My Model of Human Consciousness

[steenkh]

Basics -- Biological Neural networks

I believe that while this model is widely used, it is too simplified to produce actual biological consciousness.

One aspect that is overlooked is the influence of hormones on neuron firing levels. The brain is extremely sensitive to a number of different hormones, and while working, the hormone levels are in constant flux. Much of the hormones are produced through orders from the brain itself, thus causing it to be self-modifying, and some hormone production is caused by input external to the brain. A lot can be deduced about the state the brain is in by monitoring the hormone levels in different parts of the brain without reference to any neurons firing.

 

[mimada]

Yes, although with the understanding that "environment" is simply some other system besides the conscious system that the conscious system can extract properties of itself from.

Absolutely. If we were discussing a biological entity, the I/O from various internal organs and chemical systems would be considered part of the "environment". At this point of the discussion, we should isolate the NN to derive baseline properties for conscious.

 

[mimada]

In other words, some solipsistic scenario works just fine as well ...

Could you elaborate on this? I can see this as being valid if the NN was preconditioned. For example, in the case of our hypothetical, if the robot was connected to sensory systems then later disconnected it would still be conscious.

Outside of this, are you suggesting that consciousness could arise from noise in the NN? This might actually be an interesting topic to explore.