International Journal of Social Robotics

Social Robotics is the study of robots that are able to interact and communicate between themselves, with humans, and with the environment, within the social and cultural structure attached to its role.

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Call for Papers for Special Issue of the Journal of AGI on Machine Consciousness

We'd  like to call your attention to the forthcoming Special Issue of the Journal of Artificial General Intelligence, on the subject of Machine Consciousness, for which the Call for Papers has just been released, and can be found here (pdf) or below (html).

We are specifically looking for work exploring the intersection between AGI and consciousness studies.

The focus and contents of this Special Issue are influenced by the International Machine Consciousness Workshop which was held in Hong Kong in June 2009. The workshop featured talks by AI and machine consciousness researchers on their work, as well as extensive discussion.

The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2010.  We look forward to receiving your papers ;-)

Thanks,
Ben Goertzel, Novamente LLC
Raul Arrabales, Carlos III University of Madrid
Wlodek Duch, Nicolaus Copernicus University

[See complete Call for Papers below]

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Toward A Science of Consciousness 2010
April 12-17, 2010
Tucson Convention Center, Tucson, Arizona

Sponsored by:
The Center for Consciousness Studies, The University of Arizona
www.consciousness.arizona.edu

The ninth biennial Tucson conference Toward a Science of Consciousness will take place April 12-17, 2010 at the Tucson Convention Center in Tucson, Arizona. The Tucson conferences are known for rigorous, inter-disciplinary approaches to understanding all aspects of the problem of conscious experience. As in previous conferences, the program will include Plenary and Keynote talks, Concurrent talks, Poster presentations, Art/Science demos and exhibits, Pre-Conference workshops, Side trips and Social events.

Session themes will include

Brain default networks
Stimulus-independent thought
Mind wandering
Non-conscious processing
Machine consciousness
Body consciousness
Self and Transformation
William James Centennial

Plenary and Keynote speakers will include

John Bargh
David Chalmers
Henrik Ehrsson
Ben Goertzel
Malia Mason
Marcus Raichle
Jonathan Schooler
Robert Shulmer
Jeff Warren

A major focus for the conference will be the inter-related topics of Stimulus-independent thought, Brain default networks, Mind wandering, and Unconscious processing.

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A Scale for Measuring Machine Consciousness

ConsScale is a tool for assessing the functional level of consciousness of a creature. It has been specifically designed for the evaluation of Machine Consciousness implementations.

Now a ConsScale microsite is available where you can explore the conceptual levels of consciousness defined in the scale, learn how agents can also be rated using a quantitative score, and use the online calculator to rate your own implementations:

http://conscious-robots.com/consscale/

ConsScale is a framework for characterizing the cognitive power of a creature. ConsScale includes the definition of an ordered list of cognitive levels arranged across a developmental path. The arrangement of the levels is inspired on the ontogeny and phylogeny of consciousness in biological organisms.
  The basic assumption is that there exist different kinds of minds, and they can be characterized in terms of ConsScale criteria. Using ConsScale, characterization and assessment of consciousness can be performed using three related tools:
 
- the ConsScale conceptual levels of consciousness (levels),
- the CQS (ConsScale Quantitative Score) (CQS), and
- the ConsScale radar graph representation (Calculator).
 
In order to assess the level of artificial consciousness of an agent using ConsScale, its architectural components have to be identified and its cognitive skills tested. Using this information as input, the scale can be used to obtain both a qualitative and a quantitative measure of consciousness:

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Information Integration Theory of Consciousness

According to this theory, consciousness corresponds to the capacity of a system to integrate information [1]. There are two main concepts which are central to this theory: differentiation and integration.

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TNGS – Theory of Neuronal Group Selection

TNGS and the dynamic core hypothesis have been proposed by Gerald M. Edelman as an explanation for the neural correlates of consciousness. As its name indicates, the theory is based on the concept of selection.

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