ARC Consciousness Symposium
ARC Consciousness Symposium
ARC Public
Date: Tuesday 17 September 2024
Time: 17:00 - 20:30
Venue: Advanced Research Centre, 11 Chapel Lane, G11 6EW
Category: Public lectures
Website: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/arc-consciousness-symposium-tickets-999165630297
We are having a two part event for the interested audience.
Part 1
Talk and discussion with Giulio Tononi on the topic Dissociating Artificial Intelligence from Artificial Consciousness
Developments in machine learning and computing power suggest that artificial general intelligence may be within reach. This raises the question of artificial consciousness: if a computer were functionally equivalent to a human, having the same cognitive abilities, would it experience sights, sounds, and thoughts, as we do when we are conscious? Answering this question in a principled manner can only be done on the basis of a theory of consciousness that is grounded in phenomenology and its essential properties, translates them into measurable quantities, can be validated on humans, and can be extrapolated to any physical system. Integrated Information Theory (IIT) provides principled tools to determine whether a system is conscious, to what degree, and the content of its experience. By applying the principles of IIT, it can be shown that (i) two systems can be functionally equivalent without being phenomenally equivalent; (ii) this conclusion applies no matter how one ‘macros’ the computer’s units; and (iii) even certain Turing-complete systems, which could theoretically simulate a human brain in detail, would be negligibly conscious.
Part 2
Introduction and discussion of the INTREPID Adversarial Collaboration by the Templeton World Charity Foundation
The INTREPID project is an international, adversarial collaboration aimed to test the validity of the Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and two Predictive Processing frameworks; Active Inference (AI) and Neurorepresentationalism (NREP). In ten different institutions spanning three continents three different experiments are performed. The experiments are specifically designed with the aim to test incompatible predictions of these three theories of consciousness.
Testing three theories of consciousness against each other:
Integrated Information Theory (IIT, Giullio Tononi)
Predictive Processing Active Inference (AI, Karl Fristion) and
Predictive Processing Neurorepresentationalism (NREP, Cyriel Pennartz).
Don't miss out on this exciting opportunity to expand your knowledge and network with fellow enthusiasts. Mark your calendar and get ready to explore the depths of consciousness at the ARC Consciousness Symposium.
Speakers
Prof. Dr. Giulio Tononi holds the David P. White Chair in Sleep Medicine, as well as a Distinguished Chair in Consciousness Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA) and is the Director of the Wisconsin Institute for Sleep and Consciousness. He is the Theory Lead for Integrated Information Theory (IIT) in the INTREPID project. His laboratory studies consciousness and its disorders as well as mechanisms and functions of sleep. Prof. Tononi’s main contribution in the study of consciousness has been the development of the Integrated Information Theory of Consciousness.
Prof. Dr. Cyriel Pennartz is Full Professor at the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Project Director and Theory Lead for the Neurorepresentationalim (NREP) in the INTREPID project. He is an expert on animal models of multimodal perception, memory, sleep and consciousness, studying the underlying neuronal mechanisms. He authored three books on neuronal mechanisms of consciousness in relation to neuropsychology and philosophy
Prof. Dr. Jakob Hohwy is Full Professor at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia), and he is experimental lead of Experiment 3 in the INTREPID project. He is an expert in interdisciplinary consciousness science, has published both theoretical and empirical works as a major contributor to the development of the Predictive Processing framework, including a widely cited book. He has led numerous large grants from the Australian Research Council and philanthropic funders.
Dr. Umberto Olcese is an Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and is the Project Co-Director and experiment 1 lead in the INTREPID project. He is an expert on animal models of sensory processing and perception, studying neuron-level mechanisms of perception and consciousness. He is coordinator of two European consortia and is PI in European and Dutch projects on large-scale cortical networks.
Session Chair
Prof. Dr. Monika Harvey is a Professor of Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Glasgow (United Kingdom), where she is the Co-Director of the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Socially Intelligent Agents. The remit of the Centre is to design intelligent agents that build on neuroscientific thinking and brain function. Using brain imaging techniques, her research focuses on mapping healthy and impaired cognition to inform cognitive rehabilitation. She has particular expertise in the syndrome of spatial neglect, a disorder of consciousness, where impaired (conscious) perception and unimpaired (unconscious) actions can be dissociated from each other.
Local organisation committee
Belén María Montabes de la Cruz
Hosts
Prof. Dr. Lars Muckli is a Professor of Visual and Cognitive Neurosciences at the University of Glasgow (United Kingdom), where he is Director of fMRI at the Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging (CCNI), in Glasgow and Co-chair of the 7T-Imaging Center of Excellence (ICE) MRI. He is the experimental lead of Experiment 2a in the INTREPID project. His work focuses on brain imaging of cortical feedback, investigation of layer-specific fMRI, and multi-level cross–species computational neuroscience. He studies cortical feedback as a predictive, contextualizing mechanism.
Daniele Faccio is a Royal Academy Chair in Emerging Technologies, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia (Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy). He joined the University of Glasgow in 2017 as Professor in Quantum Technologies where he leads the Extreme-Light group. His research focuses on understanding the fundamental physical principles that allow to develop new technologies for medical imaging at the interface between quantum sensing, optical imaging and AI.
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