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The lightness of being
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The lightness of being
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An engineering approach to consciousness promises help with an old question WHAT is it like to be a bat? Philosopher Thomas Nagel’s 1974 question has evolved to dominate our thinking on consciousness. Nagel’s point, simply put, is that even if we could fly, and navigate using sonar, we would never grasp what it feels like to be a bat. The argument has become the “hard problem” of consciousness, the intractability of explaining subjective experience. Consciousness isn’t something you can measure or weigh; its ethereal quality is so fascinating as to verge on the mystical. Certainly it attracts plenty of mystical explanations. So it is unsurprising that, despite decades of thought, we have been unable to explain how our brains create the conscious experience. Even if we might insist that the hard problem is illusory, or that consciousness is simply
Can we make a machine that does what a conscious human does?
the way information feels when processed in certain ways, we still need to understand how the illusion arises, and what kind of information in the brain gives rise to the feeling. Philosophy alone isn’t enough. This is where engineering comes in. To build something, you have to understand it precisely. Can we make a machine that does what a conscious being does, that constructs a self-image and uses it to produce descriptions of
the world? This week, we report on just such a project (see page 34). The idea is that, just as any control device needs a model of the thing it is controlling, a brain needs a model of itself. The experience of a phantom limb – the feeling that an amputated arm, for example, is still present – comes about because the brain originally created an internal model of the arm to help control its movement. When the physical arm is gone, the model, the phantom, remains. The feeling of consciousness could be the phantom of the brain’s model of its own workings. Although an engineering approach won’t allow us to grasp the essence of “batness”, it looks like a promising way to build artificial consciousness. Who knows, it might eventually explain the mystery of our own being. ❚
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© 2019 New Scientist Ltd, England. New Scientist is published weekly by New Scientist Ltd. ISSN 0262 4079. New Scientist (Online) ISSN 2059 5387. Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper and printed in England by Precision Colour Printing Ltd
Non-exec chair Bernard Gray Senior non-exec director Louise Rogers
CONTACT US newscientist.com/contact General & media enquiries Tel+44 (0)20 7611 1202 UK Tel+44 (0)20 7611 1200 25 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ES Australia PO Box 2315, Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012 US Tel +1 617 283 3213 210 Broadway #201, Cambridge, MA 02139 UK Newsstand Marketforce UK Ltd Tel +44 (0)20 3787 9001 Syndication Tribune Content Agency Tel +44 (0)20 7588 7588 Email [email protected] Subscriptions newscientist.com/subscribe Tel +44 (0)330 333 9470 Email [email protected] Post New Scientist, Rockwood House, Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 3DH
21 September 2019 | New Scientist | 3
The lightness of being
GETTY IMAGES
An engineering approach to consciousness promises help with an old question WHAT is it like to be a bat? Philosopher Thomas Nagel’s 1974 question has evolved to dominate our thinking on consciousness. Nagel’s point, simply put, is that even if we could fly, and navigate using sonar, we would never grasp what it feels like to be a bat. The argument has become the “hard problem” of consciousness, the intractability of explaining subjective experience. Consciousness isn’t something you can measure or weigh; its ethereal quality is so fascinating as to verge on the mystical. Certainly it attracts plenty of mystical explanations. So it is unsurprising that, despite decades of thought, we have been unable to explain how our brains create the conscious experience. Even if we might insist that the hard problem is illusory, or that consciousness is simply
Can we make a machine that does what a conscious human does?
the way information feels when processed in certain ways, we still need to understand how the illusion arises, and what kind of information in the brain gives rise to the feeling. Philosophy alone isn’t enough. This is where engineering comes in. To build something, you have to understand it precisely. Can we make a machine that does what a conscious being does, that constructs a self-image and uses it to produce descriptions of
the world? This week, we report on just such a project (see page 34). The idea is that, just as any control device needs a model of the thing it is controlling, a brain needs a model of itself. The experience of a phantom limb – the feeling that an amputated arm, for example, is still present – comes about because the brain originally created an internal model of the arm to help control its movement. When the physical arm is gone, the model, the phantom, remains. The feeling of consciousness could be the phantom of the brain’s model of its own workings. Although an engineering approach won’t allow us to grasp the essence of “batness”, it looks like a promising way to build artificial consciousness. Who knows, it might eventually explain the mystery of our own being. ❚
PUBLISHING & COMMERCIAL
MANAGEMENT
EDITORIAL
Display advertising Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1291 Email [email protected] Commercial director Chris Martin Display sales manager Justin Viljoen Lynne Garcia, Bethany Stuart, Henry Vowden, (ANZ) Richard Holliman Recruitment advertising Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1204 Email [email protected] Recruitment sales manager Mike Black Nicola Cubeddu, Viren Vadgama, (US) Jeanne Shapiro New Scientist Live Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1245 Email [email protected] Events director Adrian Newton Creative director Valerie Jamieson Event manager Henry Gomm Sales director Jacqui McCarron Exhibition sales manager Rosie Bolam Marketing manager Katie Cappella Events team support manager Rose Garton Marketing executive Jessica Lazenby-Murphy Marketing Head of campaign marketing James Nicholson Poppy Lepora, Chloe Thompson Head of customer experience Emma Robinson Head of data analytics Tom Tiner Web development Maria Moreno Garrido, Tom McQuillan, Amardeep Sian
Chief executive Nina Wright Finance director Jenni Prince Chief technology officer Chris Corderoy Marketing director Jo Adams Human resources Shirley Spencer HR coordinator Serena Robinson Facilities manager Ricci Welch Executive assistant Lorraine Lodge Receptionist Alice Catling
Editor Emily Wilson Executive editor Richard Webb Creative director Craig Mackie News News editor Penny Sarchet Editors Jacob Aron, Timothy Revell Reporters (UK) Jessica Hamzelou, Michael Le Page, Donna Lu, Adam Vaughan, Clare Wilson (US) Leah Crane, Chelsea Whyte (Aus) Alice Klein, Ruby Prosser Scully Digital Digital editor Conrad Quilty-Harper Web team Lilian Anekwe, Anne Marie Conlon, David Stock, Sam Wong Features Head of features Catherine de Lange (parental leave) and Rowan Hooper Acting head of features Tiffany O’Callaghan Editors Gilead Amit, Julia Brown, Kate Douglas, Alison George, Joshua Howgego Feature writers Daniel Cossins, Graham Lawton Culture and Community Editors Liz Else, Mike Holderness, Simon Ings Subeditors Chief subeditor Eleanor Parsons Bethan Ackerley, Tom Campbell, Chris Simms, Jon White Design Art editor Kathryn Brazier Joe Hetzel, Dave Johnston, Ryan Wills Picture desk Picture editor Susan Banton Production Production manager Alan Blagrove Robin Burton, Melanie Green
© 2019 New Scientist Ltd, England. New Scientist is published weekly by New Scientist Ltd. ISSN 0262 4079. New Scientist (Online) ISSN 2059 5387. Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper and printed in England by Precision Colour Printing Ltd
Non-exec chair Bernard Gray Senior non-exec director Louise Rogers
CONTACT US newscientist.com/contact General & media enquiries Tel+44 (0)20 7611 1202 UK Tel+44 (0)20 7611 1200 25 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ES Australia PO Box 2315, Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012 US Tel +1 617 283 3213 210 Broadway #201, Cambridge, MA 02139 UK Newsstand Marketforce UK Ltd Tel +44 (0)20 3787 9001 Syndication Tribune Content Agency Tel +44 (0)20 7588 7588 Email [email protected] Subscriptions newscientist.com/subscribe Tel +44 (0)330 333 9470 Email [email protected] Post New Scientist, Rockwood House, Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 3DH
21 September 2019 | New Scientist | 3