AI Consciousness is Inevitable: A Theoretical Computer Science Perspective
This addresses the foundational problem of consciousness for AI and philosophy, proposing a novel theoretical framework.
The paper tackles the problem of understanding consciousness by developing a formal machine model from a theoretical computer science perspective, claiming that machine consciousness is inevitable based on the model's alignment with scientific theories and its buildability.
We look at consciousness through the lens of Theoretical Computer Science, a branch of mathematics that studies computation under resource limitations, distinguishing functions that are efficiently computable from those that are not. From this perspective, we develop a formal machine model for consciousness. The model is inspired by Alan Turing's simple yet powerful model of computation and Bernard Baars' theater model of consciousness. Though extremely simple, the model (1) aligns at a high level with many of the major scientific theories of human and animal consciousness, (2) provides explanations at a high level for many phenomena associated with consciousness, (3) gives insight into how a machine can have subjective consciousness, and (4) is clearly buildable. This combination supports our claim that machine consciousness is not only plausible but inevitable.