I have set up a PHPbb Forum on the IGI site. The link is in the top right of the page. You register an account, let me know, and I can adjust your account privileges.
If you want something on the front page, let me know, I will post a new blog entry. Also, if you have suggestions for Topics, etc. let me know, I can add the Topics. The site is relatively new. so there is n't much content, but figured it was a good place to allow the growth, communication, and collaboration in the field of AI/AGI Benjamin Kapp paid for the domain, I am providing the hosting. On Wed, Jun 10, 2015 at 12:11 PM, EdFromNH . <[email protected]> wrote: > How does one post to the IGI list > > On Tuesday, June 9, 2015, Mark Seveland <[email protected]> wrote: > >> No idea. But may I make a suggestion... >> As things like this would be great to add to the IGI website, could I >> implore you to include the orginal reference or file as an attachment so >> that I might have an easier time putting it up on our site? >> >> Thanks, >> Mark >> IGI website Administrator >> >> On Mon, Jun 8, 2015 at 11:47 AM, Kyle Kidd <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Where is Matt Mahoney to thoroughly debunk all of this? >>> >>> On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 7:58 PM, EdFromNH . <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> THE COMPWARENESS THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS: >>>> >>>> HOW OUR BRAINS COMPUTE OUR SOULS: >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> At last, an intuitive, explanatory, scientific >>>> >>>> theory of consciousness. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> By >>>> >>>> Edward Winslow Porter >>>> >>>> aka >>>> >>>> waveTuned Ed >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Abstract: >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> The compwareness theory hypothesizes that all the qualities we sense in >>>> human conscious awareness are nothing but -- and indeed are -- qualities of >>>> awareness inherent in the computation of the brain, qualities of an >>>> awareness required by the laws of physics, themselves. The Compwareness >>>> theory’s teachings combine and expand on those from other major voices in >>>> the study of consciousness like Bernard Baars, Giulio Tononi, Christof >>>> Koch, Francis Crick, Gerald Edelman, Patricia Churchland, Max Tegmark, >>>> David Chalmers and many others. It also involves ideas from many leaders in >>>> AI and cognitive neuroscience. The theory’s main features include its >>>> belief that: >>>> >>>> (a) all of physics, and all computation, requires an awareness -- a >>>> proto-consciousness -- in the form of compwareness, that is, the awareness >>>> of the information a computation computes required for its outputs to vary >>>> as a function of that information; >>>> >>>> (b) human consciousness is nothing but an extremely special form of >>>> such compwareness; >>>> >>>> (c) many of the alleged special qualities of consciousness are >>>> qualities of compwareness of meaning, where “meaning” is defined as >>>> experiential associational grounding, that is, temporally-unified, rich, >>>> interconnected, grounded complexes of awareness of semantic, sensory, and >>>> emotional experiential patterns that are associated with concepts we are >>>> consciously aware of; >>>> >>>> (d) brain synchrony, including theta-gamma phase synchrony, plays a >>>> major role in unifying massively parallel compwareness of experiential >>>> patterns into complex, unified, relational, and temporally coded senses of >>>> awareness of such meaning; >>>> >>>> (e) consciousness comes in many different dynamically varying degrees >>>> and kinds, depending, in part, on the extent to which widespread >>>> compwareness is focused by synchrony on the meaning of one or more related >>>> concepts; >>>> >>>> (f) we have the most conscious awareness of that which our brain has >>>> the most unified compwareness of; >>>> >>>> (g) one can best explain the qualities, or "qualia," we experience in >>>> our consciousness by studying the qualities of what is aware of what, when, >>>> and how, in the dynamic, spreading, recurrent activation of extended >>>> pattern awareness complexes in the brain; >>>> >>>> (h) the 200 trillion synapses, 16 billion neurons, and 160 million >>>> cortical mini-columns in the cortex have more than enough resolution in >>>> sensory/emotional/semantic hierarchical pattern space to provide >>>> compwareness with all the representational richness and qualities we sense >>>> in our conscious awareness; >>>> >>>> (i) that, since qualities of conscious awareness are nothing but >>>> qualities of the computational architecture of brain compwareness, the >>>> study of consciousness can be guided by predicting and mapping the >>>> qualities of one such awareness from the qualities of the other; and >>>> >>>> (j) that brain science already suggests there are such large complex >>>> similarities between consciousness and brain compwareness as to create a >>>> substantial Occam’s razor argument that they are, in fact, the same thing. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> ===================================== >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Many claim explaining consciousness is Philosophy’s hardest problem. I >>>> think I have taken a major step toward solving that problem. I have >>>> developed a theory of consciousness called the "Compwareness Theory." It's >>>> much more explanatory, rigorous, and intuitive than any other consciousness >>>> theory I know — although, of course, it builds substantially on the works >>>> of others. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> It says the awareness — the proto-consciousness — from which human >>>> consciousness is woven is not something unknown to physics, as most in the >>>> field suggest. Rather it’s something that stares us in the face every time >>>> we look at an equation of physics. It’s “computational awareness”. >>>> ("Compwareness" for short.) Compwareness is the awareness of the variables >>>> and constants of the equations of physics that compute all reality. Such >>>> awareness is necessary for reality to compute as a function of those values >>>> as demanded by both Newtonian and quantum physics. This compwareness fills >>>> the entire universe. It’s arguably a great spirit, of which our bodies and >>>> consciousnesses are but a small, interwoven part. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> But as special, complex, and interconnected as the computation of all >>>> reality is, the computation, and thus compwareness, in our brains has >>>> special qualities that make our conscious compwareness vastly different >>>> than the compwareness in most of the universe. The compwareness theory >>>> proposes that human consciousness is nothing but an extremely special form >>>> of compwareness computed largely, or entirely, by the brain. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> In my theory, the famous "hard problem of consciousness" is redefined. >>>> It no longer asks what in physics could possibly produce the awareness of >>>> consciousness -- since there has to be awareness, in the form of >>>> compwareness, of the massively complex and interconnected information >>>> computed in our brains. Instead the redefined "hard problem" asks a more >>>> narrowly focused and much less metaphysical question. It asks how the >>>> brain's compwareness of information computed by the brain could have all of >>>> the many miraculous qualities of awareness we sense in our own conscious >>>> experience. In other words, how can compwareness explain the qualities, or >>>> "qualia", of our conscious experience of, say, the color red; the smell of >>>> a rose; the hurt of a pain; or the linguistic, semantic, imaginary, and >>>> emotional experiential mix of being swept away when reading a great novel. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> As mysterious as such qualities are, the compwareness theory provides >>>> at least partial explanations for a surprising number of them, and points >>>> the way for finding much more complete explanations in the future. Let me >>>> discuss just a few of such explanations to give you a feel for the >>>> incredible explanatory power of the theory. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> One important quality of consciousness is its subjectivity. The >>>> compwareness theory claims the subjective/objective distinction is one of >>>> interconnect bandwidth and point of view (P.O.V., what is aware of what, >>>> when, and how). The subjective awareness of consciousness is that of a >>>> compwareness having an internal computational bandwidth billions of times >>>> more complicated than any description a human mind could model. Its P.O.V. >>>> is of massively parallel awarenesses of experiential patterns organized >>>> into interactive, associational/generalizational/compositional pattern >>>> hierarchies. When measured at the synapse level the cortex has a bandwidth >>>> equal to 100 million HDTV screens. Measured by cortical minicolumns it >>>> has the resolution of 160 million pixels, where each pixel is a powerful >>>> neural net with 100 neurons and compwareness of one million synapses. The >>>> thing itself is many orders of magnitude more complex than any description >>>> we can ever extract from it, or understand if we ever could – and, thus, it >>>> has the qualities of being “subjective”. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Another important quality of consciousness is its “aboutness”. Many >>>> brain scientists believe much of what we are consciously aware of >>>> corresponds to information our brains compute, and, thus, are compware of. >>>> This shared “aboutness” includes information defining many, if not all, of >>>> the qualities we sense – including qualities of color, shape, sound, smell, >>>> objects, actions, thoughts, imaginings, emotions, etc. Brain science would >>>> suggest that the computational richness of this correlation of aboutness is >>>> in the megabyte to terabyte per second range. This creates a huge, complex >>>> correlation between qualities of conscious awareness and compwareness – >>>> providing strong Occam’s Razor probabilistic support for the notion that >>>> consciousness and certain brain compwareness are, in fact, the same thing >>>> -- i.e., If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ( and has million >>>> or billions of other similar attributes per second), there is a good chance >>>> it *is* a duck. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> One of the most intellectually challenging qualities of consciousness >>>> it is sense of unity. It’s one thing to say the brain might have >>>> compwareness of everything we have conscious awareness of – it’s another to >>>> answer the question “How could the compwareness of the brain’s billions of >>>> separate neurons have the qualities of unity we sense in our >>>> consciousness?” >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Since the compwareness theory claims brain compwareness and >>>> consciousness are the same thing, it requires that the unities of >>>> consciousness are unities of compwareness. But what are unities? Nothing >>>> is totally unified. Virtually all unities are unified properties of >>>> separate things. A rock is made up of trillions of molecules and atoms. >>>> At the atomic scale these move in different directions at different speeds. >>>> But at time and distance scales humans can directly sense, these molecules >>>> and atoms move as a unit because of electrostatic forces. Even a black >>>> hole is a distributed unity, having an event horizon and gravitational >>>> field which move in unison with the black hole. (And some believe the >>>> massive plurality of the universe created by our big bang is the inside of >>>> a black hole in a parent universe that occurs in a substantially separated >>>> space time fabric). Science shows that brain compwareness has many unified >>>> properties that correspond to unities we perceive in consciousness, and >>>> there is reason to believe that as we learn more about the brain, the >>>> mapping between the unities of conscious and computational awareness will >>>> be become increasingly tight. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> For example, our brains is made of billions of neurons that each fire >>>> to indicate awareness of a pattern – that is, awareness of the unification >>>> of features that *are* that pattern. So brain compwareness is largely >>>> compwareness of the unities of patterns -- or at least compwareness of >>>> probabilistic belief in such unities. Furthermore, our brain’s neurons are >>>> interconnected in ways that can create compwareness of unities of pattern >>>> awareness much larger than that which can be represented by a given neuron >>>> or a given neural assembly representing a single pattern. This includes >>>> synchronized unities both up and down generalizational and compositional >>>> pattern hierarchies. These temporal hierarchical unities can be mapped up >>>> from sensory data, down from higher level patterns, or both. The brain can >>>> also create synchronized unified awareness of associational patterns which >>>> represent groups of hierarchical patterns that have a co-occurring or >>>> sequential patterns of temporal correlation. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> The brain’s neurons can store and recall patterns of experience, >>>> creating unities of pattern awareness across multiple different time >>>> scales. The brain contains billions of these patterns, many of which are >>>> reasonably stable across time. This creates the unity of a relatively >>>> continuous audience of patterns and memories -- an audience that is the >>>> “self”. This “theater of consciousness” is the homunculus that is aware of >>>> our sensations, thoughts and feelings. It is self-aware because this >>>> “self” is aware of the patterns within it which are activated, and because >>>> the recursive spreading activation within its >>>> associational-generalizational-compositional pattern space creates >>>> awareness of patterns of patterns of patterns.... The brain’s recurrent >>>> connections enable large complexes of neurons associated with a given >>>> concept to fire in synchrony, enabling large portions of the cortex’s >>>> audience of activatable patterns to have awareness of the temporal unity of >>>> the complex of pattern awareness associated with that given concept. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Furthermore, the brain has mechanisms for tuning substantial portions >>>> of the brain’s audience of activatable patterns into the frequency of one >>>> or more of such synchronized conceptual complexes, so as to focus the >>>> receptivity of the much of the brains’ self, i.e., its audience of pattern >>>> compwareness, on them. This creates a massively parallel unified >>>> compwareness of such a concept, as represented by its associated complex of >>>> activation of many patterns across many levels of hierarchical and >>>> associational connection. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> The compwareness theory defines a concept’s “meaning” as a unified >>>> compwareness of such a concepts associated interconnected pattern >>>> activation complex. It defines meaning in terms of sensory and emotional >>>> experiential associations that provide “grounding.” It proposes that >>>> compwareness of such meaning is a major source of many of the seemingly >>>> mysterious qualities of consciousness. To understand the qualities of >>>> consciousness we need to understand the architectures of such meanings, >>>> that is, what patterns of patterns of patterns is there compwareness of, >>>> and in what temporal sequencing. This includes trying to better understand >>>> the qualities and complexities of the sensory, emotional, and semantic >>>> experiential pattern spaces defined by the brain's neural networks, and the >>>> qualities of the dynamic, interconnected, focused, multiplexed temporal >>>> patterns of compwareness that take place across those spaces. For example, >>>> the different qualities that distinguish hierarchical patterns related to >>>> vision, hearing, touch, smell, taste, kinesthetic, bodyspace, and emotions >>>> are different qualities of representation in the different pattern spaces >>>> specific to each such sensory modality. Vision grounds out in a 2D space >>>> of color distributions; hearing grounds out in a space largely defined by >>>> frequency over time, smell grounds out in a space defined by thousands of >>>> different types of chemical sensors, emotions ground out in a space defined >>>> by different neuromodulators, hormones, and body states and their effect on >>>> many processes in the brain itself -- and so on for each of the brains >>>> basic representional modalities. And much of the meanings of higher level >>>> patterns mapped into each of these sensory spaces includes groundings that >>>> span across multiple such spaces. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> For example, let us consider our consciousness of meaning within a >>>> visual scene. The brain is not only compware of a visual scene as a >>>> time-varying spatial distribution of color information from the eyes >>>> projected into a 2D visual field. It also has compwareness of multiple >>>> hierarchical pattern complexes that are mapped onto that visual field. This >>>> includes patterns of lines and shapes mapped into patterns of colors; >>>> patterns of objects mapped into patterns of shapes; patterns of motions and >>>> actions mapped into patterns of shapes and objects across time; patterns of >>>> relationships mapped between objects and/or actions; and patterns in both >>>> short- and long-term memory into which patterns mapped onto the visual >>>> field are themselves mapped. If the brain’s wavetuning mechanism tune a >>>> significant portions of the brain’s audience of neurons into the >>>> synchronous firing of one of the pattern complex activations mapped onto >>>> objects in the visual field – hundreds of millions or billions of neurons >>>> will be tuned into and have a temporally unified compwareness of that >>>> object’s complex of hierarchically and associationally connected patterns – >>>> and you will have rich conscious compwareness of that patterns meaning in >>>> its current context. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> The focus of such tuning can be rapidly changed. In fact, through >>>> theta-gamma phase synchronization we can be made conscious of the >>>> interconnected meaning of a rapidly repeating sequence of such concepts. >>>> For example, a 5 cycle per second theta brain wave can be phase >>>> synchronized with a 40 cycle per second gamma brain wave, so there will be >>>> 8 gamma wave cycles per theta wave cycle, much as there are 8 beats per >>>> measure in music with an 8/8 time signature. The prefrontal cortex and >>>> hippocampus can use such theta-gamma phase synchronization to, in effect, >>>> repeatedly activate the meaning of up to 8 different concepts together, >>>> each in one of the eight repeated time slots, so as to enable more >>>> explicitly grounded compwareness of concepts which involve relationships >>>> between multiple different sub-concepts. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> ================================ >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> This is far from a complete explanation of my current understanding of >>>> the compwareness theory. I currently have many more ideas about >>>> consciousness and other high level functions of the brain. But before I >>>> spend much more time working on this theory by myself I would like to have >>>> discussions on the web, by phone, or in person with others who think they >>>> have something to add to, subtract from, change, challenge, or negate in >>>> the theory. In particular, I look forward to discussions with people who >>>> have expertise in various areas of brain science, including knowledge of >>>> the brain’s connectome, synchronization, basil ganglia, cerebellum, >>>> thalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, mammillary bodies, >>>> brainstem, and the cognitive function of various neurotransmitters and >>>> neuromodulators. I am interested in talking with people with knowledge of >>>> artificial intelligence, as it applies to the brain. And I am interested >>>> in talking with people with knowledge of quantum mechanics, about what, if >>>> any, role quantum levels of description might play in helping the >>>> compwareness theory explain the qualities of human conscious experience. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> If you are interested in learning about or discussing any of these >>>> subjects please email me at [email protected]. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> *AGI* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> >>>> <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/12578217-f409cecc> | >>>> Modify <https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;> Your Subscription >>>> <http://www.listbox.com> >>>> >>> >>> *AGI* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> >>> <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/27079473-66e47b26> | >>> Modify <https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;> Your Subscription >>> <http://www.listbox.com> >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Regards, >> Mark Seveland >> *AGI* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> >> <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/8630185-a57a74e1> | >> Modify <https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;> Your Subscription >> <http://www.listbox.com> >> > *AGI* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> > <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/27079473-66e47b26> | > Modify > <https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;> > Your Subscription <http://www.listbox.com> > -- Regards, Mark Seveland ------------------------------------------- AGI Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/21088071-f452e424 Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=21088071&id_secret=21088071-58d57657 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
