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means
fellow, mate, friend,
or
partner
.
It originates from late Latin and
literally means
companies,
i.e.
with bread
, an individual close to us,
which is able to give us something (in this case: bread). It is unclear
whether it is a translation from the German word
gahlaiba
, which
mutated in the German language to
hlaib
and finally
Leib
(Eng.: loaf).
Companions are individuals close to us
with bread
that replaced the
old English word
gefera
, the travel companion, which was derived at
from
faran
, and in German to the word
fahren
(drive) and finally to
the word
Gefährte
(which translates into companion, closing the circle
between traveling together and being able to supply with food). What
is also noteworthy is a cross connection to Arabic, because the word
Faran
is a male name, which means baker.
The etymological origin is relevant because current research not
only focuses on technical realization problems, but the nature of possible
relationships between humans and digital companions is under debate.
This was especially expressed in the compilation of contributions
titled “Close Engagements with Artificial Companions,” which was
published by Yorick Wilks in 2010 as a result of a comprehensive
seminar at the Oxford Internet Institute. This compilation investigates
the topic of cognitive-technical intelligence as a constantly available,
selfless and helpful “software agent” from different perspectives
as a future vision more intensively and with more facets than ever
before. Aside from presenting already existing prototypes, work
platforms, and application areas, this discussion gave a lot of room
to ethical, philosophical, social and psychological issues because
all experts taking part in the discussion believe that in just a few
years companion technologies will have enormous communication
capabilities. These communication capabilities will allow for human-
companion interactions in many areas of life such as at work, in
daily life, with regard to health maintenance, mobility, and social
networking through highly selective information flows, which exceed
the capabilities of currently available assistance systems, humanoid
robots, or entertainment technology. This vision emphasizes the
need for a practical theory on companion features that must take
into account the psychological and social capabilities of cognitive-
technical companions with respect to their human users. Companion
technologies will make various sources of information available
(for example, from the internet) for the interaction between humans
and technical systems. Human-companion interactions will not be
identical with human-human interactions, but they will probably be
very similar. This similarity is maybe not due to the humanoid design
of the companion, but the structural similarities of communication
as well as information transfer/processing. When asked to compare
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