The Role of Self-Reference in Human-Computer Interaction

Interdisciplinary research will focus on the principle of self-reference in human-computer interaction combining perspectives of logic, philosophy of language and artificial intelligence (AI). The initial hypothesis is that self-reference is the natural core of human consciousness, to which language is the main gate. Currently, this seems to be proved by both the revival of the strong AI program to create (not just simulate) a self-conscious agent and the huge development of speech technologies. In this context self-reference (and related phenomena, e.g. figurativeness, paradoxes and recursion) will be investigated in natural, formal and programming languages