Philosophy of AI Exam 3

Global Workspace Theory

Access Consciousness, consciousness = working memory, has limited capacity, workspace is used for reasoning, verbal report, and decision making

Bernard Baars

Proposed Global Workspace Theory

Higher Order Thought Theory (HOT)

Mental states become conscious when subject represents mental states, must be able to think about an experience to be conscious of it

Integrated Information Theory

Phenomenal consciousness = integration of info in a system

Giulio Tononi

Proposed Integrated Information Theory

Strengths of GWT and HOT

front of the brain is associated with working memory/metacognition, disruption to pre-frontal areas impact conscious experiences

Weaknesses of GWT and HOT

rely of subject reports for measurements (subjects must say “I do/don’t see or experience …”)

Types of Consciousness

Sleep vs. Awake, Living vs. Non-living, Awareness, Internal Monologue, Phenomenal Consciousness

Awareness

Reflection of actions, what are you doing, perceiving, or thinking

Phenomenal Consciousness

Subjective perspective of different beings and objects experiences (bats, rocks, water bottle, or trees); Sentience or valued experiences are crucial

Introspective Report

Manipulate if subjects are conscious of stimuli (stun parts of the brain); Participants report experiences verbally; brain areas are identified with imaging

Command Following

Subjects told to imagine performing activity; brain activity is measured

Sleep Study

Brain activity is measured while subject is asleep; subject is woken up and asked if they dreamed; compare dreaming vs. non-dreaming brains

Mirror Test

Test to see if animal touches red dot placed on it’s body (chimps, bonobos, dolphins, wrasses, elephants)

Pain Testing

Test if animals avoid pain/enjoy pain relief; animals injected with painful serum tested if they avoid valuable resources to avoid pain and vice versa

Play in Animals

Do animals voluntarally explore new objects for no rewards

Drug use in Animals

Animals seek drugs or dizziness to pursue altered states of mind (bees and caffeine/nicotine; crayfish and anti anxiety medication)

Mirror Test Issues

Not clear answer for animal consciousness; relies heavily on researcher subjectivity

Pain Testing Issues

Can injury/damage be detected without feeling?; Do anesthetics/analgesics just disrupt injury detection?

Drug Testing Issues

Addictive substances are biologically addicting