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I happened to be reading The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter at the same time, and both of them point at exactly t
by splike 10y ago
I happened to be reading The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter at the same time, and both of them point at exactly this being the reason for consciousness. I was stunning at how both reached the same conclusion, that consciousness arrises from recursion of self perception, from very different points.
Also, if anyone is watching Westworld (spoilers), it seems to come to the same conclusion funnily enough. What finally gives the androids consciousness is some kind of recursive idea of listening to themselves.
- padobson 10y agoMichael Crichton, who wrote and directed the original Westworld (also of Jurassic Park fame), describes the same idea in his novel Prey[0], which is about emergent AI from swarms of self-replicating nano-bots. 0. https://www.amazon.com/Prey-Michael-Crichton/dp/0061703087/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481114448&sr=8-1&keywords=prey+michael+crichton https://www.amazon.com/Prey-Michael-Crichton/dp/0061703087/r...
- TFortunato 10y agoRe Westworld: The theory of consciousness explored in the show is explored in more detail in Jaynes' The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, as alluded to both in the show and in the title of the final episode. I've just picked it up, and it's a pretty interesting read so far. I've also noticed that a lot of little details from the book used in the show, such as referring to memories as "reveries" at points, and talking of minds as "hosts" of consciousness. I may need to re-watch the show after finishing the book! I found a pdf version of the book here if you are interested. http://selfdefinition.org/psychology/Julian-Jaynes-Origin-of-Consciousness-Breakdown-of-Bicameral-Mind.pdf http://selfdefinition.org/psychology/Julian-Jaynes-Origin-of...