Author Archives: SelfAwarePatterns

Recurrent processing theory and the function of consciousness

Posted on January 25, 2020

Victor Lamme’s recurrent processing theory (RPT) remains on the short list of theories considered plausible by the consciousness science community.  It’s something of a dark horse candidate, without the support of global workspace theory (GWT) or integrated information theory (IIT), … Continue reading →

Posted in Mind and AI | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Stephen Macknik’s work on prosthetic vision

Posted on January 24, 2020

This is pretty wild.  In her latest Brain Science podcast, Ginger Campbell interviews Stephen Macknik on his work to develop a visual replacement implant for blind people.  For a quick overview, check out this short video. One question Campbell asks, … Continue reading →

Posted in Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Star Trek Picard

Posted on January 23, 2020

Just watched the first episode of Star Trek Picard.  What follows has spoilers, but only from the early parts of the episode. It takes place about 15 years after the events of the last Next Generation movie.  Picard appears to … Continue reading →

Posted in Science Fiction | Tagged , , , | 17 Comments

Is there a conscious perception finish line?

Posted on January 19, 2020

Global workspace theory (GWT) is the proposition that consciousness is composed of contents broadcast throughout the brain.  Various specialty processes compete for the limited capacity of the broadcasting mechanisms, to have their content broadcast to the all the other specialty … Continue reading →

Posted in Mind and AI | Tagged , , , , , , | 53 Comments

For animal consciousness, is there a fact of the matter?

Posted on January 18, 2020

Peter Carruthers has been blogging this week on the thesis of his new book, Human and Animal Minds: The Consciousness Question Laid to Rest.  I mentioned Carruthers’ book in my post on global workspace theory (GWT), but didn’t get into … Continue reading →

Posted in Mind and AI | Tagged , , , , , | 70 Comments

Peter Carruthers on the problems of consciousness

Posted on January 13, 2020

Peter Carruthers is posting this week at The Brains Blog on his new book, Human and Animal Minds, which I mentioned in my post on global workspace theory.  His first post focuses on two issues: latent dualism and terminological confusion. … Continue reading →

Posted in Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments

The battle between integration and workspace will take a while

Posted on January 11, 2020

Well, I find this a bit disappointing.  I was hoping that the contest between global workspace theory (GWT) and integrated information theory (IIT) would be announced sometime this year.  Apparently, I’m going to have to wait awhile: Pitts describes the … Continue reading →

Posted in Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , | 30 Comments

Link on Daniel Dennett video updated

Posted on January 6, 2020

The video embed on the previous post, which had gone dead, is now updated.  Hopefully this one will endure.

Posted in Zeitgeist

Daniel Dennett on consciousness and the hard question

Posted on January 5, 2020

This interview is pretty much classic Daniel Dennett.  He starts off pointing out that introspection is unreliable, that our beliefs about our inner experience are what need to be explained, not necessarily what the beliefs purport to be reality.  He … Continue reading →

Posted in Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , | 40 Comments

A response to the unfolding argument: a defense of Integrated Information Theory

Posted on January 5, 2020

Back in May,  I shared a paper that made a blistering attack on the integrated information theory (IIT) of consciousness.  A major point of IIT is that a specific causal structure is necessary to generate phenomenal experience, namely a feedback … Continue reading →

Posted in Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments