Predictional Logic in Programming?

Question

I was thinking about how in the probably distant future many people think that we wont rely on physical input (i.e. keyboard) as much because the technology that reads brain waves (which already exists to some extent) will be available. Kinda scares me....anyway, I while I was daydreaming about this, the idea came to me that: what if a programmer could implement logic in their code to accurately predict the users intentions and then carry out the intended operation with no need for human interaction. I am not looking for anything specific, I'm just a little curious as to what anyone's thoughts are.

Answer 1

Many of the "predictive" logic which is done currently is through statistical techniques.

For example, in some applications, frequently used menu items can be prominently displayed while less-used features will be hidden until the user explicitly asks to view all available features.

However, this does not mean that they can read your mind.

In order for statistical models to work, they need to have some kind of training period. This also works because we tend to perform actions in patterns. For example, the chances that you'll wake up in the morning, brush your teeth and have coffee tomorrow is going to be very likely if you've performed that for 10 days out of the past 10 days.

Here's some topics which may be of interest:

• Viterbi algorithm
• Hidden Markov model

Would there be ways in the future to predict ones' thoughts in the future? Possibly. But there is going to be some difficulty because humans aren't always predictable. That's why repetitive tasks that don't require much thought can be automated by robots, while tasks which require cognitive thought such as programming can't be replaced by machines.

That brings up another thought -- what if there was a program which could accurately predict what a programmer wanted to write? Would there then be a need for programmers? Furthermore, wouldn't that mean that a program was actually able to think?

Answer 2

On the more practical side, my first thought was programs that observe the user's behaviour, and connect via the net to share and aggregate that knowledge, e.g.

"Abort, retry or cancel? (9 out of 10 users choose Abort - press Enter to do the same)"

Is "predictional" a word?

Answer 3

I would think that a lot of training would be required before such a system could work. Speculative execution of human tasks is not easy.

Answer 4

If only the computer could also roll your memories back, it would appear to predict correctly every single time!

(see Backtracking)

Answer 5

Take a look at the definition of DWIM (Do What I Mean).