"Conscious mind: a basic theory research"

[Australia] David J. Charmers/Zhu Jianping/Translation

Renmin University of China Press 2013

1998 25 years ago，Neuro scientist Christof Koch (Christof Koch) and philosopher David Chalmers bet，The mechanism of consciousness of the brain neurons will be discovered in 2023，Chammer said it is impossible，They use a box of superior wine as a bet。June 23，At the Annual Meeting of the Inconscious Science Research Association (ASSC) held in New York，This bet announced the results of the competition: Chammer won。His prediction is right，The mechanism of consciousness generated by the brain neuron was not discovered in 2023，Philosopher defeated scientists。

Chammer is a well -known contemporary spiritual philosopher，The Conscious Mind he has been published in 1996，It caused a strong response in the international academic community，Known as "the best work in the philosophy of mind for many years"。This works systematically describe the complexity of conscious research，Critical review of various mainstream paths of contemporary consciousness research，Put forward a dual theory of naturalism。In the work，Charmers explores the connection between consciousness and information，Proposal of information theory may be the "basic theory" of conscious research。time to this day，It has been published for more than 20 years since the "Conscious Mind"，Scientific and philosophical research of consciousness is a steering of information theory。Some top neurologists have anchored consciousness on information from a metaphysical perspective，such as Giulio Tononi，Even Koch himself。Some outstanding spiritual philosophers have also given up physics、functionalism and other views，Instead of supporting information -based Panpsychism、Neutral Monism and other positions，such as Galen Strawson。Especially since last year, ChatGPT swept the world，People seem to think that strong artificial intelligence can be well -tentative.。This article is based on this book Bet365 lotto review of Charmers，Some reflection on this information theory of consciousness research。

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An important reason for this turning seems to be that people think that traditional scientific research methods cannot cope with the "difficulty" problem of consciousness and the challenge of explaining the gap。Koch explicitly acknowledge，He has shifted from materialism to information theory，Because he can't see how the phenomenon consciousness is generated from the nerve process。In other words，Methods of neuroscience cannot solve the "difficulty" problem of consciousness。In addition to neuroscience，Chammer believes cognitive science、Physics、Evolution theory and other methods can only deal with the "easy" problem of consciousness，instead of really answering the "difficulty" question about consciousness and experience。It's like in 1952，Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine、The famous neurologist Roger Sperry wrote: "Although our understanding of the brain is constantly improving，But the inherent nature of the soul and its relationship with the brain inspiration are still a mystery today，Just like a hundred years ago。"This sentence is still established today，We have not promoted our understanding of phenomenon awareness。But，What I want to show is，Information theory will also encounter the problem of the problem of "difficulties" in consciousness，This is a common problem for conscious research，instead of the abnormality that causes conscious biology or other scientific crises。

Integrated information theory，IIT) as an example，It is currently the most influential consciousness information theory，Tonni, a well -known neurologist in Italy, first proposed in 2001，After adding some collaborators and gradually improved，It has now been upgraded to version 2.0 and version 3.0。IIT's core point is to understand consciousness as overall information，Some information elements reached a state through other information elements in the integrated system，Can express more information when these elements are independent。They use φ to quantify the amount of information expressed by the overall information that exceeds bet365 live casino games independent elements，As long as the φ value of a system is greater than zero，So this system has a certain degree of consciousness。Computingism with the past、Different theories of functionalism are，IIT uses the phenomenon of consciousness as the most important feature and starting point of consciousness。They summarize the essence of consciousness and experience into five major phenomenology axioms: intrinsic existence、Composition、Information、Integration and Exclusion (Exclusion)，Then derives the underlying physical system that can realize these axioms，So as a mathematical portrayal of consciousness。According to IIT's point of view，Consciousness does not have to be based on the brain，Humans may construct a physical model that is physical in physical realization。

IIT will inevitably lead to pan -mind theory，Koch clearly advocates the basics of the a metaphysics of panic theory as a metaphysical foundation for consciousness。Information is different from material and energy，Material and energy even if there is no observer, it exists objectively，But the information is an abstract entity used to identify the state of the existence of things and its attributes，It can neither be independent of the observer nor can it exist from the material carrier。Because almost everything can "carry" information，or，Any system with causal correlation may achieve the overall information volume φ value reaches more than zero，So，IIT will inevitably lead to pan -mind theory。But，Tonny and others do not advocate generalization of consciousness to all physical systems，Because if that's the case，Consciousness is omnipresent，The word "consciousness" becomes meaningless。They limit consciousness to the maximally IrReducible Cauct-Effect Structure，MICS) physical system，This view is closer to the PanprotopOpsychism。Different from the perspective of general pan -minds is，Pan -Senior Stone theory does not regard consciousness as a phenomenon that is omnipotent，They think that native consciousness is the most basic，But native consciousness does not have a phenomenon nature，When they are combined in some way，Only in order to generate phenomenal Bet365 app download consciousness。IIT supporters think，MICS is a combination method that can generate phenomenon consciousness。But is it the same between MICS and conscious experience?

According to IIT，Conscious experience is a collection of highly organized differences。In human brain，It is the stimulus of neurons in the neuroma system in the brain nervous system。The information elements in these unique space -time relationships have causal force，It will work with other elements in the system，As a result, a series of possible status of the system。So，This "information" is essentially a structure and dynamic concept。and Charmers when critical physics，It has clearly stated that the structure and dynamic process are not enough to generate consciousness，He said, "... the structure and dynamics of the physical process will only produce more structure and dynamics，So the structure and function are all all we expect these processes to explain。The facts of the experience cannot be the inevitable result of any physical description，Because of the conceptual point of view，Any given process can exist without experience。Experience may come from physics，But it is not implicitly implied by physics。"" this view is applied to IIT，Can get the same conclusion: conscious experience may come from the overall information，But this does not mean that consciousness is essentially the overall information。IIT supporters believe that consciousness experience is the same as MICS，But MICS is a structure and dynamic unit，It is not the same as consciousness and experience，Although the experience may be generated by mICS，But there are still explanations between them。Empirical research also proves this conclusion。In the experimental results released by ASSC on June 23,，IIT and global neuron work space theory is two main conscious hypothesis，Six independent laboratories conducted confrontation experiments，and use various methods to measure brain activity，The results of the experiment are that both theories have not passed the peer review。So，Information theory and neurological biology will encounter the "difficulty" problem of consciousness，The problem of "difficulty" is not Bet365 lotto review an abnormality of the neurological crisis that trigger consciousness，Instead, all the paths faced by all paths of conscious research。

　　Promotion of strong artificial intelligence research

The conversion of scientific paradigms except for the internal reasons，It may also be affected by external factors such as socio -economic。The information theory of conscious research to a large extent is largely developed by the high development and rapid popularization of artificial intelligence (AI) technology。For a long time，Consciousness plays an important role in discussions on strong AI and weak AI and the discussion of machine ethics。According to traditional understanding，Consciousness only exists in the living organic body，This is difficult to defend a strong AI。Chames proposed in the last part of "Conscious Mind"，If consciousness can be based on the combination state automatic machine (CSA)，Then the machine consciousness can easily be explained，Strong AI is possible。But actually，Even if information theory can explain machine consciousness，Machine consciousness and human consciousness are also two completely different categories，Information theory may not provide strong defense for Qiang AI。

An important difference between strong AI and weak AI is whether the machine has consciousness、Thinking and Perception，Is artificial consciousness possible? When thinking about artificial consciousness，We are facing some unique questions。We understand human consciousness from the perspective of the first person，But you can only get artificial consciousness from the perspective of a third person，So，Any definition of artificial consciousness must be performed from the perspective of a third person，instead of relying on phenomenon consciousness。Based on this，Researchers with artificial consciousness will not be too entangled with the phenomenon attributes of consciousness，Instead, define it with some simple and feasible methods。For example，About the self -consciousness of the robot，Raja Chatila and others believe，is "Make the robot can understand their environment、What they do、Take appropriate and timely measures、Learn from your own experience Bet365 app download and show that you know the basic principles and methods you have learned and how to learn "。Yohsuke Kinouchi and others focusing on the adaptation of the system level，"Consciousness is regarded as a function that is effectively adapted to the system level，Matching and organization based on individual results of the underlying parallel processing unit。This consciousness is considered to be corresponding to the ‘consciousness’ when we make instant decisions in daily life ”。Visible，Researchers with artificial consciousness do not try to solve the "difficulty" problem that Charmers cares about，How to realize the phenomenon consciousness of the machine in physics，They are concerned about the "Access Conscious"，The psychological state that plays a role in reasoning and guidance。

Another issue related to consciousness is in terms of machine ethics，Especially the ethical problems of social robots。Social robots are a kind of communication and interaction with humans at the social level、The autonomous subject of physical implementation，Kismet at the MIT Institute of Technology、Aldbaran Robotic NAO and Hanson Robotic Social Robot Sophia。The moral status of social robots is often considered to be related to consciousness，Because of the ownership of people's moral status and rights，Personality is the core，This involves the ability of people in all aspects，Ruluan、Self -consciousness、Perception ability, etc.。Is the machine so necessary? Actually，Research in this field has not given its status based on the consciousness of robots。After all，Human consciousness is still the mystery of unsolved，We are still unable to determine that the same carbon -based life as us is mentally mind，It is also impossible to confirm that the internal state of the Silicon -based life that is different from us is similar to us。So，Researchers of machine ethics are more concerned about the social role given by humans to robots、The relationship and emotional bond established by humans and robots，or social background of interaction between humans interact with robots。

To sum up，Chammers tried to use information theory as the basic theory of consciousness research。Bet365 app download On the one hand，He believes that traditional scientific methods are difficult to solve the "difficulties" of consciousness，Information theory can make breakthroughs on this issue; on the other hand，He tried to use information theory to defend the strong AI，Prove that the machine can have the same consciousness as humans。But now it seems，The goals in both aspects are difficult to achieve。Neither information theory and neurological biology win in "Wine bets"，If you want to explain the phenomenon consciousness，Information theory is also difficult to bridge the explanation gap between experience and information; even if the strong AI can be realized，The awareness of the machine and human consciousness will also have essential differences，It's like the design of the aircraft is more likely to realize human flight dreams than birds，Perhaps consciousness will be like this。

　　(The author is a professor at the School of Marxism University of Sun Yat -sen University)