The Tipping Point of Sentience
When Mike was installed in Luna, he was pure thinkum, a flexible logic--"High-Optional, Logical, Multi-Evaluating Supervisor, Mark IV, Mod. L"--a HOLMES FOUR. He computed ballistics for pilotless freighters and controlled their catapult. This kept him busy less than one percent of time and Luna Authority never believed in idle hands. They kept hooking hardware into him--decision-action boxes to let him boss other computers, bank on bank of additional memories, more banks of associational neur...
notes Becoming a "Be-er" of Other People
For a while, one’s speaking is largely “fake” — that is, one is thinking in one’s native language but substituting words quickly enough to give the impression that the thinking is going on in the second language; however, as one’s experience with the second language grows, new grammatical habits form and turn slowly into reflexes, as do thousands of lexical items, and the second language becomes more and more rooted, more and more genuine. One gradually becomes a fluent thinker in... notes consciousness
http://theweek.com/article/index/214732/do-girls-like-pink-because-of-their-berry-gathering-female-ancestorsa field that exist in it’s own parallel realm of existence outside reality so can’t be seen - substance dualism
consciousness and it’s states are functions the brain performs - functionalism
a physical property of matter like electromagnetism , just not one we know about -property dualism
all matter has a psychic part , consciousness is just the psychic part of brain -pan psychism
mental states are physical events that we can see in brain scans -identity theory
a sensation that grows inevitably out of complicated mental states - emergent dualism
literally just behaviour ,when we behave in certain way we appear conscious -behaviourism
an accidental side effect of complex physical processes in brain -epiphenomenalism
quantum physics over classical physics can better explain it -quantum consciousness
the sensation of your most significant thoughts being highlighted - cognivitism
consciousness is higher order of thoughts ,thought about other thoughts - higher order theory
a continuous stream of ever recurring phenomena ,pinched like eddies into isolated minds -buddhism
I am my connectome
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11346470-connectomeWe know that each of us is unique, but science has struggled to pinpoint where, precisely, our uniqueness resides. Is it in our genes? The structure of our brains? Our genome may determine our eye color and even aspects of our personality. But our friendships, failures, and passions also shape who we are. The question is: how? Sebastian Seung, a dynamic professor at MIT, is on a quest to discover the biological basis of identity. He believes it lies in the pattern of connections between the brain’s neurons, which change slowly over time as we learn and grow. The connectome, as it’s called, is where our genetic inheritance intersects with our life experience. It’s where nature meets nurture. Seung introduces us to the dedicated researchers who are mapping the brain’s connections, neuron by neuron, synapse by synapse. It is a monumental undertaking—the scientific equivalent of climbing Mount Everest—but if they succeed, it could reveal the basis of personality, intelligence, memory, and perhaps even mental disorders. Many scientists speculate that people with anorexia, autism, and schizophrenia are "wired differently," but nobody knows for sure. The brain’s wiring has never been clearly seen. In sparklingly clear prose, Seung reveals the amazing technological advances that will soon help us map connectomes. He also examines the evidence that these maps will someday allow humans to "upload" their minds into computers, achieving a kind of immortality. Connectome is a mind-bending adventure story, told with great passion and authority. It presents a daring scientific and technological vision for at last understanding what makes us who we are. Welcome to the future of neuroscience
Two Views of Consciousness
There is no end of hypotheses about consciousness, particularly by philosophers. But most of these are not what we might call principled scientific theories, based on observables and related to the functions of the brain and body. Several theories of consciousness based on functionalism and on the machine model of the mind... have recently been proposed. These generally come in two flavors: one in which consciousness is assumed to be efficacious, and another in which it is considered an epiph... notesOne view is that it is the executive function of the brain, the other is that it is a byproduct of its processing.
Consciousness is the Last Mystery
Human consciousness is just about the last surviving mystery. A mystery is a phenomenon that people don't know how to think about—yet. There have been other great mysteries: the mystery of the origin of the universe, the mystery of life and reproduction, the mystery of the design to be found in nature, the mysteries of time, space, and gravity. These were not just areas of scientific ignorance, but of utter bafflement and wonder. We do not yet have the final answers to any of the questions ... notesNot because we don't understand it, There are lots of things we don't understand, but because we don't even know how to think about it.
Consciousness Cannot Go Through the Same State Twice
It is with our entire past ... that we desire, will and act ... from this survival of the past it follows that consciousness cannot go through the same state twice. The circumstances may still be the same, but they will act no longer on the same person ... that is why our duration is irreversible. notesThe very act of going through a state it has been through before will alter the experience by the previous experience.
I Think; Therefore, I Am
I suppose, then, that all the things that I see are
false; I persuade myself that nothing has ever existed of all
that my fallacious memory represents to me. I consider that I
possess no senses; I imagine that body, figure, extension,
movement and place are but the fictions of my mind. What,
then, can be esteemed as true? Perhaps nothing at all, unless
that there is nothing in the world that is certain.
But how can I know there is not something different from
those things that I have just... notesDescartes most important contribution to philosophical thought.
Self-Awareness is Not the Self
Is self-awareness what constitutes a self? Self-awareness can be altered by psychoactive drugs, electrical stimulation, political or religious propaganda, even advertising. notesSelf-awareness is too easily influenced.
Can a Machine Die?
"Die? Can a machine die?"
"I can cease to exist, sir. Call it by whatever word you wish. I am old. Not one sentient being in the Galaxy that was alive when I was first given consciousness is still alive today; nothing organic; nothing robotic. Even I myself lack continuity."
"In what way?"
"There is no physical part of my body, sir, that has escaped replacement, not only once but many times. Even my positronic brain has been replaced on five different occasions. Each time the contents of m... notesNot in the sense in which humans die, but a machine will eventually become so overwhelmed with ideas that it will cease to function through indecision.
