From Collins English Dictionary, 1995: conscious adj

From Collins English Dictionary, 1995:

• conscious adj.

• 4. a. denoting or relating to a part of the human mind that is aware of a person’s self, environment, and mental activity and that to a certain extent determines his choices of action.

• b. (as n.) the conscious is only a small part of the mind. Compare unconscious.

My credentials for studying consciousness:

• -

A complete summary of my results:

• Consciousness is a kind of flashlight. The flashlight beam is a limited resource (what Minski calls a serial bottleneck)

• Our conscious self is offered a set of choices. The beam of consciousness selects one. This repeats ad infinitum

Philosophy

• Philosophy

• Understanding “understanding,” “self-awareness,” “free will,” resolving:

• “All theory is against the freedom of the will; all experience for it.” — Dr. Johnson

• Science

• Building good theorem provers (as opposed to proof checkers), and better CAPTCHAs

• There are many researchers trying to understand consciousness, including

• Philosophers: since forever
• Neurophysiologists: fMRI studies!
• Cognitive psychologists
• Roboticists

• No complexity theorists that I know of

• Les Valiant comes closest
• Leslie Lamport “How to Write a Proof”

• They have not thought about it, but they are well-suited to develop the theory

• Automata and Turing machines
• Knowledge (Zero-knowledge)
• Randomness (Pseudorandomness)
• They understand that complexity rulez

• Researchers in The Scientific Study of Consciousness cry out for a theory

CONSCS = Conceptualizing Strategizing Control Systems

• CONSCS = Conceptualizing Strategizing Control Systems

• CONSCSness = the state, condition, or quality of being CONSCS

Informal Notion of Entity & Environment

• An ENTITY is an organism (such as an ant or a person) or an organization (such as an ant colony, a cultural group, or a nation) — in relation to an environment

• An entity's ENVIRONMENT at time t is the entity's (relevant) world at time t: the context in which the entity functions

More Formal Definition of Environment & Entity

• An ENVIRONMENT is a computational device having the full power of a Universal Turing Machine (UTM). It is connected to a collection of other computational devices, called ENTITIES

• An ENTITY is a computational device that (together with memory supplied by the environment) has the full power of a UTM

You have just seen the only “definitions” in this talk…

• …unfortunately

The CONSCS-defining game

• 1. Formal definition of CONSCS should be mechanically applicable to any entity in a well-defined environment

• One should not have to be conscious to test if an entity is a CONSCS
• This requirement has a similar (but weak) analogy with CAPTCHAs, which are bots that distinguish humans from bots
• We do NOT require that our definition of consciousness be “black-box.” One may be forced to “open up” an entity

The CONSCS-defining game

• Formal definition of CONSCS should be mechanically applicable to any entity in a well-defined environment

• The question whether an entity is CONSCS is a function of its algorithms, not the stuff (silicon or carbon) that implements those algorithms

• 3. In the real-world environment, people are CONSCS while rocks are not (CONSCS)

A. These models are for making predictions B. The models are derived from experiment   C. The models are constantly revised

 2. The entity is motivated/driven towards certain goals

• Initially, goals are determined by the values of two real variables: “pleasure” and “pain”

• Later they are determined also by the current story and its associated strategy

• The entity is driven to maximize

 3. The entity has the ability to “try on any ‘story’ for size”

• A story is a theory of the world, such as: . Other entities are built just like me Other entities are mindless robots

• A story provides a corresponding strategy for dealing with the world: Treat other entities with respect

• Treat other entities any way you like

 4. The entity has a simple serial circuit — the CONSCS processor — as interface between: Entity’s internal unconscious (parallel) brain AND The entity’s external (massively parallel) world

• CONSCS processor is for choosing a story, and using story to select strategic option to focus on

• The options are offered up by the entity’s internal (unconscious parallel) brain

• Choice made according to current story/strategy

Philosophy

• Philosophy

• Understanding “understanding,” “self-awareness,” “free will,” resolving:

• “All theory is against the freedom of the will; all experience for it.” — Dr. Johnson

• Science

• Building good theorem provers (as opposed to proof checkers), and better CAPTCHAs

Bibliography on the Scientific Study of Consciousness

• David Chalmers, philosopher logician, has a huge excellent online bibliography

• Rodolfo Llinas, neuroscientist, wrote “I of the vortex”

• Bernard Baars has a long history of good writing; his theater metaphor is widely accepted

• Daniel Dennett, Antonio Damasi, …

• Marvin Minsky never uses “consciousness” in his “emotion machine.” He (rightly) claims that “Consciousness is a packrat