Anthropocentrism in Software Design: A New Reference Problem in the Design of Intelligent Sociotechnical Systems?

Anthropocentrism is an innate socio-cultural trait of human behavior, which influences our everyday activities and social interactions. For this reason, it is reasonable to assume that anthropocentrism also influences software design. We define anthropocentrism in software design as viewing and interpreting every software design aspect in terms of human experience and values. This phenomenon becomes more evident in the design of intelligent systems due to the numerous analogies and expectations concerning the behavior of humans and machines that are likely to arise in such a context. By the example of an experimental intelligent manufacturing project, we point out some of the anthropocentric design elements that are likely to pervade intelligent system architectures in similar circumstances. We then propose further research questions aimed at clarifying whether anthropocentrism in software design is indeed a new reference problem and whether it can be regarded as an architectural force.