The concept of free will is intimately tangled up with the idea of responsibility. Are you responsible for your actions? To what degree are your actions predetermined? If they are predetermined, how can we hold anyone accountable for their actions? Does the idea of moral responsibility even make sense? Libertarian free will The classic definition … Continue reading Free will? Free of what?
Category: Mind and AI
Consciousness and the Social Brain: A review
What is consciousness? What is the inner experience that we all feel we have? Is it an illusion or an ontological reality? Michael Graziano thinks it is a reality, and he thinks he has found a scientific theory for it, which he describes in his book: 'Consciousness and the Social Brain'. The quest for a … Continue reading Consciousness and the Social Brain: A review
The mind is the brain, and why that’s good
Mind body dualism is the theory that mind and matter are separate substances. It's an ancient theory discussed in various forms by philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, and theologians such as Thomas Aquinas. In 1641, Rene Descartes put forth his views, usually referred to as Cartesian dualism which laid important foundations for modern philosophy in … Continue reading The mind is the brain, and why that’s good
More on computer consciousness
After discussion on my post the other day on consciousness being in the eye beholder, I realized that I probably should expand a bit on my hypothesis about what we would intuitively consider to be a conscious being. We, as minds, are aware. We have awareness from our senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. From the … Continue reading More on computer consciousness
Consciousness is in the eye of the beholder
Alan Turing was a pioneer in the field of computer science. One of the things he is famous for is the Turing test. At its core, this is a test about whether or not a machine, a computer, can convince a human that the machine is another human. The details of the specific test that … Continue reading Consciousness is in the eye of the beholder
Why an AI revolt is unlikely
From time to time, articles or blog posts appear expressing anxiety about what will happen when we finally achieve artificial intelligence. The thinking goes that such a mind would quickly be able to design and build a better version of itself and in no time we'd be facing an overwhelmingly superior intelligence which may or … Continue reading Why an AI revolt is unlikely
Will we be able to upload our minds?
I’m pretty much a subscriber to the computational theory of mind (broadly speaking), which holds that the mind is information in the brain. If this theory of mind is accurate, then there should be no barrier to someday uploading a copy of our mind into a computer, providing we can find a way to record … Continue reading Will we be able to upload our minds?
Patterns who have achieved consciousness
Are you the same person today that you were yesterday? Or last week? Or last year? What about ten years ago? Let's look at it in two ways: physically and mentally. Physically, our bodies are constantly performing maintenance. Waste is being flushed away and the food that we eat is constantly being transformed into tissue, … Continue reading Patterns who have achieved consciousness
SelfAwarePatterns 