Topic 13 & 14 IDSC

Why is Bias important for humans?

It helps us process massive amounts of sensory data quickly for survival, even if decisions are imperfect.

What is the main limitation of the human brain?

Not storage (2.5 petabytes), but categorization, retrieval, and processing speed.

What are the four main Brain Challenges?

Process massive sensory input, Catergorize/store info, Act fast, Find meaning (even when none exists)

What is ambiguity Bias?

Preference for known outcomes over unknown ones

What is Survival Deviation?

Focusing on successful outcomes instead of missing failures (WWII airplane)

What are Heuristics?

The way humans use bias, tendencies, and shortcuts to make

decisions. Understanding these shortcuts can aid in design.

• Its design can apply to physical product design, store layout, point of sale/kiosk devices, website design, etc.

What is the Choice Architecture?

Designing choices to influence decisions

What is Availability (Choice Architecture - Heuristics)?

We use whatever information is easily accessible to create judgments.

What is Social Proof (Choice Architecture - Heuristics)?

basically, recommendations and ratings work!

What is Anchoring (Choice Architecture - Heuristics)?

25% off might induce us to buy a product, even when a similar product next to it is the same price.

What is Scarcity (Choice Architecture - Heuristics)?

Limited availability increases perceived value. “Only two tickets remain at this price.”

What is Framing (Choice Architecture - Heuristics)?

Presentation of information affects decisions: Price, color, and other attributes can influence our perception of quality, value, etc.

What is the Skinner Box?

Experiment showing random rewards increase engagment

Why are Random Rewards effective?

They trigger dopamine due to uncertainty and anticipation

What are Loot Boxes?

Randomized rewards in games that exploit bias

• Incentives

• Randomness

• Scarcity (limited time)

• Collections (need for completion)

This, combined with other Human Bias such as Loss Aversion, Gambler’s Fallacy, Sunk Cost Fallacy, and Illusion of Cont,rol can create powerful motivation – similar to gambling addiction

What is Statistical Bias?

Errors from sampling or improper methods

What is Contextual Bias?

Bias influence by media or academics

What are Prejudices?

Biases like racism, sexism, etc.

What is Prompt-injection (risk)?

Compromising generated AI by entering prompts that cause it to behave in unintended ways.

What is Data poisoning (risk)?

Deliberately feeding incorrect data to an AI so that it generates incorrect results.

What are AI Hallucinations?

AI generating false but convincing information

What is e-Waste?

Discarded electronic devices are causing environmental harm:

• air pollution

• water pollution

• soil pollution

• information security

• even human exploitation

What is Green - IT?

Using computing resources in ways that help reduce energy and operating costs and reduce environmental impact.

What are the main e-Waste Problems?

• High volumes

• Toxic

• Poor design and complexity

• Labor issues

• Financial incentives

• Lack of regulation

What is Moore’s Law

Chip performance per dollar doubles every 18 months,

• Less of a law and more of an observation

• applies to processors and chip-based storage

• Intel believes it is slowing down to a doubling rate of 2.5 years (still fast)

What is random-access memory (RAM)?

The fast, chip-based volatile storage in a computing device.

What is volatile memory?

Storage that is wiped clean when power is cut off from a device.

What is nonvolatile memory?

Storage that retains data even when powered down.

What is flash memory?

Nonvolatile, chip-based storage

What is a solid state electronics?

Semiconductor-based devices.

What is a semiconductor?

A substance such as silicon dioxide used inside most computer chips that is capable of enabling and inhibiting the flow of electricity.

What is Sustained Exponential Growth?

Continuous rapid growth driven by technological shifts

What causes exponential tech growth?

Paradigm shifts (transistor to integrated circuit to on and on)

What is price elasticity?

Rate at which the demand for a product or service fluctuates with price change.

List the waves of computing

Mainframe, Minicomputer, PC, Internet, Smartphone, and Pervasive computing

What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?

A vision where low-cost sensors, processors, and communication are embedded into a wide array of products and our environment, allowing a vast network to collect data, analyze input, and automatically coordinate collective action.

What are microcontrollers?

Special-purpose computing devices that don’t have an operating system and can’t do as much as general-purpose computers or smartphones.

What is a bit?

computer expression of data (0 or 1) and telecommunication capacity (bandwidth in bps)

What is a byte?

a unit of storage ( = 8 bits)

What is a kilobyte?

1,000 bytes

What is a gigabyte?

1 billion bytes

What is a terabyte?

1 trillion bytes

What is a petabyte?

1 quadrillion bytes

Why might Moore’s Law slow?

Heat, size limits, and quantum tunneling

What are multicore microprocessors?

Contain two or more calculating processor cores on the same piece of silicon.

outperform a single speedy chip, while running cooler and

drawing less power.

• Now mainstream, and today nearly all smartphones, PCs, and laptops sold have them.

• Can run older software written for single-brain chips by using only one core at a time.

What is quantum computing?

Computing using qubits for massive processing

What is pervasive computing?

Computing embedded everywhere in daily life,

What is Post Scarcity?

A world where goods are abundant and cheap due to automation

Are humans merging with technology?

Yes, through wearables, implants, and constant connectivity

What is Bias?

A mental shortcut the brain uses to process overwhelming information quickly, often leading to systematic errors in thinking

What is Priming (Choice Architecture - Heuristics)?

If you see the word hand in front of fis_, your brain will fill in the word fist. If you saw swim, your brain would fill in fish.

What is Endowed Progress Effect (Choice Architecture -Heuristics)?

A loyalty card that starts with two free stamps in a buy ten get one free program.

What is Gamification

Certain human biases like loss aversion, gambler’s fallacy, sunk cost fallacy, and illusion of control can magnify the effect of random rewards

What is Loss Aversion

losses are as much as twice as powerful, psychologically, as gains.

What is Gambler’s Fallacy

Belief that an event is more or less likely, given a previous series of events.

What is Sunk Cost Fallacy?

believing that prior investments justify further expenditures.

What is Illusion of Control?

tendency for people to overestimate their ability to influence outcomes.

What is Energy Star Program?

Standards for computers & servers

What is Right to Repair?

Proposed legislation & Apple Reversal

What is a microprocessor?

Part of the computer that executes the instructions

of a computer program.

What is Solid state drive (SSD)?

a chip-based, nonvolatile storage device.

What is optical fiber line?

High-speed glass or plastic-lined networking cable used in telecommunications.

• doubles every 9 months (bits per second)

What are fabs?

Semiconductor fabrication facilities.

What are Silicon wafers?

Thin, circular slice of material used to create semiconductor device.

What is Quantum Tunneling?

This happens when the distance between pathways in silicon chips becomes too small, and tightly packing pathways together creates problems related to size, heat, and power.

• Moore’s law is possible because they get smaller, however they shouldn’t get too small

What are Visual Biases and Optical Illusions

Our Visual System, photo receptors & brain processing –basically hardware/software that allows us to interpret the light we receive.

What are Lateral Inhibitions (Visual Bias/Illusion)?

A form of object recognition where our retinal ganglia are organized to see contrast and give extra attention to edges

What is Face Perception (Visual Bias/Illusion)?

Human tendency to focus on the eyes & mouth first for expression analysis, then on the lips for speech analysis, then on features for name recognition (prosopagnosia – face blindness).

What are conflicts of interest?

Funding bias, regulatory issues, favoritism, etc.

What are the Ethics of Behavioral Design?

• Understand and support customer goals (not just profitability)

• Provide transparency when behavior design is used

• Use Behavioral Design for persuasion, not coercion (moral autonomy)

• Create capabilities for consumers to nudge themselves (favorites, reminders, etc.), supporting individual human agency

• Use Gamification for consumer engagement, not sales generation

• Align Designs with Social Good (Health, Wellness, Ecology, etc.)

What are the tools to eliminate bias?

• Scientific Control

• Experimental Design/Research Design

• Positive Controls – compared to a well-established test

• Negative Controls – e.g., Placebo

• Randomization

• Statistical Replication

• Blind

• Double Blind

Or in other words, good experimental design