I'll be at the conference (at least most of it - I'll post the events I am attending at the bottom of the post) - hopefully I'll see some of you there as well. My hope is also to live blog or tweet as much as I can - IF they offer free wi-fi.
By the way, I totally reject Eliminative Materialism as total reductionism, and find its hold on the field of neuroscience to be very dangerous in some ways. I tend more toward embodied mind, per George Lackoff and others, but I want to some ideas from the extended mind concept (Chalmers and Clark) especially the ideas of cultural influence, which some are now calling situational cognition. Jerome Bruner might be closest to my position, especially in his ideas on the narrative structure of mind and his approach to a culturally based constructivism.
My Toward a Science of Consciousness Conference schedule of events - I hope to live blog some of the them if they have free wi-fi.Why the Toward a Science of Consciousness conference is important to technoprogressivism
Kris Notaro
Kris Notaro
Ethical Technology
Posted: Apr 10, 2010
Politics, Consciousness, AI, Technoprogressivism, Transhumanism all mixed into one.
Why the Toward a Science of Consciousness conference is important to technoprogressivism and transhumanism.
While Kristof Koch, Patricia and Paul Churchland, Daniel Dennett and the like continue to criticize the emphasis on mind (qualia/non-physicalism) over brain (Eliminative Materialism), the Hard Problem of Consciousness continues to stump psychology, biology and most brain science, respectively. However, this Tuesday marks the beginning of a five day conference on Consciousness Studies which aims at being an informative lecture series and event for those interested in the science of consciousness, artificial intelligence and neuroscience. People will have the opportunity to learn about the forefront of the world’s best theories of consciousness, brain, and mind.
It is very important that we understand the nature of consciousness if we are to understand the universe, ourselves, and where consciousness is going. For example, if AI is never able to create true feelings or what philosophers call “what it is like” to experience, also refereed to as “qualia”, we can infer that neural networks and brain patterns are significant enough to pose the problem that computer code cannot replicate qualia.
On top of this lies the most important questions about the workings of the universe if Eliminative Materialism is wrong. Howard Robinson articulates this point about the universe and consciousness very clearly in Edmond Wright’s book, The Case for Qualia.
“…it is accepted that physicalism gives an adequate account of non-conscious reality, which constitutes almost 100 percent of the universe, but struggles to accommodate certain features of mental life, namely the “what it’s like” or qualia of certain conscious states. These latter constitute “the hard problem” for physicalism. The fact that they also constitute such a tiny part of the world is presented as a reason for thinking that they cannot plausibly be held to refute a unified physcialist account”
What it is like to experience is the fundamental problem with AI. If Strong AI, in the end simply uses the same kind of patterns the brain uses to replicate qualia, we still have a problem of consciousness, we will still have to understand why it is that these patterns create experience and qualia.
We need to understand the relationship between the brain and qualia. Assuming that qualia is real, that what it is like to experience is a real phenomena still not explained, we will have to look further into the difference between consciousness and AI, and why, in the end, if AI produces “zombies”, then what does that mean for the Turing Test, or any test for consciousness for that matter.
Consciousness Studies is important to technoprogressive ideals because a science of consciousness will mean that we will understand the workings, the nature of, that very thing we are fighting for; equality, justice, and egalitarianism. We are consciousness, consciousness is us, we are most familiar with consciousness then we are of anything else in this world, and having a coherent science of it will not only allow us to understand ourselves, but will also help us understand the nature of intersubjectivity. To me this will aid in our struggle for a technoprogressive future, a future where understanding ourselves and the universe works as the leading tool for progressive change.
Further Reading:
The Conscious Mind by David Chalmers: Amazon
Neurophilosophy by Patricia Churchland: Amazon
The Case for Qualia by Edmond Wright: Amazon
Transhumanism: Amazon
Citizen Cyborg: Amazon
Tuesday:
1:45-4:10 pm - PLENARY 1 - William James Centennial - Taylor, Baars, Mangan
4:30-6:35 pm - CONCURRENT SESSIONS 1 - 7 - Consciousness, Representation, and Thought: Spackman, Kobes, Pitt, Goff, Brogaard
Wednesday:
8:30 -10:40 am PLENARY 2 - DOUBLE KEYNOTE:
Marcus E. Raichle Brain Dark Energy and Default Mode Networks
11:10 am-12:35 pm - PLENARY 3 - Body Consciousness: DeVignemont, Ehrsson
(Sadly have to miss the concurrent sessions due to class - but I wish I could see Contemplative, Spiritual and Religious Approaches: Klein, Bahir, Maitra, Seaberg, Bhamidipati)
Thursday: Not attending - have to make a little money
Friday:
8:30-10:40 am - PLENARY 7 Consciousness & Transformation: Vieten, Martin, Za Rinpoche
10:40-11:10 am, Break
11:10am- 12:35 pm - PLENARY 8 Keynote - Antonio Damasio: The Neural Self
2:00- 4:10 pm - PLENARY 9 Theories of Consciousness, Kouider, Van Gulick, Strawson
4:30- 6:35 pm - CONCURRENT SESSIONS 16 - 21 - Psychotherapy and Transformation,
Mender, Johnson, Thurston, Beal, Kotagiri
8:30-10:40 am - PLENARY 10 - New directions in NCC research: Gruberger, Cerf, Prettyman, Bhandyophady
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