The Simulation Theory of Consciousness (or Your Autonomous Car is Sentient)

By Donald Firesmith

This short book argues that every cyber-physical system (that is, every software-reliant physical system) that creates and executes a real-time simulation of itself and its environment is conscious in the sense of being subjectively aware of that simulation. Just as neuroscientists have studied consciousness in terms of the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC), software and system engineers can study artificial consciousness in terms of the cyber correlates of consciousness (CCC). Thus, the second part of the title states that autonomous vehicles are sentient.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Donald Firesmith
• Release date: Oct 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463669518

Donald Firesmith

Donald Firesmith is a multi-award-winning author of speculative fiction including science fiction (alien invasion), fantasy (magical wands), and modern urban paranormal novels.Prior to recently retiring to devote himself full-time to his novels, Donald Firesmith earned an international reputation as a distinguished engineer, authoring seven system/software engineering books based on his 40+ years spent developing large, complex software-intensive systems.He lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his wife Becky, his son Dane, and varying numbers of dogs and cats.You can learn more about the author by visiting his personal website:http://sites.google.com/a/firesmith.net/donald-firesmith/His magical wands and autographed copies of his books are also available from the Firesmith’s Wand Shoppe at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/FiresmithWandShop

Book preview

The Simulation Theory of Consciousness (or Your Autonomous Car is Sentient)

Donald Firesmith

The Simulation Theory of Consciousness (or Your Autonomous Car is Sentient)

Copyright © 2019 by Donald G. Firesmith

All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

You may purchase autographed books by contacting the author via:

Magical Wand Press

20 Bradford Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15205

http://donaldfiresmith.com

This book is typeset in Times New Roman.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction

2 Consciousness

2.1 Consciousness is Inherently Subjective

2.2 Consciousness Provides a Dynamic Simulation of Reality

2.3 Consciousness is Integrated

2.4 Consciousness is Actively Generated by the Conscious Entity

2.5 Consciousness May Involve a Focus of Attention

2.6 Consciousness Provides Evolutionarily Valuable Information

3 Human Consciousness

3.1 Sensory Receptors and Sensations

3.2 Neural Correlates of Consciousness (NCC)

3.3 Behavior

3.4 Summary of Human and Animal Consciousness

4 Autonomous Vehicles (AVs)

4.1 AV Computers and Networks

4.2 Sensors and Sensor Processing

4.3 Cyber Correlates of Consciousness (CCC)

4.4 Behavior

4.5 Detailed Summary

5 Similarities and Differences

5.1 Sensing Similarities and Differences

5.2 Correlates of Consciousness – Similarities and Differences

5.3 Behavioral Similarities and Differences

6 Hypotheses

6.1 The Simulation Forms the Stream of Consciousness.

6.2 The Simulation Creates Consciousness.

6.3 Consciousness depends on Function, not Form.

6.4 Consciousness Only Exists While Simulation Runs.

6.5 Separate Simulations Form Separate Consciousnesses.

6.6 Identical Simulations Produce Identical Consciousnesses.

7 Open Questions

7.1 Hard Problem of Consciousness

7.2 Simulation Sufficiency

7.3 Integrated Simulation

7.4 Ethical Ramifications

7.5 Free Will

7.6 Quantum Physics

8 Comparisons to Other Theories of Consciousness

8.1 Integrated Information Theory (IIT)

8.2 Global Workspace Theory (GWT)

8.3 Panpsychism

8.4 Simulation Hypothesis

8.5 Artificial Consciousness

9 Conclusion

1 Introduction

The book argues that every cyber-physical system that creates and executes a real-time simulation of itself and its environment is conscious. Specifically, if a computer-based system uses inputs from one or more sensors to create an integrated dynamic model of its reality that it subsequently uses to control its actions, then that system is subjectively aware of its simulation. As long as its simulation executes, the system is conscious, and the dynamic contents of its simulation form its stream of consciousness.

This book does not argue that the consciousness of robots, autonomous vehicles, and other cyber-physical systems is similar to our own. Depending on the size, complexity, and contents of its simulation, a cyber-physical system’s consciousness would be vastly different from our own. Because of the subjective nature of one’s stream of consciousness, we can no more be certain of what it would be like to be a robot or self-driving car than we can truly know what it would be like to experience life as a bat or octopus.

To understand this argument, you must first understand what is meant by the concept of computer-based simulation. A simulation is the execution of a dynamic model that represents the useful behavior and characteristics of what it models while ignoring unimportant or diversionary details.

For this book, the simulation is a real-time representation of the relevant and useful aspects of the cyber-physical system and its environment, including the current, past, and potential future behaviors and characteristics of relevant external objects.

The fidelity of the cyber-physical system’s simulation of itself and its environment (and thereby the simulation’s usefulness to the system) depends on the following factors:

> the sources of the input data such as:

>> the number, type, accuracy, and reliability of the system’s sensors

>> the quality of input data stored during previous executions of the simulation

> the sophistication of its simulation software including how well it localizes, identifies, classifies, and understands object described by the input data

> the power of the computer hardware that executes the simulation software

A great many cyber-physical systems exist that create and execute simulations of themselves and their environments. These two most obvious examples are mobile robots and autonomous vehicles (AV), such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and autonomous (i.e., self-driving) cars and trucks. Numerous science fiction movies and TV shows include humanoid robots that behave as though they were conscious. However, a system need not be a humanoid to be conscious any more than an animal needs to be human to experience consciousness.

I have chosen to use AVs as my example in this book for the following four reasons:

> AVs will soon be ubiquitous.

> AVs are relatively easy to understand at a high level of abstraction.

> A great deal of information about AVs is readily available on the Internet.

> The very idea of a conscious car probably seems preposterous to most people. No matter how intelligent autonomous cars become over the next decade or so, many people will probably argue that AVs are the perfect example of a philosophical zombie, that is something that acts as though it were conscious but is not. In other words, with a philosophical zombie, the lights may be on, but no one is home.

This book presents a Simulation Theory of Consciousness, which states that any system, whether biological or technological, that creates a simulation of its reality is consciously (i.e., subjectively) aware of the contents of that simulation. However, this book does not answer the hard problem of consciousness; it does not provide a mechanism that explains how something purely physical like a brain or a computer can generate something that seems as inherently nonphysical as subjective awareness. Note that this Simulation Theory of Consciousness is also not the same as two related theories:

> The theory that all of reality itself is a simulation.

> The theory that human consciousness is the result of a simulation produced by some advanced (e.g., alien or future) technology such as in The Matrix series of movies.

Chapter 2 of this book briefly clarifies what I mean by consciousness. Chapter 3 describes the relevant physical correlates of human (and animal) consciousness, while chapter 4 describes the analogous physical correlates of the consciousness of an autonomous car. Chapter 5 describes the relevant similarities between the human and automotive correlates of consciousness, as well as some of their essential differences. Chapter 6 lists the fundamental hypotheses that provide the