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Written by Ricardo Sanz
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Sunday, 31 August 2003 |
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The Models of Consciousness workshop tried to advance the elaboration of a unified
scientific theory of consciousness. A core topic of the workshop was unified theories of
natural and artificial consciousness and this workshop focused on the particular
aspects of models of consciousness that are also suitable for implementation, i.e.
theories of consciousness that can support the construction of conscious machines and
also serve as explanation of the experimental data about the natural kind of
consciousness.
The objective of the workshop was the presentation, evaluation and discussion of
available models of consciousness both from a scientific point of view (providing
explanation of, e.g., observed behavior) and technological point of view (serving as base
design for building conscious machines). This would enable the evaluation of potential
candidate architectures for various forms of consciousness that will serve as a focal
points for future collaborative research projects.
The workshop gathered a multidisciplinary collection of European researchers into the
fields of artificial intelligence, neuroscience, robotics, psychology, physics, automatic
control, computer science, philosophy, etc.
This workshop was very valuable to initiate the exchange of knowledge and
experiences between researchers from across Europe in an emerging area of research;
due to its necessary multidisciplinarity it helped establish new collaborative links
between different disciplines; and as a major activity it will serve to test innovative
ideas and develop potential collaborations.
Workshop Website
Organisers
Ricardo Sanz,
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
Ron Chrisley,
University of Sussex
Aaron Sloman,
University of Birmingham
Pending Questions
What about qualia ? Is there any explanation for it ?
Should we consider any proposed architecture for agent-based simulation?
Can we test whether something is conscious ?
What?s the relation between language and consciousness ?
Benefits obtainable by research on consciousness ?
Why are we trying to build conscious machines ?
Is there a social dimension of consciousness?
Hardware systems to support artificial conscious brains ?
Social ?ethical, religious- implications of success ? AC rights ?
Legal implications of ?artificial- free will ?
What are the varieties of motivation for research ?
Are there other consequences of understanding the nature of consciousness ?
Does it provide a better understanding of human nature ?
Should we consider distributed consciousness ?
Can we agree on the meaning(s) of ?consciousness??
Can we agree on the set of tests for it?
What are the factors of consciousness ?
Is there any machine that is conscious in some sense ?
Why are robot-friendly people so strange/normal ?
Research Roadmap ? Immediate practical research goals?
How can we create uniqueness ?
Contextual learning/evolution? Who?s teaching? Varieties of starting points for learning ? |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 22 March 2007 )
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