Cognitive Overflow?

(U) The SIGINT Philasapher: Cngnitive Dverflaw? FROM: (nirvana)? Run Date: [i4f15i2fi11 (U) There's a camputer sitting atap yaur shaulders. Granted, real camputers can apparently best human brains an Jeep ardy with ease, but all the Since Naam Chamsky and his caharts at MIT up ened the flaadgates tn the study af haw we think, cagnitive has came a lung way. Althaugh the ensuing decades af research have highlighted the astaunding cap abilities af aur gray matter, the field has alsa exp used the limitatians aur brains are subject ta. It may be warth cansidering the implicatians these limitatians have far c-ur wark in SID. (U) "Channel cap acity" is the term same cagnitive have begun ta apply tn the brain's limits an the amaunt af certain infarmatian it can retain. Far instance, research shaws that the average persan can anly differentiate between 5-9 different tunes, shapes, ar textures at a given time. Any mare, and aur capacity ta categarixe becames avertaxed, and we begin ta make mistakes. In ather wards, the servers averlc-ad. It is yet anather example af haw unprepared humans are, in evalutianary terms, far the infarmatian age. Evalutianary bialagist Sherwaad Washburn ance wrate: (U) "Mast af human evalutian taak place befare the advent af agriculture, when we lived in small graups, face-ta-face. Man evalved ta feel strangly ahaut few peaple, shart distances, and relatively brief intervals. (U) The questian then becames: If an individual brain has fimte "Channel cap acity," dues the vast callective pf camprised af thausands af br?liant, yet limited, brains alsa have a defimte "channel capacity"? If sa, what is it? Haw da we knew when we've reached it? What if we've already exceeded it? In essence, cauld Sl?'s reach exceed its grasp? Can the cambined cagnitive pawer pf 51]] cannect all the necessary dats ta avaid, predict, ar advise when the imprabable, camplex, c-r unthinkable happens? (U) Take far example the number af taals, clearances, systems, campliances, and admimstrative requirements we encaunter befare we even begin ta engage in the wark cf the missian itself. The missian then invalves an ever? expanding set af camplex issues, targets, accesses, and cap abilities. The "cagnitive burden," sa ta speak, must at times feel averwhelming ta same af us. The 51]] is an arganism with many maving parts. Sn haw da we ensure aur SIGINT potential is in line with, and daesn't averwhelm aur callective cagnitive capacity? Can we caunt an aur averarching SID mechanism ta self-regulate, ta arganically cull, sart, and retain? Dr is there perhaps samething extra we aught ta be daing ta ensure we aperate at full explaitative and analytic farce? (U) Surely sameane will paint but that the burgeaning amalgam af technalagical advances w?l aid us in shauldering the burden. Hawever, histarically, this scenaria daesn't seem ta campletely bear but. The c-nslaught af mc-re camputing pawer?-aften intended tc- autamate sc-me pracesses--has in many respects demanded an expansian af aur cambined "channel cap aeity," rather than curbing the flaw cf the infarmatian that's necessary ta retain. (U) It's an issue warth thinking abaut and discussing. In the meantime, I'll be warking an my character Editar's nc-te: See a Tapiaca Pebble c-n this tapic.