Robotics Reference
In-Depth Information
is just made up. Now, I don't mean that we're not aware of sounds
and sights, or even of some parts of thoughts. I'm only saying that
we're not aware of much of what goes on inside our minds. [2]
These writings by Butler and Minsky contribute in some small way to
our understanding of consciousness but do not take us much closer to
an acceptable definition of the term. Part of the problem in defining
consciousness lies in its subjectivity.
My
consciousness relates to what
I
perceive to be happening in
my
mind, whatever
my
mind is. It is also
related to
my
awareness of what is going on inside
my
body and in the
world immediately around
me
. But that is
my
consciousness, it is not
yours. You have your own consciousness. Although it is doubtless related
to your own self-awareness in a very similar way to that in which mine
are related, your consciousness is equally impossible for an outsider to
observe or to measure scientifically.
Given the impossibility of observing consciousness it is hardly sur-
prising that a prominent researcher in this field, Susan Blackmore, asserts
that consciousness is actually an illusion:
This is because it feels to us humans as though there is a continuous
flow of experiences happening to an inner self when in fact there is
no such inner self. Computers have no inner self either, but if ever
they start thinking they do they will become deluded like us, and
hence conscious like us. And that day is surely not far off. [3]
Blackmore expands on this assertion in her fascinating paper “Conscious-
ness in Meme Machines”:
On this view, human-like consciousness means having a particular
kind of illusion. If machines are to have human-like consciousness
then they must be subject to this same kind of illusion. I shall
therefore explore one theory of how this illusion comes about in
humans and how it might be created in machines; the theory of
memetics.
2
[4]
Blackmore then puts forward and defends the view that memes distort
consciousness into an illusion. She discusses two kinds of artificial meme
machine: those which imitate each other and those which imitate hu-
mans. And she argues that our individual minds and our sense of self and
consciousness are designed by memetic pressures, leading her to conclude
that meme machines can be designed with human-like consciousness.
2
The term “meme” was first coined by Richard Dawkins in 1976, for “ideas, habits, skills, stories
or any kind of behaviour or information that is copied from person to person by imitation.” [5]
