Robotics Reference
In-Depth Information
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Robot Consciousness
In the debate on whether or not robots might be intelligent, philoso-
phers, psychologists and, in particular, cognitive scientists have taken
an interest in questions such as “What do we actually mean by in-
telligence?”, “Can machines think?” and “Can machines have conscious-
ness?” These questions take on more importance as humankind moves
towards a greater acceptability of the concept of intelligence in robots,
and it is therefore appropriate for us to examine the meaning and sig-
nificance of consciousness, not only for a better understanding of the
attribute for its own sake but also because it is a foundation stone of
thought and intelligence.
What Is Consciousness?
The first problem we encounter in an attempt to understand and ana-
lyze consciousness is one of definition. Everyone knows what
they
mean
by consciousness but a clear definition is elusive. Consciousness involves
awareness, both of what is going on around us and what is going on in-
side our minds, self-awareness. Consciousness is subjective and intangi-
ble. We recognize that consciousness is an essential component of being
human but it is unclear whether consciousness is one of the causes of
intelligence or one of its effects or by-products. Is consciousness a kind
of thought process created by the interactions of the billions of neurons
in our brain, or does it have a physical form—is it a material part of the
brain?
Linked to the question of how to define consciousness is the chau-
vinistic attitude that it is a particularly human attribute. Undeniably
humans possess what
we
call consciousness, but not everyone would ac-
cept that other animals do, and still fewer people believe that plants do.
Viewed from a slightly different perspective, some might suggest that hu-
mans are in possession of a greater consciousness than are other animals
which, in turn, have a greater consciousness than plants. The logical
continuation of this train of thought is that objects, including comput-