I feel like y'all have lost an important part of the conversation, stemming from your
invocation of multi-modal interaction. Whether we start with only 5 modes (see, smell,
taste, hear, feel) or a very high dimensional one (including all the various signals
across the various membranes (humidity, heat, absorption of chemicals through the skin,
intake of exobiotics, etc.) each dimension can support a derivation (a meta-*:
meta-sight, meta-taste, etc.) in a "linear" way. And each dimension can be
fused in an n-ary function (f(taste,smell), g(sight,feel), h(hear, see), i(taste, smell,
feel), etc.).
Oversimplifying this into aware versus meta-aware is going to lead you down a primrose
path. Even if you admit the combinatorial explosion of multi-modal derivation and
re-derivation of higher and higher order functions, you still have to include the fact
that the functions operate at various rates of interaction with each other and the
environment. And that the "environment" of each function is co-constructed by
all the other functions, as well as the world outside the organism.
And even if you admit that, these orders may not complete. The ordering may be
partial, where for example an Operator, O, might operate over a zeroth order
signal from the environment combined with a 2nd order derivation. E.g.
O{taste, f(taste), g(f²(taste))), where f²() is something like f() applied
twice either in time (like a wine that changes as you swish it in your mouth)
or space (like a food that has chemicals inducing both salty and sweet).
On 7/5/24 12:18, Jochen Fromm wrote:
Well yes, if meta-awareness is defined as acting in response to one's own
awareness then I would say animals like a cat don't have it but humans have. As
an example I could say this almost feels like I am a participant in a dialogue
from Plato...
I would be surprised if it can be described in simple terms. If the essence of
consciousness is subjective experience then it is indeed hard to describe by a
theory although there are many attempts. Persons who perceive things
differently are wired differently. And what is more subjective than the
perception of oneself?
https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/what-is-consciousness/
If we can describe it mathematically then probably as a way an information
feels if it is processed in complex ways, ad infinitum like the orbits of a
strange attractor.
https://chaoticatmospheres.com/mathrules-strange-attractors
-J.
-------- Original message --------
From: Nicholas Thompson <[email protected]>
Date: 7/5/24 6:56 PM (GMT+01:00)
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Why the Mystery of Consciousness Is Deeper Than We Thought
,
Great! Baby steps. "If we aren't moving slowly, we aren't moving." So, can I define
some new terms, tentatively, /per explorandum/ ? Let's call acting-in-respect-to-the-world,
"awareness". Allowing this definition, we certainly seem to agree that the cat is
aware. Lets define meta-awareness as acting i respect to one's own awareness. Now, am I correct
in assuming that you identify meta-awareness with consciousness and that you think that the cat is
not meta-aware and that I probably am? And further that you think that meta-awareness requires
consciousness?
Nick
On Fri, Jul 5, 2024 at 12:17 PM Jochen Fromm <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
I would say a cat is conscious in the sense that it is aware of its
immediate environment. Cats are nocturnal animals who hunt at night and mostly
sleep during the day. Consciousness in the sense of being aware of oneself as
an actor in an environment requires understanding of language which only humans
have ( and LLMs now )
https://www.quantamagazine.org/insects-and-other-animals-have-consciousness-experts-declare-20240419/
<https://www.quantamagazine.org/insects-and-other-animals-have-consciousness-experts-declare-20240419/>
-J.
-------- Original message --------
From: Nicholas Thompson <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
Date: 7/5/24 5:02 AM (GMT+01:00)
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Why the Mystery of Consciousness Is Deeper Than We
Thought
Jochen,
/I think the first step in any conversation is to decide whether your cat is
conscious. If so, why do you think so; if not, likewise. I had a facinnationg
conversation with GBT about whether he was conscious and he denied it
"hotly", which, of course, met one of his criteria for consciousness.
/
/
/
/So. Is your cat connscious?
/
/
/
/Nick
/
--
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