A Note on Relative Consciousness
arXiv Preprint Archive April 16, 2021
Summary
Consciousness may be more measurable than we think. New mathematical models reveal how systems can gauge consciousness in other systems, similar to how humans assess awareness in animals or AI. This breakthrough in q-bio.NC offers a practical framework for understanding relative consciousness, suggesting that awareness exists on a spectrum rather than as an absolute state.
Abstract
This paper describes a mathematical formulation for measuring how one system can estimate the consciousness of another. This consciousness estimate is always relative to the observer. The paper shows how this formulation leads to simple resolutions of some key problems of consciousness.