No idea. But may I make a suggestion... As things like this would be great to add to the IGI website, could I implore you to include the orginal reference or file as an attachment so that I might have an easier time putting it up on our site?
Thanks, Mark IGI website Administrator On Mon, Jun 8, 2015 at 11:47 AM, Kyle Kidd <[email protected]> wrote: > Where is Matt Mahoney to thoroughly debunk all of this? > > On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 7:58 PM, EdFromNH . <[email protected]> wrote: > >> THE COMPWARENESS THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS: >> >> HOW OUR BRAINS COMPUTE OUR SOULS: >> >> >> >> At last, an intuitive, explanatory, scientific >> >> theory of consciousness. >> >> >> >> By >> >> Edward Winslow Porter >> >> aka >> >> waveTuned Ed >> >> >> >> >> >> Abstract: >> >> >> >> The compwareness theory hypothesizes that all the qualities we sense in >> human conscious awareness are nothing but -- and indeed are -- qualities of >> awareness inherent in the computation of the brain, qualities of an >> awareness required by the laws of physics, themselves. The Compwareness >> theory’s teachings combine and expand on those from other major voices in >> the study of consciousness like Bernard Baars, Giulio Tononi, Christof >> Koch, Francis Crick, Gerald Edelman, Patricia Churchland, Max Tegmark, >> David Chalmers and many others. It also involves ideas from many leaders in >> AI and cognitive neuroscience. The theory’s main features include its >> belief that: >> >> (a) all of physics, and all computation, requires an awareness -- a >> proto-consciousness -- in the form of compwareness, that is, the awareness >> of the information a computation computes required for its outputs to vary >> as a function of that information; >> >> (b) human consciousness is nothing but an extremely special form of such >> compwareness; >> >> (c) many of the alleged special qualities of consciousness are qualities >> of compwareness of meaning, where “meaning” is defined as experiential >> associational grounding, that is, temporally-unified, rich, interconnected, >> grounded complexes of awareness of semantic, sensory, and emotional >> experiential patterns that are associated with concepts we are consciously >> aware of; >> >> (d) brain synchrony, including theta-gamma phase synchrony, plays a >> major role in unifying massively parallel compwareness of experiential >> patterns into complex, unified, relational, and temporally coded senses of >> awareness of such meaning; >> >> (e) consciousness comes in many different dynamically varying degrees and >> kinds, depending, in part, on the extent to which widespread compwareness >> is focused by synchrony on the meaning of one or more related concepts; >> >> (f) we have the most conscious awareness of that which our brain has the >> most unified compwareness of; >> >> (g) one can best explain the qualities, or "qualia," we experience in >> our consciousness by studying the qualities of what is aware of what, when, >> and how, in the dynamic, spreading, recurrent activation of extended >> pattern awareness complexes in the brain; >> >> (h) the 200 trillion synapses, 16 billion neurons, and 160 million >> cortical mini-columns in the cortex have more than enough resolution in >> sensory/emotional/semantic hierarchical pattern space to provide >> compwareness with all the representational richness and qualities we sense >> in our conscious awareness; >> >> (i) that, since qualities of conscious awareness are nothing but >> qualities of the computational architecture of brain compwareness, the >> study of consciousness can be guided by predicting and mapping the >> qualities of one such awareness from the qualities of the other; and >> >> (j) that brain science already suggests there are such large complex >> similarities between consciousness and brain compwareness as to create a >> substantial Occam’s razor argument that they are, in fact, the same thing. >> >> >> >> ===================================== >> >> >> >> Many claim explaining consciousness is Philosophy’s hardest problem. I >> think I have taken a major step toward solving that problem. I have >> developed a theory of consciousness called the "Compwareness Theory." It's >> much more explanatory, rigorous, and intuitive than any other consciousness >> theory I know — although, of course, it builds substantially on the works >> of others. >> >> >> >> It says the awareness — the proto-consciousness — from which human >> consciousness is woven is not something unknown to physics, as most in the >> field suggest. Rather it’s something that stares us in the face every time >> we look at an equation of physics. It’s “computational awareness”. >> ("Compwareness" for short.) Compwareness is the awareness of the variables >> and constants of the equations of physics that compute all reality. Such >> awareness is necessary for reality to compute as a function of those values >> as demanded by both Newtonian and quantum physics. This compwareness fills >> the entire universe. It’s arguably a great spirit, of which our bodies and >> consciousnesses are but a small, interwoven part. >> >> >> >> But as special, complex, and interconnected as the computation of all >> reality is, the computation, and thus compwareness, in our brains has >> special qualities that make our conscious compwareness vastly different >> than the compwareness in most of the universe. The compwareness theory >> proposes that human consciousness is nothing but an extremely special form >> of compwareness computed largely, or entirely, by the brain. >> >> >> >> In my theory, the famous "hard problem of consciousness" is redefined. It >> no longer asks what in physics could possibly produce the awareness of >> consciousness -- since there has to be awareness, in the form of >> compwareness, of the massively complex and interconnected information >> computed in our brains. Instead the redefined "hard problem" asks a more >> narrowly focused and much less metaphysical question. It asks how the >> brain's compwareness of information computed by the brain could have all of >> the many miraculous qualities of awareness we sense in our own conscious >> experience. In other words, how can compwareness explain the qualities, or >> "qualia", of our conscious experience of, say, the color red; the smell of >> a rose; the hurt of a pain; or the linguistic, semantic, imaginary, and >> emotional experiential mix of being swept away when reading a great novel. >> >> >> >> As mysterious as such qualities are, the compwareness theory provides at >> least partial explanations for a surprising number of them, and points the >> way for finding much more complete explanations in the future. Let me >> discuss just a few of such explanations to give you a feel for the >> incredible explanatory power of the theory. >> >> >> >> One important quality of consciousness is its subjectivity. The >> compwareness theory claims the subjective/objective distinction is one of >> interconnect bandwidth and point of view (P.O.V., what is aware of what, >> when, and how). The subjective awareness of consciousness is that of a >> compwareness having an internal computational bandwidth billions of times >> more complicated than any description a human mind could model. Its P.O.V. >> is of massively parallel awarenesses of experiential patterns organized >> into interactive, associational/generalizational/compositional pattern >> hierarchies. When measured at the synapse level the cortex has a bandwidth >> equal to 100 million HDTV screens. Measured by cortical minicolumns it >> has the resolution of 160 million pixels, where each pixel is a powerful >> neural net with 100 neurons and compwareness of one million synapses. The >> thing itself is many orders of magnitude more complex than any description >> we can ever extract from it, or understand if we ever could – and, thus, it >> has the qualities of being “subjective”. >> >> >> >> Another important quality of consciousness is its “aboutness”. Many brain >> scientists believe much of what we are consciously aware of corresponds to >> information our brains compute, and, thus, are compware of. This shared >> “aboutness” includes information defining many, if not all, of the >> qualities we sense – including qualities of color, shape, sound, smell, >> objects, actions, thoughts, imaginings, emotions, etc. Brain science would >> suggest that the computational richness of this correlation of aboutness is >> in the megabyte to terabyte per second range. This creates a huge, complex >> correlation between qualities of conscious awareness and compwareness – >> providing strong Occam’s Razor probabilistic support for the notion that >> consciousness and certain brain compwareness are, in fact, the same thing >> -- i.e., If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ( and has million >> or billions of other similar attributes per second), there is a good chance >> it *is* a duck. >> >> >> >> One of the most intellectually challenging qualities of consciousness it >> is sense of unity. It’s one thing to say the brain might have compwareness >> of everything we have conscious awareness of – it’s another to answer the >> question “How could the compwareness of the brain’s billions of separate >> neurons have the qualities of unity we sense in our consciousness?” >> >> >> >> Since the compwareness theory claims brain compwareness and consciousness >> are the same thing, it requires that the unities of consciousness are >> unities of compwareness. But what are unities? Nothing is totally >> unified. Virtually all unities are unified properties of separate things. >> A rock is made up of trillions of molecules and atoms. At the atomic scale >> these move in different directions at different speeds. But at time and >> distance scales humans can directly sense, these molecules and atoms move >> as a unit because of electrostatic forces. Even a black hole is a >> distributed unity, having an event horizon and gravitational field which >> move in unison with the black hole. (And some believe the massive >> plurality of the universe created by our big bang is the inside of a black >> hole in a parent universe that occurs in a substantially separated space >> time fabric). Science shows that brain compwareness has many unified >> properties that correspond to unities we perceive in consciousness, and >> there is reason to believe that as we learn more about the brain, the >> mapping between the unities of conscious and computational awareness will >> be become increasingly tight. >> >> >> >> For example, our brains is made of billions of neurons that each fire to >> indicate awareness of a pattern – that is, awareness of the unification of >> features that *are* that pattern. So brain compwareness is largely >> compwareness of the unities of patterns -- or at least compwareness of >> probabilistic belief in such unities. Furthermore, our brain’s neurons are >> interconnected in ways that can create compwareness of unities of pattern >> awareness much larger than that which can be represented by a given neuron >> or a given neural assembly representing a single pattern. This includes >> synchronized unities both up and down generalizational and compositional >> pattern hierarchies. These temporal hierarchical unities can be mapped up >> from sensory data, down from higher level patterns, or both. The brain can >> also create synchronized unified awareness of associational patterns which >> represent groups of hierarchical patterns that have a co-occurring or >> sequential patterns of temporal correlation. >> >> >> >> The brain’s neurons can store and recall patterns of experience, creating >> unities of pattern awareness across multiple different time scales. The >> brain contains billions of these patterns, many of which are reasonably >> stable across time. This creates the unity of a relatively continuous >> audience of patterns and memories -- an audience that is the “self”. This >> “theater of consciousness” is the homunculus that is aware of our >> sensations, thoughts and feelings. It is self-aware because this “self” is >> aware of the patterns within it which are activated, and because the >> recursive spreading activation within its >> associational-generalizational-compositional pattern space creates >> awareness of patterns of patterns of patterns.... The brain’s recurrent >> connections enable large complexes of neurons associated with a given >> concept to fire in synchrony, enabling large portions of the cortex’s >> audience of activatable patterns to have awareness of the temporal unity of >> the complex of pattern awareness associated with that given concept. >> >> >> >> Furthermore, the brain has mechanisms for tuning substantial portions of >> the brain’s audience of activatable patterns into the frequency of one or >> more of such synchronized conceptual complexes, so as to focus the >> receptivity of the much of the brains’ self, i.e., its audience of pattern >> compwareness, on them. This creates a massively parallel unified >> compwareness of such a concept, as represented by its associated complex of >> activation of many patterns across many levels of hierarchical and >> associational connection. >> >> >> >> The compwareness theory defines a concept’s “meaning” as a unified >> compwareness of such a concepts associated interconnected pattern >> activation complex. It defines meaning in terms of sensory and emotional >> experiential associations that provide “grounding.” It proposes that >> compwareness of such meaning is a major source of many of the seemingly >> mysterious qualities of consciousness. To understand the qualities of >> consciousness we need to understand the architectures of such meanings, >> that is, what patterns of patterns of patterns is there compwareness of, >> and in what temporal sequencing. This includes trying to better understand >> the qualities and complexities of the sensory, emotional, and semantic >> experiential pattern spaces defined by the brain's neural networks, and the >> qualities of the dynamic, interconnected, focused, multiplexed temporal >> patterns of compwareness that take place across those spaces. For example, >> the different qualities that distinguish hierarchical patterns related to >> vision, hearing, touch, smell, taste, kinesthetic, bodyspace, and emotions >> are different qualities of representation in the different pattern spaces >> specific to each such sensory modality. Vision grounds out in a 2D space >> of color distributions; hearing grounds out in a space largely defined by >> frequency over time, smell grounds out in a space defined by thousands of >> different types of chemical sensors, emotions ground out in a space defined >> by different neuromodulators, hormones, and body states and their effect on >> many processes in the brain itself -- and so on for each of the brains >> basic representional modalities. And much of the meanings of higher level >> patterns mapped into each of these sensory spaces includes groundings that >> span across multiple such spaces. >> >> >> >> For example, let us consider our consciousness of meaning within a visual >> scene. The brain is not only compware of a visual scene as a time-varying >> spatial distribution of color information from the eyes projected into a 2D >> visual field. It also has compwareness of multiple hierarchical pattern >> complexes that are mapped onto that visual field. This includes patterns of >> lines and shapes mapped into patterns of colors; patterns of objects mapped >> into patterns of shapes; patterns of motions and actions mapped into >> patterns of shapes and objects across time; patterns of relationships >> mapped between objects and/or actions; and patterns in both short- and >> long-term memory into which patterns mapped onto the visual field are >> themselves mapped. If the brain’s wavetuning mechanism tune a significant >> portions of the brain’s audience of neurons into the synchronous firing of >> one of the pattern complex activations mapped onto objects in the visual >> field – hundreds of millions or billions of neurons will be tuned into and >> have a temporally unified compwareness of that object’s complex of >> hierarchically and associationally connected patterns – and you will have >> rich conscious compwareness of that patterns meaning in its current >> context. >> >> >> >> The focus of such tuning can be rapidly changed. In fact, through >> theta-gamma phase synchronization we can be made conscious of the >> interconnected meaning of a rapidly repeating sequence of such concepts. >> For example, a 5 cycle per second theta brain wave can be phase >> synchronized with a 40 cycle per second gamma brain wave, so there will be >> 8 gamma wave cycles per theta wave cycle, much as there are 8 beats per >> measure in music with an 8/8 time signature. The prefrontal cortex and >> hippocampus can use such theta-gamma phase synchronization to, in effect, >> repeatedly activate the meaning of up to 8 different concepts together, >> each in one of the eight repeated time slots, so as to enable more >> explicitly grounded compwareness of concepts which involve relationships >> between multiple different sub-concepts. >> >> >> >> >> ================================ >> >> >> >> This is far from a complete explanation of my current understanding of >> the compwareness theory. I currently have many more ideas about >> consciousness and other high level functions of the brain. But before I >> spend much more time working on this theory by myself I would like to have >> discussions on the web, by phone, or in person with others who think they >> have something to add to, subtract from, change, challenge, or negate in >> the theory. In particular, I look forward to discussions with people who >> have expertise in various areas of brain science, including knowledge of >> the brain’s connectome, synchronization, basil ganglia, cerebellum, >> thalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, mammillary bodies, >> brainstem, and the cognitive function of various neurotransmitters and >> neuromodulators. I am interested in talking with people with knowledge of >> artificial intelligence, as it applies to the brain. And I am interested >> in talking with people with knowledge of quantum mechanics, about what, if >> any, role quantum levels of description might play in helping the >> compwareness theory explain the qualities of human conscious experience. >> >> >> >> If you are interested in learning about or discussing any of these >> subjects please email me at [email protected]. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> *AGI* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> >> <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/12578217-f409cecc> | >> Modify <https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;> Your Subscription >> <http://www.listbox.com> >> > > *AGI* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> > <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/27079473-66e47b26> | > Modify > <https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;> > Your Subscription <http://www.listbox.com> > -- Regards, Mark Seveland ------------------------------------------- AGI Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/21088071-f452e424 Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=21088071&id_secret=21088071-58d57657 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
