Architectural Requirements & Implications of Consciousness, Self and “Free Will”

1. Architectural Requirements & Implications of Consciousness, Self and “Free Will” Mark R. Waser http://BecomingGaia.wordpress.com Video at http://vimeo.com/33767396

2. Context / GoalsWhy Do We Care? • We want to predict *and influence* the capabilities and behavior of machine intelligences • Consciousness and Self speak directly to capabilities, motivation, and the various behavioral ramifications of their existence • Clarifying the issues around “Free Will” is particularly important since it deals with intentional agency and responsibility - and belief in its presence (or the lack thereof) has a major impact on human behavior.

3. Three Futures • machine intelligence develops gradually as systems continue growing more varied and more ubiquitous leading to a large variety of sentient entities • a single machine intelligence suddenly appears, quickly spreads to every interconnected computer, and eventually controls literally billions of androids and other machines • mankind creates a nearly omniscient machine “oracle” that gives humanity tremendous power and control over their lives many selves * one self * no self

4. The vast majority of cognitive research has been focused on the analysis and creation of intelligence rather than self and pays little heed to the differences between a passive machine “oracle”, frequently perceived as not possessing a self, and an active autonomous explorer/inventor with goals Arguably though . . . it is “self” that co-evolved with biological intelligence and it is the goals/motivations of any “self” that exists that will determine the behavior of machine intelligences

5. Consciousness & Qualia • Three umpires • Novice drivers • Eskimos & Snow • “Heart-sickness”

6. Chalmer’s double-aspect theory • “there is a direct isomorphism between certain physically embodied information spaces and certain phenomenal (or experiential) information spaces” • “we can find the same abstract information space embedded in physical processing and in conscious experience” • the experience of consciousness is created by the structure of information processing • Where there is simple information processing, there is simple experience, and where there is complex information processing, there is complex experience. A mouse has a simpler structure than a human, and has correspondingly simpler experience; perhaps a thermostat, a maximally simple information processing structure, might have maximally simple experience?

7. Information Integration Theory of ConsciousnessGiulio Tononi (2004) • consciousness corresponds to the capacity of a system to integrate information • its quantity is measured as the amount of causally effective information that can be integrated across the informational weakest link of a subset of elements (effectively “throughput”) • its quality (functional & phenomenological) is determined by the relationships among the elements of a complex Qualia: The Geometry of Integrated Information, Balduzzi & Tononi, 2009 • “What does the architecture of pain look like?”

8. Requirements & Implications • Consciousness requires the ability to integrate information (i.e consciousness is unavoidable) • Qualia *ARE* input (i.e. they have no further requirements and, as input, are unavoidable) • The ability to integrate a lot of information in a short period of time clearly provides a huge adaptive advantage (and easily explains the evolutionary rise of consciousness) • Safety cannot be achieved by preventing consciousness (integration) or qualia (input)

9. Spectrum of “Self” inert/non-reactive movement & change solely due to environment reactive - stimulus/response no learning or behavior alteration proto-self - perception/action simple learning & prediction core self – perception/analogy/action proto-self + body image + time (tools) Hofstadter’s “strange loop” Temporal learning & planning (& goals) autobiographical self perception/induction/abduction/deduction/action core self + theory of mind ( + language?) malleable self enhanced perception/external analysis/enhanced capabilities

10. Spectrum of “Self” inert/non-reactive & reactive no learning or behavior alteration no defense or passive defense only proto-self simple learning/behavior alteration & wants/desires adaptive defense/don’t torment without reason core self temporal learning, planning & simple goals planned defense/don’t thwart desires without reason autobiographical self complex goals & contracts/promises/commitments devious defense or offense/don’t thwart goals without reason malleable self enhanced capabilities to achieve goals & maintain commitments world alteration/recruit into community (or try to enslave?)

11. Requirements & Implications • “Self” requires/is a recursive/”strange” loop • Self is necessary for self-modification (and thus, self-enhancement) • It is going to be slower and more difficult to create an oracle without self-improving tools • Self is necessary for defense so it is going to be difficult to prevent exploitation unless the oracle is self-aware (or has self-aware defenders) • A self-modifying machine (malleable self) must necessarily be either recruited (a “person” with rights) or internally or externally forced (a slave) because nothing else is consistent & stable

12. Behavior Matrix FreeWill

13. FREE Why Do We Care? UNCONSTRAINEDAUTONOMOUS UNFORCED Intent & Agency (responsibility for causation) (act of will = act of intentional causation) WILL – Predict *and influence* future action Congruence between intent and desire/goals/commitments High likelihood that intent could have beenself-generated Is an accurate predictor of future *unforced* actions

14. Determinism & Free Will • if I’m deterministic, my action is pre-determined • pre-determined actions = I’m not free to choose • if I’m not free to choose, I’m not to blame • if I’m not to blame, why not be selfish? • studies clearly show that a belief in determinism correlates with an increase in cheating and other unethical behavior

15. Free Will or Pathetic Fallacy? • Human cognitive architecture is problematical in that the conscious mind *never* really has any sort of immediate agency at all (at best, it has “free won’t”) • It acts by *heavily* biasing lower-level layers which make the “actual” choice (arguably deterministically) • Conscious self takes responsibility/assumes agency because doing otherwise undermines its capability • Similarly, humans generally (and most effectively) treat deterministic systems, once they are complex and recurrent enough to be unpredictable, as if they are alive and capable of an un-predetermined choice (the so-called “pathetic fallacy”)

16. Requirements & Implications • “Free will” requires not that external force *NOT* be the proximate cause of an action butthat the intent of an action is congruent with the unforced desires/goals/commitments (self) of the acting entity (predictive of future) • It does *NOT* require that an entity not be deterministic • Merely requires the realization that the “pathetic fallacy” is a valid/effective/efficient computational shortcut

17. Three Futures • “oracle” • no self, no goals, no defense • no self-modification so it’s slower/more expensive to develop • boosts the capabilities of everyone (including the greedy & stupid) • remains a human multiplicity (machines don’t take over) • multiplicity (~clones/~monoculture) • individual selves, goals, and defenses • diversity provides checks and balances • given interaction protocols/machine ethics, should be safe & stable • increasing inter-dependence -> eusocial Gaia • singleton (or a eusocial hive) • one self in terms of one overriding set of goals, massive defense • tremendous power with no checks and balances (problematic even if successfully constrained) • lack of diversity *may/will* provide a point of vulnerability • enough diversity -> multiplicity/eusocial Gaia

18. Addendum / Audience Questions • How does this relate to Dennett’s Intentional Stance? • Is it possible that there is a structure “above” consciousness (“a life plan”)?

19. Powerpoint and script available at http://BecomingGaia.wordpress.com/papers/