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Assessment and Communication for People with Disorders of Consciousness
Published on: August 1, 2017
Artificial consciousness: hazardous questions (and answers)
1Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Via Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy. buttazzo@sssup.it
Abstract:
If human consciousness is the result of complex neural electro-chemical interactions occurring in the brain, the question of whether a machine can ever become self-aware could be a matter of time: the time necessary to fully understand the functional behavior of the brain structure, develop a mathematical model of it, and implement an artificial system capable of working according to such a model. This paper addresses several issues related to the possibility of developing a conscious artificial brain. A number of hazardous questions are posed to the reader, each addressing a specific technical or philosophical issue, which is discussed and developed in a form of a hazardous answer.
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