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If you define consciousness as the ability to integrate information and make novel decisions a computer can do that. But when a computer reads a poem or sees t

If you define consciousness as the ability to integrate information and make novel decisions a computer can do that. But when a computer reads a poem or sees the color blue will it feel it? I suspect that is unlikely. Can a computer take past experiences and combined them into a personal abstract meaning such as grief, love, hate, or ASMR? "...Consciousness corresponds to the capacity of a system to integrate information. This claim is motivated by two key phenomenological properties of consciousness: differentiation – the availability of a very large number of conscious experiences; and integration – the unity of each such experience...." BMC Neuroscience An information integration theory of consciousness: https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2202-5-42#Abs1 https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-...

LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
Give it control over its voltage regulators. Hmmm, that is some nice ripple current...moar ripplez! The bits flip, and it's on a trip :-)
ggggtez 6y ago
>But when a computer reads a poem or sees the color blue will it feel it? I suspect that is unlikely. That's just your meat-person bias. When someone can point to the part of the brain that causes the feeling of "feeling" something, then we'll be that much closer to creating a machine that replicates the behavior.
- SCAQTony 6y ago
  Well, arguably some believe they have. "Consciousness is generated by a distributed thalamocortical network that is at once specialized and integrated: The brain's pre-eminence is now undisputed, and scientists are trying to establish which specific parts of the brain are important. For example, it is well established that the spinal cord is not essential for our conscious experience, as paraplegic individuals with high spinal transactions are fully conscious. Conversely, a well-functioning thalamocortical system is essential for consciousness [15]. Opinions differ, however, about the contribution of certain cortical areas [1, 16–21]. Studies of comatose or vegetative patients indicate that a global loss of consciousness is usually caused by lesions that impair multiple sectors of the thalamocortical system, or at least their ability to work together as a system..." https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2202-5-42#Sec16 https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-...
  - ggggtez 6y ago
    Your quote directly contradicts you. And way to cut out the context of the quote > Ancient Greek philosophers disputed whether the seat of consciousness was in the lungs, in the heart, or in the brain. The brain's pre-eminence is now undisputed Yeah, everyone agrees consciousness is in the brain. Not exactly news. What's worse is if you just keep reading you'll see that the answer they come to is pretty much a cop-out. What exactly interacts with the thalmocortical system? Well, the cortex for starters: > the cerebral cortex is subdivided into systems dealing with different functions, such as vision, audition, motor control, planning, and many others. In other words, basically half of the functions of the brain. This is barely a few steps past where the Greeks got 2000 years ago. The closest we have is it's probably this highly connected system in the brain. But not much more than that. And a quick Google search shows this is not exactly a small piece of brain. The researchers are basically doing guess work. Now I happen to think it sounds like a reasonable hypothesis. But it's a far cry from understanding where the consciousness actually it's located. It's barely more specific than "your noggin". Now, I don't claim to be a neuroscientist... But I have full faith that there is nothing magical happening in there that we can't model with a neural graph.
ggggtez 6y ago
As for ASMR, it's the worst example of the bunch. It's just a physical response to an audio cue. We have that every day all day. If someone yells in your ear, you feel pain. We have audio-induced physical responses all the time, and no one would say that that has anything to do with consciousness.
- SCAQTony 6y ago
  My mileage varies, especially when ASMR sensory information involves whispering and romance.
  - ggggtez 6y ago
    Research shows that eating food puts people in the mood for romance, but no one is going to claim that lunch is required for sentience.
    - hackinthebochs 6y ago
      I'm a p-zombie until I've had my morning coffee

LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago

Give it control over its voltage regulators. Hmmm, that is some nice ripple current...moar ripplez! The bits flip, and it's on a trip :-)

ggggtez 6y ago

>But when a computer reads a poem or sees the color blue will it feel it? I suspect that is unlikely. That's just your meat-person bias. When someone can point to the part of the brain that causes the feeling of "feeling" something, then we'll be that much closer to creating a machine that replicates the behavior.

SCAQTony 6y ago
Well, arguably some believe they have. "Consciousness is generated by a distributed thalamocortical network that is at once specialized and integrated: The brain's pre-eminence is now undisputed, and scientists are trying to establish which specific parts of the brain are important. For example, it is well established that the spinal cord is not essential for our conscious experience, as paraplegic individuals with high spinal transactions are fully conscious. Conversely, a well-functioning thalamocortical system is essential for consciousness [15]. Opinions differ, however, about the contribution of certain cortical areas [1, 16–21]. Studies of comatose or vegetative patients indicate that a global loss of consciousness is usually caused by lesions that impair multiple sectors of the thalamocortical system, or at least their ability to work together as a system..." https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2202-5-42#Sec16 https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-...
- ggggtez 6y ago
  Your quote directly contradicts you. And way to cut out the context of the quote > Ancient Greek philosophers disputed whether the seat of consciousness was in the lungs, in the heart, or in the brain. The brain's pre-eminence is now undisputed Yeah, everyone agrees consciousness is in the brain. Not exactly news. What's worse is if you just keep reading you'll see that the answer they come to is pretty much a cop-out. What exactly interacts with the thalmocortical system? Well, the cortex for starters: > the cerebral cortex is subdivided into systems dealing with different functions, such as vision, audition, motor control, planning, and many others. In other words, basically half of the functions of the brain. This is barely a few steps past where the Greeks got 2000 years ago. The closest we have is it's probably this highly connected system in the brain. But not much more than that. And a quick Google search shows this is not exactly a small piece of brain. The researchers are basically doing guess work. Now I happen to think it sounds like a reasonable hypothesis. But it's a far cry from understanding where the consciousness actually it's located. It's barely more specific than "your noggin". Now, I don't claim to be a neuroscientist... But I have full faith that there is nothing magical happening in there that we can't model with a neural graph.

ggggtez 6y ago

As for ASMR, it's the worst example of the bunch. It's just a physical response to an audio cue. We have that every day all day. If someone yells in your ear, you feel pain. We have audio-induced physical responses all the time, and no one would say that that has anything to do with consciousness.

SCAQTony 6y ago
My mileage varies, especially when ASMR sensory information involves whispering and romance.
- ggggtez 6y ago
  Research shows that eating food puts people in the mood for romance, but no one is going to claim that lunch is required for sentience.
  - hackinthebochs 6y ago
    I'm a p-zombie until I've had my morning coffee