12/31/2023 0 Comments Sentience vs consciousness![]() Traditionally, consciousness has been exiled to the realm of unfalsifiable hypotheses, because of the notoriously difficult problem of even trying to come up with a concrete theory. Many people are drawn to it, myself included, because it is a huge gap in our knowledge of the world, and there is much progress to be made and facts to uncover. Some neuroscientists think consciousness is an emergent property of extremely complex systems, meaning that it just…kinda appeared when brains got complicated enough. As stated, consciousness is a very loaded word, and people can mean a lot of different things when they mention it, such as feelings, being aware, being self-aware, thinking, and experiencing. It kind of just feels like you are this thing, looking out from these two eyes, controlling a body, and thinking. I know this answer is not exactly the ~ sexy~ one, but I cannot in good faith give you a half baked or “hooplah” answer - science simply does not know right now, and it would be wrong to claim it does.įrom a phenomenological standpoint, we can however describe what it is like to be conscious and not. We have a few theories that still need to be empirically tested, but there is no firm answer. Patricia Churchland, and is important because, as of September 2021, we have absolutely no idea what consciousness is, composed of, or where it comes from we can barely define it, let alone reproduce it. The more you study it, the more times you misspell the word “consciousness”.Anyone that tries to claim they have understood the nature of consciousness or unlocked its secrets is most likely wrong, and/or trying to sell you something.There are two things that I have kept in mind when researching and trying to understand the conscious mind: It is even a joke in our Lab that we do not talk about consciousness, because it is such a loaded term and one that frequently employed without strict discipline as to what is actually being referenced. This post is an attempt to go beyond the hype about AI and consciousness and give a nice overview of what questions real life AI and neuroscience labs ask, and to try to eliminate some of the “hand-waviness” of discussions of AI and consciousness. That is, as these models get more an more complex, are they approaching something that is… conscious? Notice this is a rather loaded question, and human-like could mean many different things however, I feel intuitively that when most people ask this question, it leans towards taking on a connotation of consciousness. New, powerful models of vision, understanding, attention, and language are emerging at breakneck speed, and as they progress towards being more human-like, inevitably the question of “just how human-like are they?” emerges. I really do think we are living in a golden age of computational neuroscience. ― Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness “I exist, that is all, and I find it nauseating.” Part I: What is Consciousness? Spoiler Alert: No one knows. Also note: this series is in no way affiliated with MIT or its brand - I just like writing on the weekends about things that interest me, and MIT does not endorse officially the opinions stated here. I really just wanted this series, and the class that inspired it, to serve as a survey of relevant AGI topics that usually are not taught when one learns about ML or AI. To those people, this series is meant to be an intro on those topics, so apologies if things are omitted or condensed for the sake of brevity. Enjoy!ĭisclaimer: There are doubtless those who are way more qualified to speak deeply on the issues and topics I will cover, from emotions to neuromorphic computing. ![]() Next week, in part 6, we will begin our quest to elucidate practical, possible ways in which an AGI could be created (or proto-AGI), and will deal mainly with the incredibly fascinating world of cognitive architectures.Ī new post will come out every week/every other week in the series (I hope), and feel free to email with questions, comments, or clarifications. ![]() What is sentience, and how is it different from consciousness?.Is consciousness related to thinking about thinking?.Specifically, this week we are going to discuss the following questions: This week we will look at consciousness: that elusive, misused, and confusing term that tends to invoke existential crises… So, with that in mind, welcome to Part 5 of this series exploring artificial general intelligence (AGI)! If you missed the first four parts, check them out here, starting with Part 1. Hello again! It has been a while since I last posted, but I hope to pick up speed again and release these stories at least on a bi-weekly basis. “The AI quest for artificial minds has transformed the mystery of consciousness into philosophy with a deadline.” ![]() What is consciousness? Source: Juan Rumimpunu via Unsplash
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