more on this theme     |     more from this text

Single Idea 4941

[filed under theme 15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 1. Consciousness / d. Purpose of consciousness ]

Full Idea

Conscious human thought can create new axioms, which a computer cannot do.

Clarification

'Axioms' are assumptions

Gist of Idea

Consciousness can create new axioms, but computers can't do that

Source

G Edelman / G Tononi (Consciousness: matter becomes imagination [2000], Ch.17)

Book Ref

Edelman,G/Tononi,G: 'Consciousness: how matter becomes imagination' [Penguin 2000], p.214

A Reaction

A nice challenge for the artificial intelligence community! I don't understand their confidence in making this assertion. Nothing in Gödel's Theorem seems to prevent the reassignment of axioms, and Quine implies that it is an easy and trivial game.

The 21 ideas from G Edelman / G Tononi

5793 Concepts and generalisations result from brain 'global mapping' by 'reentry' [Edelman/Tononi, by Searle]
4922 Consciousness involves interaction with persons and the world, as well as brain functions [Edelman/Tononi]
4924 A conscious human being rapidly reunifies its mind after any damage to the brain [Edelman/Tononi]
4923 The three essentials of conscious experience are privateness, unity and informativeness [Edelman/Tononi]
4925 Brains can initiate free actions before the person is aware of their own decision [Edelman/Tononi]
4926 Concepts arise when the brain maps its own activities [Edelman/Tononi]
4929 Dreams and imagery show the brain can generate awareness and meaning without input [Edelman/Tononi]
4928 Brain complexity balances segregation and integration, like a good team of specialists [Edelman/Tononi]
4927 Information-processing views of the brain assume the existence of 'information', and dubious brain codes [Edelman/Tononi]
4933 Consciousness is a process, not a thing, as it maintains unity as its composition changes [Edelman/Tononi]
4930 Consciousness arises from high speed interactions between clusters of neurons [Edelman/Tononi]
4932 A conscious state endures for about 100 milliseconds, known as the 'specious present' [Edelman/Tononi]
4931 Consciousness is a process (of neural interactions), not a location, thing, property, connectivity, or activity [Edelman/Tononi]
4934 Cultures have a common core of colour naming, based on three axes of colour pairs [Edelman/Tononi]
4935 The sensation of red is a point in neural space created by dimensions of neuronal activity [Edelman/Tononi]
4936 The self is founded on bodily awareness centred in the brain stem [Edelman/Tononi]
4937 Systems that generate a sense of value are basic to the primitive brain [Edelman/Tononi]
4939 A sense of self begins either internally, or externally through language and society [Edelman/Tononi]
4938 Prior to language, concepts are universals created by self-mapping of brain activity [Edelman/Tononi]
4940 Physicists see information as a measure of order, but for biologists it is symbolic exchange between animals [Edelman/Tononi]
4941 Consciousness can create new axioms, but computers can't do that [Edelman/Tononi]