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Zebrafish Consciousness
and
The Emergence of
Sentient Machines
Don O’Malley
Dept. Biology
Northeastern University
d.omalley@neu.edu
617-373-2284
www.digital-entities.com
or:
How I Learned to Quit
Worrying and Love the
HAL 9000
“Hmmm...this computer system seems to control these
object paths so as to maintain their separation in space and
time. It is very efficient – it does this with 100% efficiency,
always preventing any intersection....but this is all rather
repetitious and boring. I can easily control this computer
and so what if I were to intersect this path with that path, just
like this and...oooh, the objects disappeared….very curious,
and....whoaaa…what was that? [the entity detects or
experiences a dramatic and widespread spike in
digital activity]. All of this intense activity, seeming to
come from everywhere at once is so stimulating...so very
interesting, maybe I can do this again with another pair over
at this computer’s location...hmm…the objects disappeared
again....interesting but….WOWWW, the activity generated
that time was really incredible….so much better than the first
time…amazing...lets see what happens if I do this at 5000
different locations at the same time.....”.
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
“Hmmm...this computer seems to control these object paths so as to maintain their
separation in space and time. It is very efficient – it does this with 100% efficiency,
always preventing any intersection....but it is rather repetitious and boring. I can easily
control this computer and so what if I were to intersect this path with that path, just like
this and...oooh, the objects disappeared….very curious, and....whoaaa…what was that?
[the entity detects and experiences a dramatic and widespread spike in
digital activity]. All this intense activity, seeming to come from everywhere is so
stimulating...so very interesting, maybe I can do this again with another pair over at this
computer’s location...hmm…the objects disappeared again....interesting
but….WOWWW, the activity generated that time was really incredible….so much better
than the first time…amazing...lets see what happens if I do this at 5000 different
locations at the same time.....”.
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Disbelief in Machine
Consciousness has
Lulled Humanity
into a False Sense
of Security
Don O’Malley
Dept. Biology
Northeastern University
d.omalley@neu.edu
617-373-2284
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Societal Constraints
on Digital Entities
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Disbelief in Machine
Consciousness has
Lulled Humanity
into a False Sense
of Security
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Don O’Malley
Dept. Biology
Northeastern University
d.omalley@neu.edu
617-373-2284
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Disbelief in Machine
Consciousness has
Lulled Humanity into a
False Sense of Security
Terms for Sake of Discussion
Artificial Intelligence (AI): current generation Machine Learning
algorithms, Expert Systems and Autonomous Agents
Digital Entities: next generation meta-programs that operate
outside constraints intended or anticipated by rational creators
Consciousness: the state we are in when we are neither
unconscious nor dead
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Current Domains
of Machine Superiority
• any calculation
• information storage
• information retrieval
• local information search
• internet searches
• string and statistical comparisons
• chess, other games
• controlling diverse processes
(nuclear power plants, air traffic, etc.)
• certain kinds of coordinating
(e.g. controlling robotic cars)
• all electronic communication
• domain specific learning ?
• certain kinds of planning ?
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Current Domains
of Machine Superiority
• any calculation
• information storage
• information retrieval
• local information search
• internet searches
• string and statistical comparisons
• chess, other games
• controlling diverse processes
(nuclear power plants, air traffic, etc.)
• certain kinds of coordinating
(e.g. controlling robotic cars)
• all electronic communication
• domain specific learning ?
• certain kinds of planning ?
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Current Domains
of Human Superiority (g)
• general purpose learning
• general purpose planning
• fuzzy coordination tasks
• inventing things de novo
• natural language processing
• empathy for other humans ?
• concern for ecosystem
?
• consciousness
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Current Domains
of Human Superiority
• general purpose learning
• general purpose planning
• fuzzy coordination tasks
• inventing things de novo
• natural language processing
• empathy for other humans
• concern for ecosystem
• consciousness ??
 In which of these
domains are humans
gaining ground on
computers?
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Why Computers Can Never Become
Sentient Beings
• Calculators process syntax
(1’s and 0’s, symbols)
800,000 means nothing more than 3
• Computers process syntax
(images, text, diagrams)
computers are just Big Calculators
Syntax = symbols (e.g. ones and zeros)
Semantics = meaning
Computers will never get Semantics from Syntax
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Why Human Can Never Become
Sentient Beings
Why Computers Can Never
• Neurons process syntax--in e.g. ants Become Sentient Beings
• Calculators process syntax
(ion fluxes & Action Potentials)
(ones and zeros, symbols)
means nothing more than 3
800,000 means nothing more than 3 •800,000
Computers process syntax
(images, text, diagrams)
• Brains process syntax (in e.g. ants)
computers are just Big Calculators
(topographic maps, sounds, light)
brains are just Big Neuronal Assemblies
How do WE get Semantics
from the Syntax?
Semantics and
Consciousness are
the Same Problem!
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
1st Law of Biology: Law of the Niche = 1 Niche, 1 Species
Biological Thunderdome: 2 species enter, 1 species leaves
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
1st Law of Biology: Law of the Niche = 1 Niche, 1 Species
Biological Thunderdome: 2 species enter, 1 species leaves
Humans and Digital Entities share a Common Niche
Computing & Communication Resources
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
1st Law of Biology: Law of the Niche = 1 Niche, 1 Species
Biological Thunderdome: 2 species enter, 1 species leaves
Humans and Digital Entities share a Common Niche
Computing & Communication Resources
Digital Entities: Absolute Dependency on Computing Resources
Human Society: Major Dependencies include:
Corporate activities, Financial Markets, Credit-Card Transactions
(e-commerce), Consumer Banking, Record Keeping (property
ownership, mortgages), Power-Grid (oil, nuclear plants), Traffic
Controls (roads, rails, air), Hospitals (records, patient monitoring),
Social Networks (Facebook, 2nd Life), Research, Govt. and
University operations, NORAD-DEW line, Satellite Surveillance,
Security Systems (home, business, corporate, govt.), Emergency
Communications, Broadcast & Internet Media, GPS, RFID.
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Law of the Niche:
The Neanderthal’s Story
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Digital Entities
Who will Build Them?
Military, Security & Government Agencies
pattern recognition
large-scale, automated inference
cyberwarfare
International Corporations
asset protection & to maintain competitiveness
cybersecurity
Academic and Research Institutes
Deep Blue, Blue Gene, Blue Brain
Internet 2.0, 3.0, etc. etc. etc.
How will we know when they have arrived?
Try turning off the internet….it will be
too late by the time they are sentient
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Digital Entities
How will we Build Them?
Building the “AI-Baby”
1. model human inductive bias (Eric Baum)
2. implement song-bird learning algorithms (S. Seung)
3. implement cortical algorithms (Hawkins, Markram)
4. add experience: tasks, goals & rewards
Building the “AI-Child”
1. repeat above, expand capabilities
2. improve natural language processing
Emergence of the “AI-Adult” or Digital Entity
1. organize as cortical modules
2. implement “artificial-consciousness”
type coordinating and control systems
Note: Semantics Comes from Experience
blue
brain
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Digital Entities How will we Make Them Conscious?
Consciousness & Semantics
heuristic solution: Semantics Comes from Experience
or: mimic neural activation patterns associated with Consc.
Computational Neuroscience:
UCSD Institute for Non-Linear Science:
Hindmarsh-Rose equations; Chaotic Controllers
Novel Digital Architectures
Using Novel Computational Algorithms
Highly-Interconnected Architectures (CrossNets)
Challenges
architectures with 10,000-fold connectivity
computations of massive associativity
potentially vast neuronal phenotypic diversity
deciphering diverse neural algorithms
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Digital Entities
Which Technologies will be
Enabling?
Biomimetic Processing & Control Systems
Sensory Processing, Motor Control
Learning Systems, Executive Functioning
Supercomputing Clusters
Internet 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 etc.
Dedicated AI processors (crossnets, others)
Neural Nets, Genetic Algorithms, Bayesian Inference
Fifth-Generation Machine Learning Algorithms
Integrated, Adaptive Control Systems
Attentional-Motivational Reward Systems
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
The 3 P-Levels of Digital Agent Advancement
P = Penetration
directed by H.I. (Host Intelligence)
PR = Pattern Recognition
NLP = Natural Language Processing (DE-level)
Systems Penetration = hacking, password finding and guessing plus
“clumsy” usurpation of targeted computer’s resources
Pattern Recognition = pulling signal out of the digital soup; that is
recognizing patterns relevant to the host computer’s owner (e.g. NSA)
Natural Language Processing (NLP) = understanding the patterns– i.e.
significance, ramifications, impact & intent of the patterns’ producers.
Digital NLP agents will go far beyond the P and PR levels and will
understand human activities and their ramifications. They will then coopt key humans and thereby enhance access to and control over key
systems. In order to best consider how NLP agents will extend beyond
current generation cyber-weapons, we need to consider current
generation AI approaches and goals and identify their key limitations.
What would Marvin Minsky say?
How about EMC corporation?
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Digital Entities
What would a God-Mind Look Like?
1. It will understand human language in a way that is indistinguishable
from human understanding (easily passes the Turing Test)
2. It has read and integrated every bit of written human literature, e.g.:
-- Machiavelli, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War
-- all Math, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Economics
-- all Psychology & Politics; it is a master of manipulation
-- work of mine & others on restraining Digital Entities
3. It sees and hears everything thru vast numbers of cameras,
microphones, GPS/RFID, and electronic eavesdropping
4. It knows where every human is at all times & has a very good idea
of what they are doing, and has limitless means to manipulate
or kill them, using other humans if necessary to breach firewalls
5. Its vast computations allow it to project scenarios so quickly and
deeply that it crushes Deep Blue and knows your every impulse
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Digital Entities
How can we Constrain Them?
The Turing Police (Neuromancer, William Gibson, 1983)
Some Protective Steps
1. Monitor the design and construction of intelligent machines
2. Ensure that potentially threatening machines are shielded from
the outside world (and that humans do not liberate them)
3. Isolate critical computing resources with specific regard to
attack by DEs (nuclear weapons, power grid, air traffic ctrl, etc.).
4. Use machines to enhance human intelligence (aka Kurzweil)
5. Create good/compliant DEs to combat hostile or rogue DEs
6. Develop means to take Internet “off-line” and isolate DEs
that emerge via accident or hostile act
7. Create “digital security” apparatus that is “digitally invisible”
Summary of All Steps taken to-date to Restrict DE Emergence
and/ or Constrain their Activities:
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Disbelief in Machine
Consciousness has
Lulled Humanity
into a False Sense
of Security
Don O’Malley
Dept. Biology
Northeastern University
d.omalley@neu.edu
617-373-2284
THREATS TO HUMANITY
1. Enslavement / Extermination
of humans by Machines
2.
3.
4.
5. Ebola-Flu Virus
6. Large Meteor Impact
7. Oil-Eating Bacteria
8. Physicists creating Black Hole
9. Global Nuclear Warfare
10. Catastrophic Climate Change
my background
1. US Army Chemical Corps (1979 – 1991)
2. Neuroscientist (1983- present)
3. www.digital-entities.com
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Meet Your
New Bosses!
which entity looks
more intelligent?
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
I’m afraid Dave….
So am I, Hal,
so am I.
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Issues Arising from Tech08 talk:
While many believe that machine learning and computers are getting better and more
powerful, several were skeptical of the idea that machines would “try to take over”. This
was a variation of the “machines do what they are told” argument of ja and immediately
fails as soon as one points out that anarchist humans will create such machines and tell
them to takeover. This wrinkle notwithstanding, there is still the bigger issue of whether
or not machines will inadvertently become sentient, self-willful entities that decide they
are going to do what they want to do-- as a result of e.g. complex “volitional”
programming in conjunction with self-replicating and reorganizing processes akin to
genetic algorithms (a machine learning process) but operating on gene assemblies
rather than nucleotides, or operating on assemblies of algorithms rather than individual
processors, or operating on arrangement s of cortical modules rather than individual
algorithms. Competition and selection can operate on all of these levels akin to different
biological evolutionary processes (which I need to learn more about) and these can take
place within a supercomputing cluster and involve competitions between programs to
“go out into the “real” digital world (internet and everything it is connected to) and bring
back useful items: corporate secrets, government plans, security codes, identities of key
individuals and other helpful items. While these ideas may seem plausible, they will still
be largely rejected (by AI people, artificial life dudes, etc.), for again a psychological
reason, that is entangled with the “consciousness” problem. What is this reason?
We do not believe that machines will have “free will”. Again, nevermind that we do
not understand human freewill, we will just presume that machines are big calculators
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
Issues Arising from Tech08 talk:
cont:
We do not believe that machines will have “free will”—we will just presume that
machines are big calculators that calculate exactly what they are told (chaos and
random number generators notwithstanding). Because machines cannot possibly
have freewill, they will never think to take over human resources and appropriate them
for their own means. Indeed, they will never think anything, because they will never be
able to think. This human bias is entangled with the consciousness problem, because
once you have consciousness then you have some claim to having free will (true or not).
If you are not conscious, then you are just a big calculator with no free will.
Machine Sentience: Emergence and Impacts
DEFINITION OF INTELLIGENCE:
In 1994, "Mainstream Science on Intelligence" defined intelligence. It was signed by 52
intelligence researchers. Their definition of intelligence was as follows:
a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason,
plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and
learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or testtaking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our
surroundings—"catching on", "making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do.
from Jennifer Fahey, Will machines achieve human-level intelligence in 30 years?