Even for a mathematician who can conjure complexity at the iteration of a simple function system coming to a theory of consciousness must be a pre-requisite of AI research. Whilst it is evident this is an emergent biological pheonomenon, if we are going to provide a substrate for that emergence to take place we need to study how it emerges from an evolutionary perspective.
On the other hand I’ve become interested in the pyschological and philosophical underpinnings of the humman condition and what it means to be sentient. In the coming years we will need to focus on the ehtics of our work in the fields of AI and synthetic biology and now might be a good time to start that conversation with the rest of our culture.
Maps of Meaning by Jordan Peterson
Well according to one reviewer this book is a life times reading. Having recently followed the 2017 lecture series I found Peterson inspiring and passionate in his exploration of symbolism in our cultural tradition and find his arguments as to how a meaningful life can be achieved only if we pay attention the Jungian archetypical stories at the foundation of our culture and nuero-biology and specifically to that of the hero myth common to all cultures. It’s not by accident that this blog is entitled The Pheonix. For someone who sought refuge in from the post-moderninsts in the STEM disciplines, Peterson has inspired me to excercise my voice against an ever more nihilistic and totalitarian society. I now even feel proud of my Platonic mathematical roots, though I’ve adopted a more constructivist position of late. At least watch the lectures if you don’t have a lifetime to read the book.
From Bacteria to Bach and Back - The Evolution of Mind by Daniel Dennett
I’ve always been a fan of Dennett his gentle humanisitc style belies his firm belief in a mechanistic foundation of consciousnes. This has always been applealing to me as a strong AI advocate when such ideas were quite radical. Interestingly I’ve tempered my thinking with a return to the humanties and the necessity of belief structures. However Dennett proposes to finally convince us in his latest book that the Catesian duality is an illusion that we must purge from our thinking.
The Archeology of Mind - The Neuroevolutionary Origins of Human Emotions by Jaak Pansvek and Lucy Biven
This will be my first exposure to affective neuroscience and will no doubt broaden my perspectives from the evolutionary point of view.