upgrade the proof of concept system into a more powerful prototype in the light of the initial development experience. The resulting software - the Konrad2 system - went into development on 1st April 2008. Unlike Konrad1, the Konrad2 schema takes account of both the physical and the mental domain, and has been heavily abstracted from a complex logical data model in which more than 250 discrete entity types are identified. These logical entity types are physically implemented as eight Area 1 (physical world) and seven Area 2 (mental world) entity types. Development of the substantive test program is in hand. Here are some useful descriptive documents .....

 

Konrad2:  Suite Flowchart

Konrad2: Logical Job Pack for Conference Demonstration

 

PERIODIC PROGRESS REPORTS WILL APPEAR HERE

 

 

5 - The Fourth Project Element - A "Common Workshop" Format [WORK IN PROGRESS]

To avoid repeatedly having to explain the technicalities of network database design to scientists with no computing background it was decided to go for a common and repeatable demonstration of the software, complete with all the support and audit trail paperwork needed. As a result, a typical software demonstration involves running the program three (optionally five) times, and requires that the following files have been carefully prepared in advance .....

 

LOAD FILE: This file contains initial database load instructions, and is used (in RUN A below) to create an initial body of mental content.

 

TASK FILE: This file contains a task-specific set of database interrogation instructions, designed to put the loaded database to work in some particular way.

 

RETRAINING FILE: This file contains a second set of database load instructions, designed to extend the loaded database for the purposes discussed below.

 

These various input files are then used as follows .....

 

Run A: The first run of the program will load the LOAD FILE into the database, creating the various records, placing them where they belong, and then linking them together, all in accordance with the currently operational version of the database schema. The database key (that is to say, the physical location) of each record thus stored will be written out to a print file - "Print A" - for future reference. The resulting database represents the starting point for both Runs B and C below.

 

Run B: The second run of the program will conduct a pre-planned navigation of the standing database produced during Run A, to simulate a discrete act of cognition (perceiving and responding to a simple sentence, say). The input file on this occasion will be the TASK FILE. Every record interrogated or updated during this process will be written out to a print file - "Print B" - for subsequent inspection. If updates have been applied, they will then be "rolled back" [that is to say, reversed out] in readiness for Run C [for more on the technicalities of database rollback, see Appendix B at the end of the present document].

 

Run C: The third run of the program executes precisely the same input file as Run B, but against a database accessed now via a subtly incomplete database subschema, selected from a pool of such subschemas maintained for research purposes [details in Sections 6 and 7]. This deliberately restricted view of the available data will impair the efficiency, specific content, execution time, or other key features of the database navigation. Each selected subschema will simulate a particular cognitive or personality deficit by imposing a corresponding "network deficit". Again, every record interrogated or updated during this process will be written out to a print file - "Print C" - for subsequent inspection. If Run D [see next] is required, then any updates which have been applied during Run C will be "rolled back" before proceeding. The difference between Print B and Print C represents the network deficit brought about by the known restrictions in the chosen subschema. These prints may then be analysed at leisure. [For more on the technicalities of the subschema device, see Appendix C at the end of the present document.]

 

ASIDE: The next two runs of the program were suggested by co-worker Minnette Celliers in October 2007, and address the fact that many network deficits bring with them a need for rehabilitation of some sort.

 

Run D (Optional): This run of the program uses the same restrictive subschema as Run C, but applies the RETRAINING FILE of input commands. This file contains additional database load and structuring commands designed to circumvent [by which we mean "treat" or "attempt to remediate" or "intervene therapeutically"] the problems introduced by the subschema. Every record interrogated or updated during this process will be written out to a print file - "Print D" - for subsequent inspection.

 

Run E (Optional): This final run of the program uses the same restrictive subschema as Runs C and D, but represents the TASK FILE in the hope that some improvement will have been brought about by the "remediation" carried out in Run D. The difference between Print C and Print E represents the reduced [good] or increased [bad] network deficit attributable to said remediation. The nature of any differences may then be analysed at leisure.

 

 

6 - The Proposed Research Subschemas [WORK IN PROGRESS]

As the Konrad2 prototype takes shape, demonstration workshops will be constructed around specific research subschemas. As outlined in the preceding section, each demonstration will involve five passes through the main update program, and the controlling Job Control Language [see outline job pack] will be co-developed with the first of the subschemas to go live. The likely candidate for this honour is .....

 

AKRASIC: The word "akrasia" [Greek ακρασια] means to lack balance in the consciously willed control over one's behaviour [see detailed etymology]. To be "akrasic" [the word may also be softened to "acrasic"] is thus to lack willpower when faced with a temptation or craving of some sort. It is to allow your heart to rule your mind, rather than to obey the rules of rationality, duty, and conscience. As such, the term is the formal descriptor not just for everyday weaknesses of will, but also for the substance-dependency and impulse-control side of psychiatry. The AKRASIC subschema will accordingly mask out data elements [entity types and/or their attributes, and/or their relationship parameters] involved in keeping the system's behaviour within normal limits of consumption. Such a restrictive subschema might (a) help explain the low success rate of lifestyle initiatives across the dependency spectrum [food, drug, alcohol, tobacco, exercise, etc.], and (b) provide a testbed resource for evaluating specific rehabilitative initiatives. The software will allow continuous variable settings for the intensities of both the addictive craving and the simulated willpower, and will thus support either correlational or sample-contrastive research designs.

 

ASIDE: For more on the relationship between desire, emotional experience, and conscious understanding, begin under soul, tripartite in the companion Glossary.

 

 

7 - Prospective Developments

Later versions of the software will gradually add further subschemas to the repertoire. The following are currently in the queue .....

 

AGRAMMATIC: This subschema will mask out data elements involved in converting Konrad's deep praxemic code into grammatically appropriate and fluently delivered surface language, and is designed to assist psycholinguistics researchers interested in the deep mechanisms of speech production in Broca's aphasia. Such a restrictive subschema might (a) help explain the organisation of the brain's language functions, and (b) provide a testbed resource for evaluating specific speech-rehabilitative initiatives.

 

AMNESIC: This subschema will mask out data elements involved in the consolidation [definition] of short-term memory into new long-term memory, and is designed to demonstrate how a failure of the mechanisms by which this process normally takes place can lead to the sufferer becoming subjectively "frozen in time" as a result. Prior familiarity with the neurological condition known as "anterograde amnesia" [see syndrome outline] would be an advantage to researchers planning to use this subschema.

 

APE_MAN: This subschema will mask out data elements involved in converting Konrad's deep praxemic code into grammatically appropriate and fluently delivered surface language, and is designed to assist cognitive anthropologists and evolutionary psychologists model the philogeny of human language skills.

 

ASIDE: Konrad2's logical data model incorporates and is broadly compatible with a number of state-of-the-art models of cognition[1]. It goes to great length to identify the substages of perceptual aesthesis, the contents of phenomenal awareness, and the complex of unconscious and preconscious vectors involved in behavioral initiation. Any of these subprocesses (or permutations of several) can be wholly or partly put out of commission, thus allowing phylogenetically inferior grades of mind to be simulated, even to the extent that one (virtual) Neandertal (say) could be observed communicating to another, long after the extinction of the natural specimens!

 

ASLEEP: In the biological nervous system, sleep is initiated at brainstem level [see process summary], and involves a more or less total interruption of waking-state sensory and motor pathways, periodically accompanied by dreaming processes which, upon awakening, may be only partly reportable. This subschema will mask out data elements critical to waking state cognition, thus allowing the software to simulate both the sleeping and (more interestingly) the dreaming.

 

ASIDE: The fact that all database accesses - regardless of whether they are subsequently subjectively reportable or not - are recorded in the system's Log-File as they occur, means that Konrad2 offers a window on mental activity during dreaming which is not available with biological systems. Konrad2 can tell you what it is "thinking", in other words, without being woken up and interrogated, and it can do this moreover without loss of accessible content due to qualitative or quantitative restrictions on conscious access (or retrieval therefrom) at the time of waking!

 

ASPERGER and AUTISTIC: These subschemas will mask out data elements involved in the process of meta-representation [Glossary], in the hope that this will deprive ongoing cognition of access to a personally discrete and functionally intact self, and thus help account for autistic spectrum dysfunctionality (high and low end respectively). Prior familiarity with autistic spectrum conditions [see syndrome outline] would be an advantage to researchers planning to use this subschema.

 

BORER: In modern English street slang, to "bore" is to attack someone (typically either a member of a rival gang or else an innocent bystander who happens to have "dissed" you) with a knife or larger edged weapon. This subschema will mask out data elements involved in the structures of personality and self concept, in the hope that this will upset the normal balance between societal and peer group pressures to conform. Such a restrictive subschema might (a) help account for the sort of gang violence currently in the news, and (b) provide a testbed resource for evaluating potential remedial proposals.

 

CARELESS: This subschema will mask out data elements involved either in the prevention of skill-based errors [details] (or in the mitigation of their severity if they cannot be prevented). It is intended to assist ergonomics researchers in the field of system, site, or product safety.

 

ASIDE (1): The fact that Konrad2 is an inanimate software simulation allows it to be put in harm's way without the ethical restrictions which constrain accident research with human subjects. For example, this subschema can be used to simulate the effects of triggering variables [e.g., fatigue, distraction, strength of grip, etc.] on the frequency of (virtual) knife slips in the (virtual) elderly, using a simple repeated measures experimental design.

 

ASIDE (2): The fact that the core database can be "rolled back" between trials [as explained in Section 5 above] also means that each new trial can presume equal levels of prior skill. This gives researchers total control over the practice effects which plague repeated measures studies in human subjects [see theoretical discussion].

 

DYSEXECUTIVE: This subschema will mask out data elements involved in the execution of effective mental planning and strategic control, in the hope that this will simulate key aspects of the neurological condition known as dysexecutive syndrome [more on this]. Such a restrictive subschema might (a) help explain the organisation of the brain's highest higher mental functions [Glossary] and (b) provide a testbed resource for evaluating specific neuro-rehabilitative initiatives, both adult and paediatric [more on this].

 

EXTREMIST: This subschema will mask out data elements involved in the structures of personality and self concept (especially those for prospective autobiographical memory), in the hope that this will upset the normal balance between the respective mental vectors for self-preservation and conscientious self-sacrifice. Such a restrictive subschema might (a) help account for the sort of suicidality seen in terrorist bombers, and (b) provide a testbed resource for evaluating potential counter-terrorist proposals.

 

ASIDE: Again, the fact that Konrad2 is an inanimate software simulation relieves researchers of the ethical restrictions which constrain research into human belief and motivation. For example, this subschema could be used to simulate the effects of an attack on a person's religious beliefs without causing the slightest human distress. In addition, the computer's processing speed also allows for the compression of elapsed time, being limited primarily by the research team's ability to prepare the necessary input files in advance.

 

HEARING_VOICES: This subschema will mask out data elements involved in the phenomenon of inner speech [Glossary], in the hope that this will upset the multiple feedback loops involved therein. It is designed to assist research into the cognitive deficit explanation of schizophrenia. Prior familiarity with Frith, Rees, and Friston's (1998) "Forward Model" of mental organisation, and with the role played by efference copy [Glossary] therein, would be an advantage to researchers planning to use this subschema.

 

JARGONAPHASIC: As AGRAMMATIC, but for researchers interested in Wernicke's aphasia.

 

LOW_ACHIEVER: This subschema will mask out data elements involved in the structures of personality and self concept (especially those for prospective autobiographical memory), in the hope that this will upset the normal balance between the respective mental vectors for educational ambition and educational effort. It is designed to assist educational, psychological, and sociological research into the nature of student disaffection with the educational system.

 

ASIDE: The fact that Konrad2 is an inanimate software simulation allows it to be "abused" (in the broadest sense of the word) without the ethical restrictions which constrain research with human subjects. For example, this subschema can be used to simulate the effects of triggering variables [e.g., social deprivation, peer pressure, TV violence, computer games, or what you will] on the frequency of (virtual) disaffection in the (virtual) schoolchild, using a simple repeated measures experimental design.

 

MARYS_ROOM: This subschema will mask out data elements involved in perceptual aesthesis [Glossary], and is designed to make tangible and testable the philosophical issues of perceptual qualia [Glossary] raised by Jackson's (1982) "Mary's Room" thought experiment.

 

OEDIPAL: This subschema will mask out data elements involved in successfully resolving the famous "Oedipus Conflict" stage of early childhood as seen by Freudian Theory [Glossary], in the hope that this might throw light on the validity of that quintessentially Freudian analytic. Prior familiarity with the role played by identification [Glossary] during development, would be an advantage to researchers planning to use this subschema.

 

PAEDOPHILE: This variant of the AKRASIC subschema will mask out data elements involved in keeping the system's sexual behaviour within normal limits of propriety, in the hope that this will upset the normal balance between libidinous desire and its overt expression. Such a restrictive subschema might (a) help better account for predatory sexual behaviour towards minors, and (b) provide a testbed resource for evaluating potential remediation programmes.

 

ASIDE (1): Again, the fact that Konrad2 is an inanimate software simulation relieves researchers of the ethical restrictions which constrain criminological research into the seamier side of human motivation. For example, this subschema could be used to simulate the effects of forced medication without transgressing anybody's human rights.

 

ASIDE (2): The fact that all database accesses - regardless of whether they are subsequently subjectively reportable or not - are recorded in the system's Log-File as they occur, means that Konrad2 offers a window on behavioural motivation which is not available with biological systems. All cognitions become explicitly visible, including (a) those which are known to the subject but deliberately kept secret from the researcher, and (b) those which are more or less unconscious even in the subject. The machine's audit trail, in other words, becomes a truth trail.

 

RAPIST: As for PAEDOPHILE, but without the age-of-victim restriction.

 

SPLIT: This subschema will mask out data elements involved in integrating a single personality and self concept, in the hope that this will deprive ongoing cognition of access to a single point of personal reference. Such a restrictive subschema might help account for some forms of Multiple or Borderline Personality Disorder. This subschema implements a proposal first made at the April 2007 Scientific Meeting of the Welsh Psychiatric Association [see the poster]. Prior familiarity with the psychopathology of dissociation [more on this] would be an advantage to researchers planning to use this subschema.

 

ZOMBIE: This variant of the DYSEXECUTIVE subschema will mask out data elements involved in providing the processes of conscious mental planning and strategic control, and is designed to make tangible and testable the philosophical issues behind mental philosophy's famous "Zombie Test" [Glossary].

 

 

Appendix A - Calcium-Sensitised Medium-Term Memory

 

The main thrust of modern memory research suggests that there are three types of biological memory, namely electrical, structural, and "calcium-sensitised".  The electrical type supports the span of immediate consciousness (two or three seconds), the structural type supports permanent memory, and the calcium-sensitised type provides a means of the former "tagging" the latter with things which have just been accessed and might be needed again within the next hour or so;  it is also the physiological mechanism which underlies the phenomenon of memory consolidation.  It is the calcium-sensitised memory variant which concerns us here, because it allows direct access to items within long term memory, provided only that they are in the necessary state of heightened excitation.

 

This is how we have explained our central technical thesis elsewhere .....

 

"[Our] general conclusion is simply that the database concepts CURRENT OF SET and CURRENT OF RUN can both be implemented biologically.  The former could be implemented by using calcium-switched tagging of the engrams involved, and the latter by whatever full-blown electrical activity constitutes consciousness.  When searched for via a particular set owner, a "current-of-set" set member would always automatically be the "preferred" set member, and would be reaccessable directly, regardless of how much effort it had taken to locate it the hard way in the first place.  Not only would this provide biological memory with a safe method of indexing on several dimensions simultaneously, but it would also, in turn, significantly enhance memory's value as a general purpose cognitive resource, capable of responding adaptively and quickly to the unpredictabilities of the real world" (Smith, 1997e, p11).

 

For more detail, check out the entry for protein kinase studies in the Project Konrad glossary.

 

 

Appendix B - Database Rollback

 

Databases offer their owners a raft of significant benefits, but at the same time the data they contain is rendered highly vulnerable by its sheer size and importance. To reduce this vulnerability, databases routinely come complete with a package of protective measures administered by a dedicated database administration (DBA) team. Two of the most important DBA tasks are (a) to know with absolute certainty what updates have taken place and what updates are still awaiting processing, and (b) to have techniques of recovery available should a particular set of updates be mistakenly processed twice (this is why we so rarely get paid twice at month-end). The technical solution to this need is for every update to be "journalised" as it takes place, that is to say, for every pre-updated record to be copied out into a separate offline file, and time-stamped accordingly. If an error is subsequently detected, the journal file can be re-declared as an input file and used to reverse out each incorrect update, thus returning the database to where it had been originally. This process is known as "rolling back" the database in question.

 

Because it has been implemented as a database, Konrad's network mind can also be rolled back in this way, giving it the power to "unlearn" things it has previously been told about. This is a fundamentally important capability because it is something biological systems cannot do. By then deploying the subschema and rollback facilities together, the basic processing sequence described in Section 5 can be turned into a powerful virtual world where a lifetime's "prior knowledge" can be uploaded in a few minutes, where neurogenic or psychogenic trauma can be switched on and off at will, and where time can go backwards as well as forwards!

 

 

Appendix C - Schemas, Subschemas, and Storage Schemas

 

Between 1969 and 1971, the US Department of Defense's CODASYL committee compiled two major statements of database principles (CODASYL, 1969, 1971; subsequently incorporated into ANSI/SPARC, 1976). These principles were inspired by the single central axiom that the internal complexities of a database should at all times remain totally "transparent" to the end-user. A DBMS, in other words, should allow users to concentrate upon their data rather than upon the tool they happened to be using to view it. This transparency was eventually obtained by implementing the data model in three time-separated sub-stages, each separately programmed, and each passing critical output to the one following. These three stages were as follows .....

 

(1) Set Up a "Database Schema": The first step is to convert the data model into a physically equivalent set of declarations and descriptions known collectively as a "database schema". Unlike the data model, however, the database schema is now in a form which can be stored within, and manipulated by, the DBMS. This is a more technical view of the data than hitherto, and constitutes the first major step in bridging the gap between the data as the user knows it and the hardware on which it is eventually to be stored.

 

(2) Set Up Database "Subschemas": The second step is to create a "departmental" view of the data. This is another technical view, and reflects the fact that no single application program will ever need access to all the available data. Each individual end-user - and that includes even the most senior executives - only needs access to a fraction of the total available data, and for him/her to be shown too much is at best inefficient, and at worst a breach of system security. This "need to know" facility is provided by subsets of the schema known as "subschemas", each one allowing an individual application program to access only the data it is legitimately concerned with. Konrad2 simply borrows this commercially inspired facility, and uses it to create artificially impaired variants of its core database. [Illustrative Argument: If you prevent access to the record types for visual form, then you have gone a long way towards simulating psychic blindness.]

 

(3) Set Up Database "Storage Schemas": The third and final step is to create a "machine level" view of the data. This is achieved by declaring what is known as a "storage schema" to the DBMS, which the DBMS then uses to translate every user-initiated store and retrieve instruction into a set of equivalent physical store and retrieve instructions.

 

 

 



[1] The Konrad2 logical data model is a "lowest common multiple" integration of the following cognitive models: (1) The standard transcoding model of human psycholinguistic processing [more on this]. (2) Cognitive control hierarchies such as those proposed (for humans) by Dennett (1978) and Norman (1990), and (for robots) by Arkin (1990) [more on this] (3) Theories of aesthesis from the Greeks onward [more on this], (4) Theories of perceptual "stages" such as that put forward by Marr (1982) [more on this], (5) Psycho-cybernetic analyses such as that put forward by Frith, Rees, and Friston's (1998) "Forward Model" of mental organisation, (6) Theories of unconscious motivation such as that put forward by Freud [more on this], and (7) Theories of motor behaviour such as those put forward by Miall et al (1993) [more on this].