Lecture Notes: Virtual Reality, Cognitive Science, and Philosophy of Mind

Brief Reports: Students are required to write brief reports on the guest lectures provided in the course.
Purpose of Reports: The reports are intended for students to document their experience of the lectures, highlight new ideas, discuss exciting concepts, or express skepticism regarding the material.
Scope and Length: * Students should not attempt to summarize the entire talk, as there is insufficient space to cover all details. * The requirement is a report of approximately $500$ words. * Students are encouraged to select a specific, interesting topic from the lecture and discuss it in detail rather than providing a shallow overview of all topics.
Timing: Guest lectures generally last about one hour, including roughly $45$ minutes of presentation followed by $15$ minutes for questions and answers (Q&A).

Context: The guest lecturers are visiting from the Center for Human Nature, Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience (CHAIN) at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan.
Nature of CHAIN: CHAIN is an interdisciplinary center that integrates computer science and Virtual Reality (VR) with philosophy, phenomenology, and other methods of investigating human nature and AI. Matthew (the host) visited this center for $5$ months in $2024$ .
Invited Speakers: 1. Kisuke Suzuki: Associate Professor at Hokkaido University. 2. Katsunori Miyahara: Philosopher specializing in cognitive science and AI ethics.

Academic Background: * Bachelor’s degree in Physics. * MSC and PhD in Computer Science and Artificial Life from Tokyo University. * Transitioned into Psychology and Virtual Reality (VR), focusing on consciousness and the experience of the self. * Completed a $10$ -year postdoc in the United Kingdom. * Established a lab at Hokkaido University in $2021$ .
Core Research Areas: * Artificial Life ( $ALife$ ). * Embodied Cognitive Science. * Virtual Reality ( $VR$ ). * Computational Phenomenology (an emerging field studying phenomenology through computational methods).
Research Evolution: * Initially studied autopoiesis and minimal agency in computer simulations. * Moved toward the concept of "self in mind" and the continuity/identity of existence. * Currently investigates hallucinations and disorders of consciousness/identity.
Consciousness as "Life as it Could Be": Inspired by the $ALife$ concept of "life as it could be," Suzuki uses $VR$ to study the "mind as it could be" by artificially creating experiences that do not occur in the physical world. * Rubber Hand Illusion: A classic bodily illusion where a participant hides their real hand and views a fake toy hand. By brushing both hands simultaneously, the participant begins to feel the fake hand is their own, demonstrating how easily the sense of body ownership can be manipulated.

Presence vs. Reality: * Presence: The feeling of "being here and now." It is often less felt in dreams, while watching TV, or in low-quality $VR$ compared to physical reality. * Structural Property: Presence is not a specific content of consciousness (like a visual object) but a structural property or a "fringe" of the conscious state. It is often only noticed when it is lost. * Illusion of Non-Mediation: $VR$ aims to create the illusion that one's experience is not mediated by a device (e.g., removing the "frame" of a TV or the bulkiness of a headset).
Disorders of Presence: * Depersonalization/Derealization: A clinical symptom common in depression, schizophrenia, or following trauma (e.g., car accidents). Patients feel detached from their bodies ( $depersonalization$ ) or feel the world is unreal ( $derealization$ ), seeing the environment through a metaphorical