To: Steven Ericsson-Zenith, Ph.D.
Dear Steven,
After reviewing the information you sent, materials at your website, and your correspondence below with Michael Brunnbauer, it is clear you would consider any discussion of biophysical consciousness (or of biophysical sensation, perception, or experience) based on Turing computation to be inadequate.
You are developing a continuous mathematical formalism to explain biophysical sensations and responses, and believe the biophysics cannot be Turing computable, at least with adequate efficiency to achieve biophysical power constraints. (Viz. SEZ-2013,p.7, and remarks at end of SEZ-2013 lecture.)
To contrast, my thesis discusses an approach toward human-level artificial intelligence which includes artificial consciousness and takes Turing computation as a starting point. Yet the TalaMind approach does not preclude use of continuous computation transcending Turing machines, per section 4.1.2.4. While I think much can be accomplished with Turing computation, I'm open to the possibility that quantum computation and/or continuous computation may be needed to achieve human-level AI.
Only a first chapter of your future work entitled 'On the Origin of Experience' has been released to the public. When your work is more fully published, questions and criticisms may be expected from the biophysics and theoretical physics communities, in their forums for discussion. However, it seems clear that discussion of your theories would be out of scope in this forum.
It appears your approach will be controversial, at least in the theoretical physics community, given your claim that a valid reformulation of general relativity theory can be developed in which light does not move. (SEZ-2013,p.17) Your approach seems very ambitious, since it appears you aim to derive quantum mechanics and the Standard Model of subatomic particle theory from Einstein's general relativity (SEZ-2013,p.19) and you aim to develop a formalism for biophysical consciousness by adapting Einstein's equations for generality relativity, treating consciousness as a universal primitive similar to gravitation.(Viz. slides 53-59, SEZ-2008; the term 'consciousness' does not appear in SEZ-2013, which refers to 'sense' and 'experience' instead.)
So, at this point I am doubtful about the theoretical prospects for your research approach. Still, I wish you all the best in your research.
However, further discussion between us is moot at this point. It is clear we need to agree to disagree in this forum about AI and consciousness.
Sincerely,
Philip C. Jackson, Jr., Ph.D.
References:
SEZ-2013: Ericsson-Zenith, Steven (2013) On The Origin of Experience - The Shaping Of Sense And The Complex World. Preview, read at Stanford University, November 13th, 2013.
https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1137409 and
http://youtu.be/zF5Bp_YsZ3M SEZ-2008: Ericsson-Zenith, Steven (2008) A New Kind of Positivism. A Stanford University Seminar, March 13, 2008.
http://www.iase.info/2008/03/a-new-kind-of-positivism.html Jackson, P. C. Toward Human-Level Artificial Intelligence – Representation and Computation of Meaning in Natural Language. Doctoral Thesis, Tilburg University, 2014.
http://www.philjackson.prohosting.com/PCJacksonPhDThesisInformation.html
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 17:13:52 -0800
From: steven@xxxxxxx
To: ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] Child architecture
Should you watch the video? I'd say that it certainly can't hurt.
I like Aaronson's work and find much to agree with. However, It should be clear that I believe, speaking now as a computational theorist with much experience in dealing with parallelism and locality, that we need new ideas. I expect most experienced people in the field will agree with this. The hump that I overcame a decade ago is to accept that there is something new in biophysics and that this is now accessible due to biophysical research funded for other means. IOW, we need new physics and we are informed by biophysical research, primarily funded for medicine. In this Aaronson probably does not agree with me, but you'd have to ask him.
What do I mean by "non-locality that is evident in biophysics"? I would ask you to sit at a desk with a couple of thumb tacks, one in each hand, and play with them awhile and to tell me if the answer is not readily apparent, or better and more fun, to ask you to listen to Beethoven, view magazines while you masturbate, and eat honey :-) If the non-locality in biology is not then readily apparent to you then there may indeed be (philosophical) Zombies among us.
The important point is to look at the consequences of sensation, feelings, upon behavior. There is a role for sense in physics, a role that it plays in behavioral outcomes. In my work this is a claim for the primacy of structure, in particular flexible closed structure - that covers every form of biology from bacteria to you and I. It is time for us to put aside the inactive and passive view of what philosophers call "qualia."
With a mathematical characterization of this effect in flexible closed structure - I propose a couple of routes to this, in a state of flux - we can specify a new model of computation able to apply the non-locality involved. Very generally, consider the following a preliminary account of the "symbolic processing" involved. Imagine a holomorphic function that describes a dynamic "shape" upon the surface of such structure (producing an apprehension) and a holomorphic function upon the "opposite" surface that describes the shape of a response and combine the two in a hyper-function. Imagine a simplified bacteria with receptor formation potentials at one end and motor function potentials at the other. My claim is that this mechanism is the basis of all thinking, feeling, and all "life", at all levels.
It also provides a way into new any-scale computational mechanisms in which "recognition," "memory" and "large-scale decision making" comes, essentially, for free in energy terms.
There are obviously a lot of questions that remain to be answered and a lot more work to do.
I hope this clarifies.
Regards,
Steven
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