Consciousness: Man and Machine?

A popular idea now-a-days is the notion of the ghost in the

machine. From scientific articles to entertainment, this

reference is to the idea of consciousness. Once again, the

study of consciousness is occupying the minds of science

and science fiction.

Just after the turn of the century, science basically

abandoned the study of consciousness per se' on the

grounds that it was too ambiguous and non-quantifiable.

However, the development of artificial intelligence, so-called

thinking computers, interactive virtual reality environments

and non-local action, or action at a distance, has placed the

study of consciousness in the fore front of many minds.

What is consciousness? This issue is devoted to some of

the intrigue involved in efforts to create "thinking machines"

modeled after man, minus of course, his limitations.

EARLY TALK

Language is often thought to be the tool of consciousness

and evidence for the kind of consciousness that makes

man different from monkeys. Indeed, language has often

been referred to as the "jewel of cognition." Some scientists

have argued that Neanderthal man possessed advanced

talking ability. This assertion is largely based upon a neck

bone found in 1988 (SN: 4/24/93, p.262). Other scientists

argue for a more recent origin to speech. Recent in this

sense is between 50 and 100 thousand years ago. By

contrast, early origin theorists date the beginning of

language at over 2 million years ago.

The evolution and history of language has a bearing on

certain philosophical issues where consciousness is

concerned. For example, take any date for the first

appearance of language. Let's for fun just assume some

hairy bi-pedal creature that has never spoken. Is this

creature conscious? Conscious in the sense of man? Now

one day the creature utters some meaningful form of

speech. Not a grunt or guttural sound like all animals, but

some form, beginning, of speech. Is the animal now

conscious?

What is the difference between the consciousness of

animals and man? What is intended by distinguishing

between the two conscious forms as different and why? If a

primate species shows the ability to learn, remember and

associate learnings, some insist this is evidence for

reason. Most flatly refuse to recognize it as such. Is it

possible that by recognizing the field of consciousness as

one worthy and ripe for study, that mans' consciousness will

lose its unique elevated status? What precisely is it that one

means by consciousness anyway?

Certainly reason preceded language. It would be rather odd

if it were the other way around. Still, that's an interesting

thought.

Some seem to reason only with the tools of their language.

In other words, their reason is limited by the rules and

definitions of their language. Plus, there is some argument

in favor of certain language structure as having greater or

lesser faculties for developing logical thinking. Literal

languages, for example, such as German, tend to

encourage the development of logical thinkers. However

intriguing all this may be, it still stands to reason that reason

preceded the conceptualization and development of speech.

As such, one is hard pressed to limit the consciousness of

a species on the basis of sound patterns called speech.

Oh, and it gets still tougher. For there are sound patterns

that resemble speech uttered by so-called non-conscious

animals such as whales and dolphins. So, what is

consciousness?

Is consciousness a matter of wakefulness? No, it can't be

just that for one can be a conscious being and still be

asleep. Is consciousness memory? Well, according to the

experiments of Cleve Baxter, plants exhibit memory. Where

science abandoned the study of consciousness years ago,

the problems inherent to describing consciousness have

proliferated during the absence. The advent of animal

studies, plant studies and synthetic or artificial intelligence

have greatly complicated the matters of consciousness. Or

perhaps, in the alternative, simplified them.

LANGUAGE AND THE BRAIN

For most people, parts of the left brain handle the affairs of

language. Brain hemispheric studies including the now

popular Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans show

that the right ear sends acoustic information to the left

hemisphere. Well, according to Marc Hauser of Harvard

University and Karin Andersson of Radcliff College in

Cambridge, rhesus monkeys "display a similar cerebral

setup, with the left half of the brain often taking responsibility

for vocalizations intended to signal aggression" (SN:

5/21/94, p333). If this is true, does this mean that the

anatomical evidence for language processing is evidence

for consciousness in the sense that we normally think of

mankind's consciousness. If not, what are the differences?

CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE BRAIN

For many, mind equals brain. Mind is a more general terms

that refers to the processes handled by brain. Therefore,

mind is often an interchangeable term with consciousness.

Is mind equal to brain? The chief area of enquiry offering

evidence one way or another to this question is a discipline

often held in poor regard. Still, literally thousands of

laboratory experiments in scientific parapsychology

demonstrate that there are many aspects of mind that can

not be reduced to anatomical or material brain.

For example, data clearly supports the "reality" of telepathy,

clairvoyance and psychokinesis. This seems obvious to this

commentator, but then the biographies of some of the

world's most respected people provide a richer picture than

that found in science. However, the point is simple. Whether

it is from the genius of Einstein or the laboratory of a

modern parapsychologist, mind is not equal to brain! What

does this mean with respect to consciousness?

A wonderful Star Trek adventure that I can remember had

the Enterprise actually forming its own consciousness and

then creating a new life form. Somehow, as Mr. Data

explained, the activity of the starship's computers and

records began to take on a "more than the sum of the parts"

activity, form its own neural network and so forth. Will

machines ever become conscious?

SIMULATED CREATURES EVOLVE AND LEARN

This was the headline in a recent Science News

publication: Simulated Creatures Evolve and Learn. The

article by Richard Lipkin went on to cite the work of Karl

Sims of Thinking Machines in Cambridge, Mass., who

"devised a simulated evolutionary system in which virtual

creatures compete for resources in a three-dimensional

arena...The creatures, resembling toy-block robots, enter

one-on-one contests in which they vie for control of a

desired object---an extra cube. Winners---deemed more

fit---reproduce, while losers bear no offspring. Sims endows

the virtual environment with physical parameters, such as

gravity and friction, and restricts behaviors to plausible

physical actions" (SN: 7/23/94, p63). Sims believes that it

may be easier to evolve virtual entities with intelligent

behavior than to create them from scratch. Artificial

intelligence researchers have long sought to develop the

so-called thinking machine. Unlike Sims, most begin by

attempting to model the computer after the patterns of man.

For some, this is the neural model of the brain while for

others it is the deductive/inductive model of reason.

Perhaps Sims' method is more man-like than the other two.

Mankind is thought to have evolved. Does this help us

understand consciousness? Oh, and what about the

collective of consciousness? Will machines soon be

contributing to this field of consciousness? Will a machine

ever dream?

DREAMS, INTUITION AND CONSCIOUSNESS

The "Genius Hypothesis" advanced by Ervin Laszlo and

reported in the Journal of Scientific Exploration (Vol.8, No.2,

pp257-267, 1994), asserts that the minds "of unusually

creative people are in spontaneous, direct, though usually

not conscious, interaction with other minds in the creative

process itself." Laszlo's paper sheds light on the "archetypal

experience" described by Carl Jung while using history,

physics, psychology, artistic production and cultural

development to clearly suggest the strong possibility (in

this

commentators opinion, the only real possibility) that not only

do minds communicate, but they do so at a distance as

well!

Is the collective, or the shared consciousness experience,

an independent consciousness? Is it possible that unique

(individual) conscious entities participate as transceivers,

sending and receiving, and that the total of consciousness

is this collective? Does the collective have a plan, a will,

does it dream? Or is it just a repository? Does it have a

neural network or some analogous something that we

might refer to as a non-spatial field? I mean, its not organic

or silicone is it?

CONSCIOUS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Perhaps consciousness is something that has to do with

being conscious of consciousness. I mean, are monkeys

truly conscious of being conscious? Could they even

entertain the idea of consciousness without an object? Or

consciousness as a character in someone else's dream?

Does a monkey ask itself if it really exists?

Is that a fair direction to take our questions regarding

consciousness? After all, are we not likely to be forced to

admit the notion of "devolution" if we do? Are there not all

together too many homo sapien sapiens on the planet that

don't give the proverbial "hoot" about who they are or where

they came from. How many of these people ask the

question, "Do I really exist?" Will silicone ask the question,

"Who am I?" If the Japanese have their way, the answer

is---probably! A "Darwin Machine" is being created by

researchers at ATR laboratories in Kyoto, Japan. The

artificial brain which uses an evolving neural network is due

to be completed by 2001. Hugo de Garis, an ATR scientist,

says the purpose is to produce a silicone brain with more

than 1 billion artificial neurons.

Science News says the machine "will come in the form of a

neural network and will exist within a massively parallel

computer. To create such a complex system, the

researchers will have the network build itself. 'Cellular

automata,' each one a distinct computer program, will

actually forge their own linkages."

This approach, called "evolutionary engineering," provides

for the growth of the silicone brain via connections. "The

neural net grows when cellular automata send 'growth

signals' to each other, then connect via synapses."

(And you thought genetic engineering was something to

wonder about).

CONSCIOUSNESS WITHOUT A DEFINITION

Defining consciousness turns out to be a process

somewhat a-kin to searching for the core of an onion. As we

enter the new year, and perhaps entertain thoughts of the

upcoming turn of the century, revisiting consciousness is

more than a philosophical exercise or a scientific enquiry. It

is a duty, even a moral imperative, to re-evaluate the nature

of consciousness for this inherently devises the strategy by

which mankind treats itself and all life. For me, and I

suspect for many others, many changes are seen as

necessary for the human race to actualize the highest of its

potentials. As in history, most certainly some of these

changes will be brought about by difficult times. I am

reminded of something Martin Luther King said, "I can never

be what I ought to be, until you are what you ought to be."

King went on to point out that it was precisely the

inter-related fabric of life that each of us was interdependent

upon.

Perhaps, it is the inter-related nature of all life,

consciousness itself, that we are interdependent upon.

Perhaps, just perhaps, mankind will only know his highest

most noble self when he offers the deepest of respect for all

life. Perhaps the invigorated enthusiasm searching for a

firm hold on this stuff called consciousness will eventually

give rise to the respect I speak of.

Thank you and BE WELL & HAPPY!

Eldon Taylor, Ph.D., is the Director of Progressive Awareness Research. He is the author of over 200 books and tapes (http://www.innertalk.com). He has been qualified as an expert witness on both hypnosis and subliminal communication.

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