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This paper envisions the possibility of a Conscious Aircraft: an aircraft of the future with features of consciousness. To serve this purpose, three main fields are examined: philosophy, cognitive neuroscience, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). While philosophy deals with the concept of what is consciousness, cognitive neuroscience studies the relationship of the brain with consciousness, contributing toward the biomimicry of consciousness in an aircraft. The field of AI leads into machine consciousness. The paper discusses several theories from these fields and derives outcomes suitable for the development of a Conscious Aircraft, some of which include the capability of developing “world-models”, learning about self and others, and the prerequisites of autonomy, selfhood, and emotions. Taking these cues, the paper focuses on the latest developments and the standards guiding the field of autonomous systems, and suggests that the future of autonomous systems depends on its transition toward consciousness. Finally, inspired by the theories suggesting the levels of consciousness, guided by the Theory of Mind, and building upon state-of-the-art aircraft with autonomous systems, this paper suggests the development of a Conscious Aircraft in three stages: Conscious Aircraft with (1) System-awareness, (2) Self-awareness, and (3) Fleet-awareness, from the perspectives of health management, maintenance, and sustainment.

This paper explores a philosophical problem at the intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence (AI), and the potential impact of these novel AI “mind-reading” technologies on various forms of mind–body dualism, including substance, interaction, property, predicate, and emergent dualisms. It critically examines how AI’s ability to interpret and predict mental states from neural patterns challenges traditional dualistic theories, which have historically posited distinct relationships between the mind and body. The paper analyzes each dualistic theory in the context of AI advancements. Substance and interaction dualisms are scrutinized for their claims of mind–body independence and causal interaction, respectively, in light of AI’s capabilities to correlate mental and physical states. Property dualism’s assertion of unique mental properties emerging from physical processes is tested against AI’s potential to map mental phenomena to brain activity. Predicate dualism’s linguistic and conceptual distinction between mental and physical realms is challenged by AI’s ability to bridge these domains. Similarly, emergent dualism, which views mental states as novel phenomena, confronts the possibility of their reduction to physical brain processes. Despite these challenges, the paper argues for the adaptability of dualistic theories to integrate AI insights, suggesting a re-evaluation rather than a negation of dualism. It highlights the enduring relevance of philosophical inquiry into the nature of consciousness and mind–body relationships in the age of AI, suggesting that such technological advancements invigorate rather than terminate the philosophical debate.

The chapter concludes the book by illustrating the potential of extending the boundaries of the intelligence mindset and its space of innovation and creativity. Some theories that could be integrated subsequently are mentioned briefly. In addition, a holistic view (new knowledge creation) of the intelligence paradigm, the complexity-intelligence strategy, and the intelligent organization theory is summarized through recollecting and amalgamating the various normative attributes, concepts, perspectives and strategies analyzed. Organizing around intelligence (including intelligence/consciousness management, complexity management and network management), and the integrated deliberate and emergent strategy (exploitation of the co-existence of order and complexity) are the (holistic) fundamental strategies that must be exploited in the present environment. Due to the current high complexity and nonlinearity, this paradigmatic shift is apparently beneficial. As indicated earlier, properties of complex adaptive systems and the complex adaptive dynamic must be better comprehended and exploited by all human organizations to elevate competitiveness, resilience and sustainability.

In summary, the intelligent organization theory introduced in this book contains concepts and ideas (including intelligence/consciousness-centricity, complexity-centricity, network-centricity, intelligence-intelligence linkage, complexity-intelligence linkage, self-organizing capacity, emergence-intelligence capacity, coherency, synergy, constructionist effect and mental cohesion) that are more holistic, integrative, and accurate manifestations of humanity and its organizations and agents. Thus, it is highly critical for the leadership, governance, strategy, and management in rapidly changing environment. Primarily, it is a new significant complexity-intelligence-relational/network domain (a more inherent aspect of nature and this universe) that must be better comprehended and exploited by all human organizations. As indicated, the complexity-intelligence strategy of the intelligent organization theory encompasses numerous components, including organizing around intelligence, integrated deliberate and emergent strategy, general information theory, 3C-OK framework, intelligent person model, intelligent multi-layer structure model, intelligence leadership theory/strategy, intelligence governance theory/strategy, and relativistic complexity.

Fundamentally, the new thinking emphasizes the significance and linkages of the human intelligence/consciousness sources, and stabilitycentricity at all levels (agent-centric, network-centric and org-centric), co-existence of order and complexity, and the attributes of swift information decoders, smarter evolvers and emergent strategists. The strategies and models/frameworks of the intelligent organization theory that focus on structuring, nurturing, leading, and governing/managing of highly intelligent human organizations (iCAS) that are orchestrated by the highly intelligent complex adaptive dynamic (iCAD) are briefly recaptured. Ultimately, it is the intention of the author that an omniscient understanding of this book will instill in leaders and actors the new critical intelligence advantage.

Free will (FW) was originally conceived as a dualistic and Neoplatonic notion, and these foundational properties pervade current views rooted in cognitive neuroscience. In an attempt to foster progress beyond those traditional tenets, here we propose an unorthodox neurocognitive approach to the construct. First, we explicitly assess three traditional assumptions that should be avoided for FW to be fruitfully explored, namely, that FW is (a) categorical in ontological terms (an all-or-nothing capacity); (b) intrinsically dependent on consciousness; and (c) rooted in deterministic or non-deterministic principles. We analyze prototypical neuroscientific claims suggesting that FW is illusory and show that these considerations rely on the three classical assumptions listed above. The boundaries and dualistic foundations of classical accounts of FW can be considered misleading, or at least non-scientifically motivated. Conversely, a renewed neurocognitive conception of FW can rest upon the following principles: (a) like several other cognitive and affective domains, FW is not an all-or-nothing faculty; (b) conscious activity underlying FW is a non-contradictory, emergent property of unconscious mechanisms; and (c) processes rooted in both determination and self-determination coexist in the neurocognitive underpinnings of FW. These reconsiderations pave the way for a new research agenda, in which FW constitutes the capacity to make flexible decisions (only some of which involve moral responsibility) and reason about ensuing consequences on the self and the environment. To conclude, we update the incipient knowledge regarding brain networks relevant to FW, and call for future research to frame it as a natural, neurocognitive, and situated phenomenon.