AI Consciousness Credit:linkedin.com
Introduction
For a long time, scientists and philosophers have argued that AI-Machines will eventually reach consciousness. With the right programming, computers could be functionally capable of independent thought and experience. They need to process enough information or have the right kind of self-representational model to experience the world individually, thereby generating output that supports humans in their decision-making and cognitive activity. According to a 2017 article in Psychology Today, psychology was born as a science during the Enlightenment with two different metaphysical systems dealing with human consciousness which may also be represented by the human mind. One was the Christian worldview which did not blend well with scientific frameworks regarding cause and effect. The second framework was a Newtonian matter-in-motion view, with the idea that the only thing that is real is matter in motion.
What is Consciousness?
The modern English term ‘consciousness’ is derived from the Latin word conscious: ‘knowing and being aware.’ It includes awareness of one’s environment and an individual’s unique thoughts, memories, feelings and sensations. One of the problems with the study of consciousness is the lack of a universally accepted definition. Descartes proposed the idea of cogito ergo sum (‘I think, therefore I am’), which suggested that the very act of thinking demonstrates the reality of one’s existence and consciousness. Today, consciousness is typically defined as awareness of oneself and the world. However, there are still debates about the different aspects of this awareness. Neuroscientists, for example, use brain-scanning technology to seek out specific neurons that might be linked to different conscious events. Based on this research two theories addressing issues of consciousness have evolved:
Integrated Information Theory
This approach looks at consciousness by learning more about the physical processes that underlie our conscious experiences. The theory attempts to create a measure of the integrated information that forms consciousness. Hence, the quality of an organism’s consciousness is represented by its integration of information. This theory tends to focus on whether an experience is conscious and to what degree it represents consciousness.
Global Workspace Theory
This theory suggests that we have a memory from which the brain draws information creating the experience of conscious awareness. While the integrated information theory focuses more on identifying whether an organism is conscious, the global workspace theory offers a much broader approach to understanding how consciousness works.
In contrast to this neuroscientific framework, in 1974 the American philosopher Thomas Nagel posed the question ‘What is it like to be a bat?’ His publication became the basis of a seminal thesis on consciousness that argued why the subjective character of conscious experiences cannot be described by the neural processes of brain activity.
Will Machines Ever Be Conscious?
In an article published by Facebook (Now Meta) in late December 2019, Christof Koch, a well-known researcher at the Allen Institute of Brain Science states that artificial intelligence may equal human intelligence without matching the true nature of our experiences. Although experts disagree over what exactly constitutes intelligence, most accept that – sooner or later – computers will achieve what is termed Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). However, can programmable computers ever be conscious? From a neuroscientific point-of-view, there is little doubt that our intelligence and our experiences are inevitable consequences of the causal powers of our brain. But what can we expect from the evolution of artificial intelligence towards artificial consciousness? When someone is presented with an image, a wave of neural excitation is triggered that spreads throughout the neuronal workspace of our brain. That wave becomes available to a host of subsidiary processes such as language, planning, reward circuits, access to long-term memory as well as storage of short-term memory. According to Christoph Koch, the act of broadcasting this information throughout our brain defines consciousness. The Global Workspace Theory fully embraces the contemporary theory of the near-infinite powers of computation. The alternative path – The Integrated Information Theory – takes a more fundamental approach to define consciousness.
The Mind-Body Debate
The mind is about mental processes, thought and consciousness. The body is about the physical aspects of the brain-neurons and how the brain is structured. Is the mind part of the body or the body part of the mind? If they are distinct, then how do they interact and which of the two is in charge? Human beings are physical objects. They have weight, solidity and consist of a variety of solids, liquids and gases. However, unlike other material objects, humans can also form judgments and reason regarding their existence. In short they have ‘minds’. Also referred to as ‘Dualism’ this view states that the mind and body both exist as separate entities. 17th century philosopher René Descartes argued that the mind interacts with the body at the pineal gland. This form of dualism or duality proposes that the mind controls the body, but that the body can also influence the otherwise rational mind. Some biologists argue that the mind does not exist because there is no physical structure called the mind and that the brain will ultimately be found to be the mind. In their view the brain with its structures, cells and neural connections identifies the mind. They use the computer analogy of AI, arguing that the brain can be compared to a computer that is ‘wired’ or connected to the human body. The mind is therefore like software, allowing a variety of different software programs to run on the computer. This idea also ties in with cognitive thinking processes such as planning, knowledge generation or decision-making. Hence, computer analogies may provide a new version of dualism replacing Descartes ‘I think therefore I am’, with ‘I compute therefore I know’.
A Neuroscience View
According to a 2021 research paper the mind and brain are two very different but interconnected entities. The mind works through the brain but is separated from the brain. The mind uses the brain, and the brain responds to the mind. The mind also changes the brain. However, experience cannot be reduced to the brain’s actions alone. The mind is energy, and it generates energy through thinking, feeling and choosing. It is our aliveness without which the physical brain and body would be useless. This building of thoughts creates structural changes in the brain, also defined as neuroplasticity. According to this view, the brain is responding to the person’s stream-of-consciousness as well as nonconscious activity. The mind is a stream of conscious activity when we are awake, and a stream of nonconscious activity when we are asleep. Hence, the mind is characterized by a triad of thinking, feeling and choosing. When you think you will feel, and when you think and feel, you will choose. These three elements always work together as the brain is an extremely complex neuroplastic responder. This means that each time the brain is stimulated by one’s mind, it responds in various ways which includes neurochemical, genetic and electromagnetic responses. This in turn changes the structures of the brain, building or wiring new neural circuits. Hence, the brain changes with every new experience you have. Your mind is how you, as a unique individual, experience life. It is responsible for how you think, feel, and choose. Your physical brain merely responds to these unique experiences. A recent study looked to identify how memories and perceptions are constructed differently at the neurobiological level. When we perceive something, visual cues undergo layers of processing in the visual cortex that increase in complexity. Neurons in earlier parts of this process fire more precisely than those that get involved later. In the study, researchers found that during memory recall, neurons fired in a much blurrier way through all the neural layers.
Conclusion
The mind can be defined as one’s capacity to be aware of the world, and to experience and feel with the faculty of consciousness and thought. Technological metaphors have often been used to explain the mind. John Locke described an infant’s mind as a blank slate and Freud compared the mind to hydraulic and electro-magnetic systems. Today’s favourite metaphor defines the mind as a computer. We tend to think that perceptual experiences tell us what the external world is all about, without being influenced by our own mind. However, recent empirical research indicates that this is not true. Our beliefs, expectations and other mental states can causally influence what we experience.