Project 1: Rough Middle Mapping

Thesis:

Societal need for an acceptance of the complexity of consciousness and a desire to push towards the truth of who we are despite uncertainty and ego.

What is it about technology that makes it inferior to biology? If we are able to replicate biology with tech, will there be a difference and does it matter as long as we are aiming to replicate the good parts of the human psyche or even make them better?

• Even if we do not understand it, we must understand that we do not understand it.

  • We must aim to understand it as much as possible in order to use technology in a way that helps us the most.

• We won’t be able to replicate it in a non-destructive way if we first understand it.

• If we don’t understand consciousness, we will only be able to replicate the brain’s structure but never its full function.

• What if there is no difference between biological and computational machines

• Ultimately it is worth it to try - this could be the way to end all suffering

Unorganized quotes and commentary:

As Tingley writes, the uncanny valley is the idea that humans want robots to do what they do, but the moment when the difference between what is human and what is robotic becomes unrecognizable, humans have a “visceral response” (Tingley).

• The difference between robots and humans is a lack of consciousness/complexity

• Robots are slaves and do exactly as humans tell them

  • Even AI just functions based on the data it is given and the code inside it

  • There is no creativity

• Observing consciousness is the point when we refuse to hurt other people

  • People care about dogs

  • Soldiers purposely miss in battle

The nuances of human thought and action are much more complex than they seem.

Tingley points out that collaborative robots are “multifunctional and reprogrammable as opposed to major investments whose functions are determined at purchase — they offer employees … power to influence how they will be used to maximize the time [they] spend on the facets of their jobs that they find most fulfilling.”

• There are certain things that can be easily automated that have been for decades

• The best robots are responsive to human input and work alongside them.

Mr. Kurzweil, the google engineering director and “others who call themselves transhumanists have argued that exponential increases in computing power will generate an assortment of new technologies that will enable us to transcend our bodies and upload our minds onto a computer” (Harmon).

• This is the other side of the story: our brains are basically just biological computers

• This is convincing but nihilistic? - How can there be meaning when we are just matter

A young woman dying of cancer says that “the prospect of life in a computer simulation did not faze [her or her husband]: “How do we know we’re not in one now?” (Harmon).

• The difference between reality and virtual reality may not actually exist

• For all we know, machines could be conscious

• We are trying to replicate one way of creating order with another one when we don’t fully understand either

Things like “dowsing rods, Oujia boards, pendulums” are “all devices whereby quite a small muscular movement can cause quite a large effect” (McRobbie).

• The human brain cannot comprehend just how many factors are at play in the body and mind

• One way would be to replicate every atom exactly, but even then we may not understand the universe well enough at the atomic level

  • There is so much more to discover and somethings may be impossible to discover.

  • “Moreover, to scan and analyze a human connectome with today’s technology would cost billions of dollars and take thousands of years. And of course, no one knows if even a perfect simulation of a mind would retain the self-awareness of the original” (Harmon).

“In what Mr. Suozzi recalls as a heated conversation, Josh called to urge him to reconsider. “What are you saying?” Josh demanded. “Should we just give up on trying to treat her cancer now, too?” (Harmon).

• We are devoted as a species to trying to preserve consciousness in whatever way we can. Why not extend that to replicating it?

• This is tangentially related but cool

• If the goal is to make the world as good as it can be with the least amount of suffering, wouldn’t prolonging/replicating consciousness do that?

  • Especially for young people who have a consciousness that really really wants them to live.

  • Isn’t it worth it to try?

“‘You’d ask yourself how many mistakes could you make and still have the same person,’ Joshua R. Sanes, director of the Center for Brain Science at Harvard University, said in an interview. ‘The ability of us to keep being ourselves in the face of changes in our nervous system is pretty amazing’” (Harmon).

• Perhaps consciousness is more to do with memory than with having exactly the same thought processes

• We grow older and our brains are entirely different, yet we are the same person.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia’s Visual Cognition Lab designed an experiment to test whether individuals would know the answers to more questions if they allowed their subconscious to decide. In the experiment, “when participants were asked, verbally, to guess the answers to the best of their ability, they were right only around 50 percent of the time, a typical result for guessing. But when they answered using the board, believing that the answers were coming from someplace else, they answered correctly upwards of 65 percent of the time” (McRobbie).

• The unconscious retains more information than we know.

• Perhaps being able to replicate and control it will lead to super human abilities.

• If we don’t have it, perhaps we won’t be able to have any intelligence at all.

• People are defined as conscious if they are aware of themselves, respond to stimulus, and are able to process things.

Consciousness in history/ the spiritual idea of it (could research this aspect) - beginning part

• People who are “unconscious” do what they are told

• Humans are a product of their own biology and environment

• “Consciousness” is defined as coming up with original thoughts and seeking truth.

These ideas are central to the human desire to be alive. Our passions are much more complex than functions being called over and over again to reach a certain threshold.

“Why destroy the wisdom we build up individually and communally every generation if it’s not necessary?” he prodded reporters, fellow scientists and potential donors.

• We have the internet. Lots of stuff is preserved.

Notes from in-class discussion:

Don’t just have ego - we need to understand the brain to incorporate creativity, empathy, ect.

Biological processing and quantum computing - we won’t be the same as before.

What is consciousness? Vs info processing Human biology good stuff

Ai can be same - simulation, virtual reality - but it also can be useless when we think it is helpful

Not the ultimate problem solver.

They don’t have to necessarily be different.

Encourage replication of things that are human and good