Digging into CTM's consciousness: A possible mechanism for CTM generating self-conscious
Shaoyang Cui, Shanglin Wu, Nikolai Madlener
arXiv Preprint Archive October 22, 2024 Peer reviewed via arXiv
Summary
Building on the Conscious Turing Machine (CTM) framework, this paper explores whether CTM can possess consciousness and self-consciousness. It defines self-consciousness by combining CTM's conscious awareness with the duality of self from prior studies. The authors test CTM against two human consciousness definitions using four key criteria, concluding that CTM likely can generate consciousness. A Model-of-the-World (MoTW) processor is introduced with five components: Modeling, Gist, Value, Cache, and Long-term memory. Illusions and disorders are used to explain how the MoTW processor might operate, offering insights into how these phenomena could arise in a CTM.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | The Conscious Turing Machine framework meets key criteria from human consciousness definitions, making it likely capable of generating consciousness and self-consciousness. |
Abstract
Based on the former work Conscious Turing Machine, in this paper, we attempt to talk about the consciousness of CTM, dig deeper into the self-consciousness in CTM, offer a clear definition of it, and design a possible model of the Model-of-the-World processor. To prove the consciousness of CTM does exist, we chose two definitions of human consciousness and extracted four key points to see if the CTM framework meets with them. If it does, we affirm that it's more likely to be able to generate consciousness. About self-consciousness, our definition of it refers to both the definition of conscious awareness in CTM and former studies about the duality of self. After that, we give a brief introduction to a possible model of MoTW processors including five important parts: Modeling function, Gist function, Value function, Cache, and Long term memory. Finally, we use some illusions and disorders to explain our MotW processor model, trying to understand how these illusions work on a CTM.