A personal summary of the
Nokia Workshop on Machine Consciousness 2008

For someone like me, seriously interested in Machine Consciousness, the Nokia Workshop on Machine Consciousness 2008 was definitely the place to be. Celebrated this month in conjunction with the Finnish AI Conference and held in Nokia Research Center in Helsinki, this two-day international workshop brought together the most renowned international experts in this field. Keynote speakers included all the leading researchers in the area, from philosophers to engineers (click here for the list of invited speakers and workshop program), so I found that the mere fact of being in that conference room having the opportunity to listen in person to their views really was a fascinating experience. I am indebted to Dr. Pentti Haikonen, who diligently chaired and hosted the Workshop, for the opportunity to participate in such an interesting event.

Being fairly new to the scientific study of consciousness (I’ve just dedicated the last two years to my research in Machine Consciousness), and having more experience in other classical AI areas, I never had the chance to be involved in a real scientific and rigorous discussion about such a captivating topic as the creation of consciousness in machines. I have been to other Artificial Intelligence conference and forums, but never had the feeling of how real science is done and how the progress in a particular field of knowledge is achieved. Now, after the Nokia Workshop, I can say that I’ve seen how a small scientific community is able to seriously ponder their own principles and openly debate current advances in the sought of a common goal. From my point of view, this atmosphere is something that most of AI researchers have lost, leading current AI research to forget the spirit of GOFAI (Good Old Fashined AI). Participants of the Nokia Workshop were fully aware of the enormous challenges that Strong AI involves, but they have decided to pursue the real big challenge instead of being captured by the narrow vision which predominates in current AI scientific and engineering communitites. 

Two words summarize the character of this workshop: “Big Visions”, this is the title of the proceeding foreword by Pentti Haikonen, but it was also the attitude of many of the workshop participants. While analyzing current contributions and approaches, the controversial question “Could a machine possess mental capacity and awareness that could parallel that of humans?” was seriously debated during the workshop. The contributions covered from philosophical accounts to practical realizations of Machine Consciousness architectures. Significant aspects like synthetic phenomenology, imagination, qualia, formal models, practical applications in robotics, hardware implementations, testing for consciousness, and emotions were addressed by the participants and vividly discussed with many of the attendants.

The presentations and round table discussions revealed that while the philosophical approach to consciousness remains active and controversial, functional approaches and applications are now becoming a reality. Although the experts reckon that vast effort and much more resources are required in this research field, the general feeling was quite positive in terms of the promising future of the Machine Consciousness paradigm. From my perspective, the exceptional ability of this research community to question their own principles, escaping from narrow views, and their enthusiasm for real scientific challenges will produce remarkable results in the short term.

Note from the chair:

Be first to comment this article | Add as favourites (5) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 37 | E-mail

Experiments in Consciousness

 This is a UCTV (University of California Television) video where the Nobel Laureate Francis Crick explains his and Kristof Koch ideas about the Neural Correlates of Consciousness and related experiments.

 The video belongs to the series Frontiers of Knowledge - Presentations by Faculty and Guests of the University of Califiornia, San Diego. The title is:

Consciousness: New Ideas and Experiments. 

Presented by Francis Crick, Ph.D.

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Nobel Laureate, 1962. 

In this one hour talk, Crick offers an introduction to the concept of Neural Correlates of Consciousness (NCC), discussing the possition that himself and Koch took in their research and describing some of the more popular experiments in neuroscience about consciousness.

I think this video is interesting for anyone working in machine consciousness as Crick also covers (briefly) other important aspects as meaning, attention, and even other cognitive theories of consciousness.

Some experiments and syndromes commented in the video are bi-stable figures (like the Necker Cube and the Rubin Vase), waterfall effect, binocular rivalry, lateral neglect, fading of visual images, blindsight, etc.

Be first to comment this article | Add as favourites (7) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 90 | E-mail

13th Finnish Artificial Intelligence Conference and
Nokia Workshop on Machine Consciousness 

Be first to comment this article | Add as favourites (66) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 647 | E-mail

We will create conscious machines in the future.

Interview with the Nobel Laureate Gerald Edelman.

Gerald Edelman received the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1972, when he was 43. He discovered the structure of antibodies, a crucial finding for the study of multiple infectious diseases and the development of effective vaccines. Shortly after that, he lost interest in immunology and focused on one of the big questions: how the brain works?

In the last two decades Edelman has become one of the most respectable researchers in the field of neurology, and he has founded a research institute in San Diego where he leads a reduced team of young scientists whose goal is to solve the mystery of consciousness. This week Edelman has visited Valencia (Spain) to participate in Jaime I prizes as judge. The following is a transcription and translation of an interview with Gerald Edelman published in Spanish by elmundo.es:

Be first to comment this article | Add as favourites (79) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 713 | E-mail

Searching for Spirit.

Searching for Truth about Mind and Morality.

Where IS your mind? Is your mind located somewhere in your brain? Does your brain create your mind? If the answer to these questions is yes, the belief held by many religions that there is life after death is false. If the answer to these questions is yes, then morality is a product of the functioning of a brain, and the belief that there is an absolute morality is false.

Searching for Spirit is a quest to discover the true nature of both mind and morality written by C.R. Lind.

• More information at: http://www.searchingforspirit.org/

Be first to comment this article | Add as favourites (48) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 764 | E-mail