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"How do I know what I think until I see what I say?"
(E.M. Forster)


"Thoughts you may have" is a research that look into the existence and possibility of regenerating what Augustine of Hippo describe as "Soliloquium " — our Inner Dialogue.

It started as part of "The Future of Writing" project, commissioned by the Microsoft research in cambridge, UK. In the brief we where asked to "experiment with new tools for authoring"... "to re-define the relations between public and private authorship". My desire was to reintroduce writing as a form of thinking, and as the research advanced it became clear that thinking and writing are not only the "twins of mental life"* they can actually produce a possible form of it.

To represent those aspects of "life", I first developed a unique word processor that emulate the way our mind make use of words (based on the 1900's psychologist Lev Vygotsky's claim that "words die as they bring forth thoughts"). Combined with emerging text prediction technologies, in the future, it will be possible to create a computer generated stream of thoughts — Thus having our new possible thinking self.

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In a series of experiments that ends with a religious confession, the use of this new authoring tool reveals unique patterns and configurations that distinguish this way of writing. The new space becomes self and social exploration tool.

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More about the research in here

Having a virtual thought, opens a pathway to a new social space where people can manage their externalized thinking streams. This space is called — Cogitos (Cogitos - a plural form of René Descartes' cogito - "I think there for I am").

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Press here to overview cogitos

Cogitos is a possible thinking space - a social network of virtual thinking selves that evolve through different interactions, rules and inputs. It continues to evolve even long after we have left this world.




* The Psychology of Writing, Ronald T. Kellogg, Oxford University Press, USA, 1999

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"Thoughts You May Have" is part of "The Future of Writing" research commisioned by "Microsoft Research Labs" in Cambridge from the Design Interaction Department at the Royal Colege of Art. The research directed towards narrative creation and authorship, new tools for authoring, and the relations between public and private authorship.

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