How do we design systems that lead to generally wholesome states of mind? Having studied some of the psychological observations concerning social media, it is evident that cognitive interventions already feature prominently, generally in a way that fosters addiction, which is an unwholesome state.

However, cognitive interventions can also be incorporated in the design process so as to foster positive states. Furthermore, there are well-established methods, particularly Harvard University’s Project Zero thinking routines that suggest how this might be implemented. This was the subject of my paper: Cultivating sīla Online: the use of Cognitive Interventions in Systems Design, which I presented at the Ninth annual conference of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues. A copy of the paper is available on the conference website, as well as on Academia. 

We may furthermore specify such systems mathematically using a formalism such as process algebra and then specify safety properties in a temporal logic, which we apply to the model for validation. Whereas in the last millennium, formal methods were considered too rarefied for general use, nowadays they have become much more mainstream spear-headed by Petri Nets and the Pi-Calculus.

These are only early intimations, but I’m quite sure this research would be worthwhile.

Introduction

Building the right relationships with the right people applies to any context, offline and online. However, the ability to rapidly make connections on the Internet means we need to be more vigilant to ensure that we remain true to this recommendation. Apart from this, the nature of relationships remains fundamentally the same. We argue that a person is an integrated whole; whether engaged in the physical world or online, there is the one life, albeit played out in multiple facets.

We may pretend to be someone else (as promoted in VR worlds such as Second Life and the metaverse), but these only add layers of maya (illusion) and according to Buddhist teachings, karma accumulates around the same stream of consciousness; after the virtual deed is done, the effects will be experienced by the person, in their constituents (khandhas). The key requirement then is to understand what deeds bring happiness and unhappiness. Do we really need VR?

Given the acceleration driven by socialising online, the creation of amenable networking systems is a difficult challenge and cannot be solved by facile means. We may aim for art, but won’t reach that until we’ve worked hard to find workable, if not the most elegant, solutions. That’s a technical challenge, but we can all work on the problem of happiness. Surely, then, a sensible candidate should be able to reflect closely the nature of human relationships pre-Internet, comprising kinship and non-kinship relationships, which have distinct contextual meaning and grow organically.

Fortunately, there is an architectural model that strongly suggests an architectural framework, one that is based on the Buddha’s teachings to a householder, which I explore on the Sigala research site.

Timeline

To indicate how I’ve reached my present position, I offer a timeline of my involvement in initiatives that relate to this theme.

Nov-Dec 1996

“The MiningCo” – taking back the Web

I was one of the first guides (Buddhism) for the MiningCo (later renamed about.com). This aimed to build a community around thousands of guides applying their expert knowledge to assist with the problem of identifying relevant sites. What I particularly appreciated was the support community within the company itself.

2004-2005

Reflective and Private Blogs

Blogging is normally considered a social affair, but the RAMBLE (Remote authoring of Mobile Blogs for Learning Environments), for which I was principal investigator, trialled private, reflective blogs. Undergraduates were encouraged to write about their learning experiences and share them selectively with tutors and peers. Social can be selective.

Summer 2007

Joined Facebook

I was lulled into opening an account by colleagues.

November 2007

On ‘Friends’ and other associations

Dissatisfied with Facebook’s architecture, I sought a design that would properly support the deepening of human friendship and found inspiration in the Buddha’s teachings, resulting in a post on the EDUCAUSE Connect blog.

December 2010

New Architectures for Sustainability

I consolidated some of my ideas in a paper I gave at the 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science in Thailand. At the heart of the new architectures is a separation of concerns, especially of different kinds of relationships (kinship and non-kinship) rather than lumping every connection into the ‘friend’ type.

2011 –

Sigala Project

Named after the householder who received the Buddha’s teachings (though with flexible pronunciation!), the project was started, initially as theoretical research.

September 2021

Cultivating Sīla Online: The Use of Cognitive Interventions in Systems Design

This substantial paper, which I gave at Oriel College, Oxford, brings together many elements that I have been exploring. It provides assurance that the software development can now proceed.

My original motivation for studying Abhidhamma was to seek some rigour as I approached the nebulous area commonly referred to as ‘mind, brain and consciousness’. Since developing the Sigala project, I have narrowed this down to the consideration of safety-critical aspects in human cognitive processes. By safety, I mean protection from serious human loss across the khandhas i.e. body, feelings, perceptions, memory and mental formations and consciousness.

Abhidhamma says a lot about processes, so my basic idea is to identify key (safety-critical) processes in the lifecycle of social media use and then seek to model them formally in terms of Abhidhamma processes involved. Such processes may typically be characterised as wholesome, unwholesome or neutral — and can be broken down to the micro level — as cetasikas (‘thought moments’).

The mind maps below are offered as an aid to navigating just a portion, concerning some of the more well-known aspects. They were created using XMind on a Mac (for other systems, you may need to choose another font for viewing).

Please download the zip file and then unzip the archive. This should provide you with five files:

• mātikā (classification of terms): matika.xmind
• citta (consciousness, heart/mind) : citta.xmind
• cetasika (mental properties): cetasika.xmind
• paccaya (conditions): paccaya.xmind
• vīthi (processes): viithi.xmind

Application to cognitive activities

How do we design systems that lead to generally wholesome states? We may use cognitive interventions!

Feel free to get in touch with queries via the contact form, though please note I am not an expert in Abhidhamma!