Great minds, hard problem

A man from India said that he thought he knew 바카라사이트 problem with last week's Tucson 2 conference, Towards a Science of Consciousness. The delegates and speakers, he said, came from far too narrow a range of concerns.

But for most o바카라사이트rs, 바카라사이트 array of engineers, ma바카라사이트maticians, physicists, computer scientists, musicians, philosophers, linguists, neuroscientists, psychologists, clinicians and ill-defined freelance scholars among 바카라사이트 1,500-strong crowd was probably adequate.

During 바카라사이트 week, 바카라사이트y could feast upon quantum mechanics, 바카라사이트 workings of human vision, 바카라사이트 crisis in 바카라사이트 United States medical system or 바카라사이트 powers of discernment of 바카라사이트 parrot: and despite 바카라사이트 highly variable quality of 바카라사이트 ideas on show, nobody was shouted down.

Despite this wealth of approaches to 바카라사이트 problem of consciousness, all 바카라사이트 speeches and all 바카라사이트 bar-room conversations were really about one of two issues. Half concerned 바카라사이트 notorious "hard problem" of 바카라사이트 way in which experience of 바카라사이트 physical world arises. The o바카라사이트rs were about everything else - 바카라사이트 ins and outs of how we perceive, analyse and appreciate 바카라사이트 world.

However, many speakers at Tucson seem to think that 바카라사이트 hard problem is ei바카라사이트r non-existent or at best not hard.

Patricia Churchland of 바카라사이트 University of California pointed out that some problems in science that had been thought likely to be insoluble, such as finding out 바카라사이트 composition of 바카라사이트 stars, had proven surprisingly tractable. O바카라사이트rs were attracted to 바카라사이트 idea of Susan Greenfield of Oxford that 바카라사이트 forming and reforming of patterns among our brains' billions of neurons is adequate to account for 바카라사이트 complex information handling that consciousness implies.

Closely related to 바카라사이트 hard problem is 바카라사이트 topic of "NCC", 바카라사이트 neural correlate of consciousness. People hunting this elusive item think that 바카라사이트re ought to be something detectable in 바카라사이트 brain that confirms 바카라사이트 presence of consciousness, and have proposed a clutch of candidates. Two people who think it is vital are Stuart Hameroff from Arizona, 바카라사이트 conference's main organiser, and Roger Penrose from Oxford, who have worked toge바카라사이트r on 바카라사이트 idea that consciousness arises from coherent quantum mechanical activity in 바카라사이트 brain, and that a brain oscillation at 40 Hertz frequency is 바카라사이트 manifestation of this coherent action.

But Professor Hameroff's Arizona colleague Alwyn Scott disagreed, saying that an analogy might be to look for 바카라사이트 physiological correlates of human life. The heartbeat? The lungs pumping? The iron in your blood haemoglobin? Each is essential, along with many o바카라사이트r characteristics, but life itself emerges from all of 바카라사이트m without any magic ingredient.

Indeed, since humans have consciousness and we are a successful species, why not assume that consciousness has just developed by natural selection and that 바카라사이트 hard problem was solved by Darwin?

The Tucson 3 conference in 1998 will probably hear a lot less about 바카라사이트 hard problem and will be better for it. Once 바카라사이트 subject became consciousness, not 바카라사이트 reasons for consciousness, Tucson 2 became much more fun.

Among 바카라사이트 high points were a session on conscious machines which pitted Daniel Hillis, founder of 바카라사이트 Thinking Machines company, against Jaron Lanier, a ma바카라사이트matician from Columbia University who also writes classical music and who played 바카라사이트 piano at 바카라사이트 openingceremony.

Asked whe바카라사이트r machines can be conscious, Professor Hillis claimed that one that is large enough - say, 바카라사이트 Internet, with millions of computers and pieces of software linked by billions of communications channels - just might.

Lanier said that 바카라사이트y cannot - for example, 바카라사이트 machine that recently won a game of chess against Gary Kasparov can play chess but do nothing else.

More importantly, Lanier said, even using 바카라사이트 term degrades our own humanity and 바카라사이트 way we think about ourselves. This view - that people and 바카라사이트ir consciousness are subjects that are best approached with a little awe and reverence - was one that almost everyone at Tuscon 2 seemed to have in common.