Pattern recognition technologies are of central importance to this. Just as a biological entity acts not on the raw data received from eyes, but on the analyses and hypotheses derived from it, the data from telescopes, microscopes, endoscopes, and every other sort of artificial eye, will be mediated through pattern recognition algorithms designed to make it machine usable.
The essence of pattern recognition is a simple one. Take a collection of examples from a known object; identify the features that appear to be constant in different instances of that object; use those features to identify, at a pragmatically acceptable level of statistical error, other instances of the same object. In some cases, the detection of the pattern itself is the object of the exercise (for example, when monitoring modulations of the hydrogen line in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence) but, even then, if achieved, it will inevitably be applied to subsequent identification of other cases. In this case I’m concerned with those technological applications of pattern recognition that seek to mimic the human senses, with a particular emphasis on visual identification.
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