15-880 Advanced Topics in the Cognitive and Computational Sciences
12 units, Carnegie Mellon University
Course Description Thanks to major advances in neuroscience, we are on the brink of a scientific understanding of how the brain achieves consciousness. This course will investigate a tiny fraction of the vast literature on consciousness. The initial lectures will discuss neuroscientist Bernard Baars Global Workspace Model GWM of the brain, its implications for understanding consciousness, and the novel computer architecture that it inspires. The Global Workspace Model gives insight for the design of machines that truly experience not just simulate the appearance of feelings such as the ecstasy of joy and the agony of pain. The goal of this course is to develop a formal model of a Conscious Computer for the specific purpose of defining and understanding consciousness and the generation of emotions. We call the simplified model the Conscious Turing Machine CTM or Conscious AI CAI. The CTM is intended to model a conscious robot somewhat the way a standard Turing Machine TM models a Computer Whereas the purpose of the TM definition is to study computability and complexity, the purpose of the CTM is to understand consciousness, including in particular what Chalmers calls The Hard Problem. Please refer to httpswww.cs.cmu.educsdgradcourseschedules19.html for the most recent schedule updates.
Prerequisites: none listed
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