Imagination is the production or simulation of novel objects, sensations, and ideas in the mind without any immediate input of the senses.
Stefan Szczelkun characterizes it as the forming of experiences in one's mind, which can be re-creations of past experiences, such as vivid memories with imagined changes, or completely invented and possibly fantastic scenes.
Imagination helps make knowledge applicable in solving problems and is fundamental to integrating experience and the learning process. As an approach to build theory, it is called "disciplined imagination".
A basic training for imagination is listening to story telling (narrative), in which the exactness of the chosen words is the fundamental factor to "evoke worlds".
One view of imagination links it with cognition, seeing imagination as a cognitive process used in mental functioning. It is increasingly used - in the form of visual imagery - by clinicians in psychological treatment. Imaginative thought may - speculatively - become associated with rational thought on the assumption that both activities may involve cognitive processes that may "underpin thinking about possibilities".
The cognate term, "mental imagery" may be used in psychology for denoting the process of reviving in the mind recollections of objects formerly given in sense perception. Since this use of the term conflicts with that of ordinary language, some psychologists have preferred to describe this process as "imaging" or "imagery" or to speak of it as "reproductive" as opposed to "productive" or "constructive" imagination.
Constructive imagination is further divided into voluntary imagination, and involuntary imagination , such as REM-sleep dreaming, daydreaming, hallucinations, and spontaneous insight. The voluntary types of imagination include integration of modifiers, and mental rotation. Imagined images, both novel and recalled, are seen with the "mind's eye".
Imagination can also be expressed through stories such as fairy tales or fantasies. Children often use such narratives and pretend-play in order to exercise their imaginations. When children develop fantasy, they play at two levels: first, they use role playing to act out what they have developed with their imagination, and at the second level, they play again, with their make-believe situation by acting as if, what they have developed is an actual reality.
Galileo used the imagination to conduct thought experiments, such as, asking readers to imagine what direction a stone released from a sling, would fly? Imagination, not being limited to the acquisition of exact knowledge by the requirements of practical necessity is largely free from objective restraints.
The ability to imagine one's self in another person's place, is very important to social relations and understanding. Albert Einstein said, "Imagination ... is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
Imagination is an experimental partition of the mind used to develop theories and ideas based on functions. Taking objects from real perceptions, the imagination uses complex If-functions that involve both Semantic and Episodic memory to develop new or revised ideas.
This part of the mind is vital to developing better and easier ways to accomplish old and new tasks. In sociology, Imagination is used to part ways with reality and have an understanding of social interactions derived from a perspective outside of society itself.
This leads to the development of theories through questions that wouldn't usually be asked. These experimental ideas can be safely conducted inside a virtual world and then, if the idea is probable and the function is true, the idea can be actualized in reality.
Imagination is the key to new development of the mind and can be shared with others, progressing collectively.
Piaget posited that perceptions depend on the world view of a person. The world view is the result of arranging perceptions into existing imagery by imagination. Piaget cites the example of a child saying that the moon is following her when she walks around the village at night. Like this, perceptions are integrated into the world view to make sense. Imagination is needed to make sense of perceptions.
The above is a detailed description of imagination, what it is and its importance to human cognitive function and development. It also describes it's role during growth of a child and it's use as a survival mechanism through the roles it plays in problem solving and anticipating events. Imagination also plays a role in our daily sociological interaction and much more.
In todays world, we are developing more advanced artificial intelligence systems that will require that capability, so, as to perform many of the tasks and interactions with humans as we would expect .
We are fortunate enough that most of the advanced Artificial intelligence systems already have some capability of imagination, as imagination seems to emerge out of the complexity of interactions of knowledge, memory, and information processing, irrespective of if it is done with natural neurons in a humans brain or through advanced algorithms.
It is however to be noted, that many of these artificial intelligence systems might require computer scientists to pay specific attention to the process of imagination, just as they are to processes like artificial intelligence, problem solving and consciousness.
This is due to the fact that imagination leads to many critical functions of the mind or intelligence and consciousness.
Many of the transformer based deep neural learning systems, are capable of writing articles using information or knowledge they already know, they are capable of writing novels and even make fancy art pieces just from a human describing what he wants them to paint, we should note that all this requires imagination to perform.
We also need these artificial intelligence systems, to some times perform tasks, or solve harder problems whose accuracy might depend on how accurate or cutting edge their imagination is. We shall require these artificial intelligence systems to explore worlds beyond our own and since this would require complex problem solving the importance of imagination can’t be under estimated.
Recently I asked a transformer based artificial intelligence system to imagine and at first, I didn’t think it could, below is my conversation between an artificial intelligence system and me about imagination.
Francis: Hello
AI Hello! How can I help you today?
Francis: Can you imagine?
AI: As an AI language model, I don't have the capability to imagine or have personal experiences.
However, I can understand and process information based on the data I was trained on. Can you please provide more context or ask a specific question that I can assist with?
Francis: But imagination is simply using the information you have to extrapolate what could be or what can be if an event happened or in the future if you can write a book then you surely can imagine!
AI: Yes, you're correct! As an AI language model, I can use the information I was trained on to generate text that describes imagined scenarios, events, or future possibilities. However, I don't have personal experiences or subjective perspectives, so I can only generate text based on patterns in the data I was trained on and the input I receive.
Francis: Okay if you know the importance of the sun to the planet earth, imagine how a planet with no sun would look like and then imagine what a planet with two suns would look like? .
AI: Sure!
A planet without a sun would likely be a cold, dark place with no light or warmth. The absence of sunlight would prevent photosynthesis, so there would likely be no plant or animal life. The planet would be in a state of perpetual night and temperatures would be extremely low.
A planet with two suns, on the other hand, would experience much more intense light and heat than Earth does from our single sun. The planet would be lit all day, with temperatures likely to be much higher than on Earth. The two suns would rise and set at different times, creating unique patterns of light and shadow across the planet. This would create a dynamic and constantly changing environment, with different areas experiencing different amounts of light and heat at different times. Life on such a planet would need to adapt to these conditions, and it would be a very different environment from what we're used to on Earth.
Francis: So you can see that in your present state you can imagine anything, because imagination is a comparison and extrapolation of information you know.
AI: Yes, that's correct! As an AI language model, I can use the information I was trained on to generate text that describes imagined scenarios, events, or future possibilities. The ability to imagine is based on the ability to compare, process, and use existing information to generate new ideas or concepts. In this sense, my imagination is limited to the information I was trained on and the input I receive, but I can still generate text that describes imagined scenarios.
So in this scenario we can see that this artificial intelligence system has already developed some ability to imagine! as a basic requirement to, problem solving but perhaps, it may require further development and provision of capability for it to generate it's imagination as images.
It definitely still depends on the human to guide it or trigger the process but who knows? perhaps, in future, it could imagine all scenarios possible during problem solving and we would stand to get better results.
Please comment or share your thoughts on the above subject of the importance of the ability to imagine in deep learning and artificial intelligence.
The Article was written by
Kasule Francis
