Consciousness
by Gregory Alsbury
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DVD details
Actor: Bierman, Hameroff, Newberg, Ramachandran, WoolfDirector: Gregory Alsbury
DVD: Region Code 1
Format: AC-3, Box set, Collector's Edition, Color, Director's Cut, Full length, Full Screen, NTSC, Special Edition
Running Time: 540 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-05-01
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: Alsbury Films
DVD Reviews of Consciousness
DVD Review: Consciousness-Interesting and Intelligent DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
This excellent DVD box set documented interesting presentations on several theories of consciousness. The presenting researchers included MD's and other individuals with world class credentials in: brain research, molecular biology, neurobiology, organic chemistry, computers and electronics, test engineering, math and statistics, theoretical and experimental physics, philosopy and even some part time poets. Although this box set was a bit pricey it was a high quality DVD production hosted by a talented and intelligent interviewer and very well edited. As far as presentation it is a discussion of each of the speakers findings and does not include any screen graphics or other visual materials. Excellent editing does a good job of making up for this omission.
One speaker indicated that consciousness may exist in the universe and is something that we are able to "tap into" biologically in order to acquire awareness of self. Furthermore, it is partially explainable on a quantum level using the Schrödinger equation. A good case for this theory has been made to the satisfaction of a significant portion of the growing consciousness community. High speed quantum computers are currently at a prototype level and only beginning their technological evolution.
I am excited by this idea because it opens up the possibility that a sufficiently complex machine can acquire some form of consciousness without necessarily taking a biological path. Although we all "experience" consciousness, there is no way we can really convince another of our own "awareness" on philosophical grounds. I do have to admit that as a practical matter, I am convinced of my own consciousness as well as yours. Notwithstanding, that is not what the philosophers tell us, and I believe it may be rooted in "existentialism".
Since an early age I have believed that the future held two very exciting possibilities. Either we will be able to construct a fully conscious machine, or we will by default, demonstrate the "spiritual nature" of self awareness, as this may be something that mankind will never be able reproduce no matter how clever we become with our computer technology. This is sometimes referred to as "the ghost in the machine" and can be found in respectable literature and film.
It is for the above reason that I find sci-fi movies that deal in a serious way with "conscious" computers or robot developments especially fascinating. I have also been waiting (with considerable disappointment) for the development of AI and a fully autonomous humanoid robot. Although IBM's chess master "Big Blue" and HONDA's humanoid bipedal robot, ASIMO, have been two noteworthy developments, I have been waiting for at least 50 years and still continue to wait.
While we may never be able to produce conscious computers, there is still hope for constructing a machine similar to 2001's HAL computer which Arthur Clarke projected to possess intelligence (AI) by that year. At least during his early years, Clarke believed there was no practical way to test for consciousness in AI machines beyond something called the "Turing test", discussed below. I have only recently learned that later in life he believed not only in AI, but that the future held the development of conscious computers. This despite the failure of his prediction of an AI computer like HAL by 2001. He may have changed his opinion due to the current state of development of quantum computers which are projected to be capable of computation speeds approaching that estimated for the human brain by 25 to 50 years from now. I personally believe we will be able to produce convincing AI and the fully autonomous robot within 20 years from today with some clever programming work as well as the speeds permitted by silicon chips.
I have until now found compelling the well known argument that there is no way to test for machine intelligence, let alone consciousness, beyond the Turing test. The Turing test is a proposal for a test of a machine's capability to demonstrate intelligence if not awareness. Described by Alan Turing in the 1950 paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence," it proceeds as follows: a human judge engages in a natural language conversation with one human and one machine, each of which try to appear human; if the judge cannot reliably tell which is which, then the machine is said to pass the test. In order to keep the test setting simple and universal the conversation is usually limited to a text-only channel such as a teletype machine (as Turing suggested).
This DVD discusses new developments that make me uncertain about the limitations of our test capabilities for machine awareness, and the theories covered in this DVD hold hope for understanding human, animal and even machine sentience, as well as new practical tests for awareness.
Be prepared for some pretty articulate speakers and some unconventional people as far as behavior, dress and just plain brilliance are concerned. A couple of these individuals appeared to hold some very strange ideas; however, most of them are scientists in the strictest sense and deserve your attention.
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