Self-Awareness
The following is about a consequence of life as it developed on earth, and probably on some exoplanets as well, and in particular on intelligence as we know it from human life. The thesis has two parts, namely that self-awareness follows from the development of intelligence, and that there are levels of self-awareness in animal species somewhat in proportion to the level of intelligence they have attained.
Observations of humans and animals seem to indicate that humans have attained the highest form of intelligence and self-awareness known to us, but also that there exist lesser degrees of those same features in such animals as cats, dogs, dolphins, elephants, and in some birds like crows and ravens, perhaps even parrots.
Intelligence is the feature of being able to understand "how things work," the process of realizing that condition A implies (i.e., leads to) condition B, as in "if A, then B," for example that lightning is followed by thunder. It also incudes the distinction between the reason behind something occurring and the cause of it occurring. For instance, pushing an object over the edge of a table will result in the object falling to the ground; the reason it falls down is gravity, the cause is the pushing.
Extending the observation "if A, then B" to the participation of the observer in the action following the condition gradually leads to "seeing oneself" as part of the if–then chain of events. This creates a feedback loop of actions and observations that not only leads to the planning of actions to achieve a certain outcome but also seeing the actor, i.e., oneself, as the planner/actor: A —> B (self) —> C.
Generalization
The processes described above, in particular the feedback loop, are established, of course, in the brain of an individual through the interconnectedness of the brain cells which are connected with each other by axons and synapses creating internal signal processing loops of increasing complexity as the number of brain cells increases. The sensory and actuary system of the organism (afferent and efferent nerves) are also part of the feedback loops.
This is summarized in the
This is summarized in the
Hypothesis
The internal feedback loop system in the brain based on a sufficiently complex interconnectedness of brain cells ultimately creates self-awareness from intelligence.Discussion
It is important to realize that both features, intelligence and self-awareness, are implemented at different levels both within a species and between different species. This is an essential part in understanding (and implementing) the genesis of self-awareness. Intelligence on the human level and below and self-awareness (humans and animals) can arise spontaneously to various degrees from sufficient connectedness between information-processing units (brain cells or similar non-linear switches with sigmoidal input-output (IO) relationship. To describe the necessary and sufficient conditions that result in convincing levels of self-awareness (ichbewusstsein) a new theory is required of the complexity arising from feedback loops between large numbers of interconnected IO switches. This theory needs to define or point out the conditions for which the spontaneous appearance of purposeful actions can be expected that have definitive effects or achieve certain goals.
Such a systems theory for which new parameters and conditions need to be developed will be able to describe the emergence of intelligent and self-aware behavior in an assembly of large numbers of active switches connected with each other through axons and synapses which essentially form the information processing feedback loops. The system will be capable of recognizing and understanding cause-effect relationships and communicate the self-awareness it has gained through sensory input and actuator output channels.
Theorists who could tackle this task would likely come from the current set of economists and econo-physicists plus mathematicians specializing in complexity; it would probably exclude traditional biologists and neurologists who are mainly trying to rebuild a model of the currently available knowledge of the brain's anatomy. The latter is irrelevant except for the fact that a lot of synaptic connections appear to be necessary but the details of the connectivity may not be essential. There is, however, some guidance from biology: the brain morphology that leads to intelligence must be such that it can be encoded genetically (to the extent that features have been shown to be inherited).
Work on this model should also include the attempts to show whether it is possible (or impossible) that a suitably connected feedback network of non-linear information processing units (brain cells) can evolve such features as understanding, awareness, and logical planing. Part of the theoretical approach must also be the definitions and measurements on a graded scale of these properties because it seems this task has not been done yet, beginnings of it at best perhaps available as descriptions of animal behavior. One example is the story of a whale whose child was entangled in a net that helped a rescue crew in a boat in open waters to free the little whale. There is also a report on a raven who was observed hiding food differently when it was aware that another raven observed its actions.
If intelligence and self-awareness occur on a sliding scale, that is, there are degrees of these features in complex systems, they are most likely proportional to brain size (relative to body mass?), or to the interconnectivity of brain cells (number of synapses through which each cell acquires information from other cells and number of axons/dendrites a cells sends out to connect to other cells). Most likely such a measure occurs on more than one scale and will be, therefore, difficult to quantify. However, there may be a qualitative jump associated with the spontaneous occurrence of self-awareness that can be readily recognized by 'normal' humans.
Another consequence of this kind of self-awareness is that the notion of the 'soul' will have a clear definition, similar to the two other parts of the triad, 'body' and 'mind' where the latter could be associated with intelligence. This has ramifications for most concepts of traditional religions in that there is no need for a creator to provide a soul to a living organism—time to shed those old theistic tales.
Such a systems theory for which new parameters and conditions need to be developed will be able to describe the emergence of intelligent and self-aware behavior in an assembly of large numbers of active switches connected with each other through axons and synapses which essentially form the information processing feedback loops. The system will be capable of recognizing and understanding cause-effect relationships and communicate the self-awareness it has gained through sensory input and actuator output channels.
Theorists who could tackle this task would likely come from the current set of economists and econo-physicists plus mathematicians specializing in complexity; it would probably exclude traditional biologists and neurologists who are mainly trying to rebuild a model of the currently available knowledge of the brain's anatomy. The latter is irrelevant except for the fact that a lot of synaptic connections appear to be necessary but the details of the connectivity may not be essential. There is, however, some guidance from biology: the brain morphology that leads to intelligence must be such that it can be encoded genetically (to the extent that features have been shown to be inherited).
Work on this model should also include the attempts to show whether it is possible (or impossible) that a suitably connected feedback network of non-linear information processing units (brain cells) can evolve such features as understanding, awareness, and logical planing. Part of the theoretical approach must also be the definitions and measurements on a graded scale of these properties because it seems this task has not been done yet, beginnings of it at best perhaps available as descriptions of animal behavior. One example is the story of a whale whose child was entangled in a net that helped a rescue crew in a boat in open waters to free the little whale. There is also a report on a raven who was observed hiding food differently when it was aware that another raven observed its actions.
If intelligence and self-awareness occur on a sliding scale, that is, there are degrees of these features in complex systems, they are most likely proportional to brain size (relative to body mass?), or to the interconnectivity of brain cells (number of synapses through which each cell acquires information from other cells and number of axons/dendrites a cells sends out to connect to other cells). Most likely such a measure occurs on more than one scale and will be, therefore, difficult to quantify. However, there may be a qualitative jump associated with the spontaneous occurrence of self-awareness that can be readily recognized by 'normal' humans.
Another consequence of this kind of self-awareness is that the notion of the 'soul' will have a clear definition, similar to the two other parts of the triad, 'body' and 'mind' where the latter could be associated with intelligence. This has ramifications for most concepts of traditional religions in that there is no need for a creator to provide a soul to a living organism—time to shed those old theistic tales.
Literature
After starting this blog, I came across a book by Jeff Hawkins called "On Intelligence" (co-authored by Sandra Blakeslee), published by Times Books (Henry Holt and Company), New York, 2004. This book proposes a similar concept, namely a "memory–prediction framework" which includes information processing feedback loops, and describes in detail a model of the cortex that could generate the observed functions of the brain: memory, intelligence, consciousness, and creativity. The author makes a convincing case that self-awareness or consciousness will follow once a suitable self-organized information processing structure is implemented by some means, most likely electronics-based.
There seems to be no need for further elaboration of my ideas regarding the technical side of 'artificial intelligence' in light of the concepts provided in this book.
