No Access

THE STRENGTH OF WEAK ARTIFICIAL CONSCIOUSNESS

ANIL SETH

Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QJ, UK

https://doi.org/10.1142/S1793843009000086Cited by:23 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

Machine (artificial) consciousness can be interpreted in both strong and weak forms, as an instantiation or as a simulation. Here, I argue in favor of weak artificial consciousness, proposing that synthetic models of neural mechanisms potentially underlying consciousness can shed new light on how these mechanisms give rise to the phenomena they do. The approach I advocate involves using synthetic models to develop "explanatory correlates" that can causally account for deep, structural properties of conscious experience. In contrast, the project of strong artificial consciousness — while not impossible in principle — has yet to be credibly illustrated, and is in any case less likely to deliver advances in our understanding of the biological basis of consciousness. This is because of the inherent circularity involved in using models both as instantiations and as cognitive prostheses for exposing general principles, and because treating models as instantiations can indefinitely postpone comparisons with empirical data.

Keywords:

References

O. Holland , Machine Consciousness ( Imprint Academic , 2003 ) . Google Scholar
J. Searle, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3, 417 (1980). Web of Science, Google Scholar
J. A. Fodor , Psychosemantics ( MIT Press , 1987 ) . Google Scholar
I. Aleksander and H. Morton, Artificial Consciousness, eds. A. Chella and R. Manzotti (Imprint Academic, 2007) pp. 67–81. Google Scholar
R. W. Clowes and A. K. Seth, Artif. Intell. Med. 44, 91 (2008), DOI: 10.1016/j.artmed.2008.07.009. Web of Science, Google Scholar
G. Tononi, BMC Neurosci. 5, 42 (2004), DOI: 10.1186/1471-2202-5-42. Google Scholar
C. Koch and G. Tononi, IEEE Spectrum (2008). Google Scholar
G. M. Edelman, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100, 5520 (2003), DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0931349100. Web of Science, Google Scholar
G. Tononi and G. M. Edelman, Science 282, 1846 (1998), DOI: 10.1126/science.282.5395.1846. Web of Science, Google Scholar
A. K. Seth, Cognitive Computation 1, 50 (2009), DOI: 10.1007/s12559-009-9007-x. Web of Science, Google Scholar
A. K. Sethet al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103, 10799 (2006), DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0604347103. Web of Science, Google Scholar
D. Balduzzi and G. Tononi, PLoS. Comput. Biol. 4, e1000091 (2008), DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000091. Web of Science, Google Scholar
C. Langton, Artificial life, Proc. Interdisciplinary Workshop on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems6 (1989) pp. 1–48. Google Scholar
E. Di Paolo et al. , Simulation models as opaque thought experiments , Artificial Life VII: 7th Int. Conf. Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems ( 2000 ) . Google Scholar
M. Boden (ed.) , The Philosophy of Artificial Life ( Oxford University Press , 1996 ) . Google Scholar
D. G. Gibsonet al., Science 319, 1215 (2008), DOI: 10.1126/science.1151721. Web of Science, Google Scholar
A. Zeman, Progress in Brain Research 150, 1 (2005), DOI: 10.1016/S0079-6123(05)50001-3. Web of Science, Google Scholar
T. B. Demarseet al., Auton. Robots 11, 305 (2001), DOI: 10.1023/A:1012407611130. Web of Science, Google Scholar
B. Webb, Animals versus animats: Or why not model the real iguana? Adaptive Behavior. (in publication) . Google Scholar
J. L. Krichmar and G. M. Edelman, Artif. Life 11, 63 (2005), DOI: 10.1162/1064546053278946. Web of Science, Google Scholar
B. L. Keeley, Philosophy of Science 67, 444 (2000), DOI: 10.1086/392790. Web of Science, Google Scholar
D. Dennett , Brainstorms ( MIT Press , 1978 ) . Google Scholar
V. Braitenberg , Vehicles: Experiments in synthetic psychology ( MIT Press , 1984 ) . Google Scholar
A. K. Engel and W. Singer, Trends Cogn. Sci. 5, 16 (2001), DOI: 10.1016/S1364-6613(00)01568-0. Web of Science, Google Scholar
E. M. Izhikevich and G. M. Edelman, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 105, 3593 (2008), DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0712231105. Web of Science, Google Scholar
B. J. Baars , A cognitive theory of consciousness ( Cambridge University Press , 1988 ) . Google Scholar
S. Dehaeneet al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 100, 8520 (2003), DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1332574100. Web of Science, Google Scholar
A. K. Sethet al., Consciousness and Cognition 14, 119 (2005), DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2004.08.006. Web of Science, Google Scholar
B. Lenggenhageret al., Science 317, 1096 (2007), DOI: 10.1126/science.1143439. Web of Science, Google Scholar
A. K. Seth, Network: Computation in Neural Systems 16, 35 (2005), DOI: 10.1080/09548980500238756. Web of Science, Google Scholar
A. K. Sethet al., Trends. Cogn. Sci. 12, 314 (2008), DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2008.04.008. Web of Science, Google Scholar
T. Metzinger , Being No One ( MIT Press , 2003 ) . Google Scholar
A. Damasio , The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness ( Harvest Books , 2000 ) . Google Scholar
P. Haggard, Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 9, 934 (2008), DOI: 10.1038/nrn2497. Web of Science, Google Scholar
G. Reeset al., Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 3, 261 (2002), DOI: 10.1038/nrn783. Web of Science, Google Scholar
G. Tononi and C. Koch, Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 1124, 239 (2008), DOI: 10.1196/annals.1440.004. Web of Science, Google Scholar
R. Grush, Behav. Brain. Sci. 27, 377 (2004). Web of Science, Google Scholar
J. Bongardet al., Science 314, 1118 (2006), DOI: 10.1126/science.1133687. Web of Science, Google Scholar
O. Holland, J. Consci. Stud. 14, 97 (2007). Web of Science, Google Scholar
R. Chrisley, Artif. Intell. Med. 44, 119 (2008), DOI: 10.1016/j.artmed.2008.07.011. Web of Science, Google Scholar

Vol. 01, No. 01

Metrics

Downloaded 60 times

History

Keywords

PDF download

System Upgrade on Tue, May 28th, 2024 at 2am (EDT)

THE STRENGTH OF WEAK ARTIFICIAL CONSCIOUSNESS

Abstract

Recommended