Adaptive function allocation by intelligent interfaces

Intelligent interfaces act as translational intermediaries between humans and machines while themselves representing a third component in the human-interfacemachine triad. They seek to maximize the collaborative capabilities of human and machine through the communication of mutual queries and actions in symbols best suited to the respective entity involved. This triad is directed to the achievement of a range of external goals. Attainment of such goals is best served by the enhancement of mutual adaptive capability of the individual components of the human-interface-machine triad and of the triad itself as a supraordinate unit. Within collective action, the question of who does what, when and with whom is best seen as a problem in adaptive allocation. This question is itself a subset of the general problem of function allocation which is arguably the foundation of human-machine interaction. This work advocates modular customization of the intelligent interface as a solution to the impasse that derives from previous and failed descriptive approaches to the allocation question.