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http://www.intl.elsevierhealth.com/journals/aiim
Received 19 February 2008; received in revised form 30 June 2008; accepted 3 July 2008
* Tel.: +39 050 882012; fax: +39 050 882003. As Tagliasco pointed out [4], the term ‘‘artificial’’ is
E-mail address: buttazzo@sssup.it. often used in two different meanings. In a first form,
0933-3657/$ — see front matter # 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.artmed.2008.07.004
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140 G. Buttazzo
the term ‘‘artificial’’ denotes a human artifact that the first computer whose responses were indistin-
replicates or simulates a real thing. For example, an guishable from those of a human. The first competi-
artificial flower is something that appears as a tion was held at the Computer Museum of Boston in
flower, may have the same shape and colors, but November 1991. For some years, the contest was
it is very different in terms of materials and func- constrained to a single narrow topic, but the most
tions. In this sense, an artificial thing is a very recent competitions, since 1998, did not limit the
simplistic version of its real counterpart. In some scope of questioning. Each judge, after the conver-
other cases, the term ‘‘artificial’’ is used to denote a sation, gives a score from 1 to 10 to evaluate the
genuine physical phenomenon reproduced using a interlocutor, where 1 means human and 10 compu-
human made device. For example, ‘‘artificial light’’ ter. So far, no computer has given responses totally
denotes an electromagnetic wave produced by a indistinguishable from a human, but every year
human made device, like a bulb or a led. Depending scores are getting closer to five in the average
on the meaning we associate with the term ‘‘arti- [8]. Today, the Turing test can be passed by a
ficial’’, we can distinguish two types of artificial computer only if we restrict the interaction on very
consciousness, as proposed by Holland [5,6]: specific topics, as chess.
On 11 May 1997 (3:00 p.m. eastern time), for the
Weak artificial consciousness: It is a simulation of first time in the history, a computer named Deep
a conscious behavior. It can be implemented as a Blue beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov,
smart program that simulates the behavior of a 3.5—2.5. As all actual computers, however, Deep
conscious being at some level of detail, without Blue does not understand chess, since it just applies
understanding the mechanisms that generate some rules to find a move that leads to a better
consciousness. position, according to an evaluation criterion pro-
Strong artificial consciousness: It refers to a real grammed by chess experts.
conscious thinking emerging from a complex com- Claude Shannon estimated that in a chess game
puting machine (artificial brain). In this case, the the search space includes about 10120 possible posi-
main difference with respect to the natural coun- tions. Deep Blue was able to analyze 200 million
terpart depends on the hardware that generates (2 108) positions per second. Exploring the entire
the process. search space for Deep Blue would therefore take
about 5 10111 s, which is about 1095 billions of
In this paper we are interested in Strong Artificial years. Nevertheless, Deep Blue victory can be attri-
Consciousness and we will speculate on the possi- butable to its speed combined with a smart search
bility that such a form of consciousness can emerge algorithm, able to account for positional and mate-
in a complex computing system. rial advantage. In other words, computer superiority
was due to brute force, rather than sophisticated
machine intelligence.
3. How can we verify consciousness? In spite of that, in many interviews during and
after the match, Kasparov expressed doubts he was
In 1950, the computer science pioneer Alan Turing playing against the computer and sometime he felt
posed a similar problem but concerning intelli- like playing against a human. In some situation, he
gence. In order to establish whether a machine also appreciated the beauty of the moves done by
can or cannot be considered intelligent as a human, the machine, as if it was driven by intention, rather
he proposed a famous test, known as the Turing test: than by brute force. Thus, if we accept Turing’s
there are two keyboards, one connected to a com- view, we can say that Deep Blue plays chess in an
puter, the other leads to a person. An examiner intelligent way, but we can also claim that it does
types in questions on any topic he likes; both the not understand the meaning of his moves, as a
computer and the human type back responses that television set does not understand the meaning of
the examiner reads on the respective computer the images it displays.
screen. If the examiner cannot reliably determine Besides chess, there are other domains in which
which was the person and which the machine, then computers are reaching human ability, and their
we say the machine has passed the Turing test. number is increasing every year. In music, for exam-
In 1990, the Turing Test received its first formal ple, there are many commercial programs that can
acknowledgement from Hugh Loebner (a New York create melodic lines or even entire songs according
philanthropist) and the Cambridge Center for Beha- to specific styles, ranging from Bach to jazz. There
vioral Studies (Cambridge, MA), which established are also programs that generate great solos on top of
the Loebner Prize Competition in Artificial Intelli- a given chord sequence, emulating jazz masters,
gence [7]. Loebner pledged a prize of $100,000 for like Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, much better
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than an average human musician can do. In 1997, slave operated by its components, just as a washing
Steve Larson, a music professor at University of machine.
Oregon, proposed a musical variation of the Turing
test by asking an audience to listen to a set of pieces
of classical music and determine which one was 4. Can ever computers think?
written by a computer and which was the authentic
composition. As a result, many computer pieces In 1980, the philosopher Searle [11] claimed to be
were classified as authentic compositions and vice able to prove that no computer program could
versa, meaning the computer passed the Turing test possibly think or understand, independently of its
on music (see [9], page 160). complexity. His proof is based on the fact that every
Other areas where computers are becoming as operation that a computer is able to carry out can
smart as humans include continuous speech under- equally well be performed by a human being working
standing, electrocardiogram diagnostics, theorem with paper and pencil in a disciplined but unintel-
proving, and aircraft guidance. In the next future, ligent manner.
such domains will quickly expand to include more Searle’s Chinese room objection considers a
complex tasks such as car driving, real-time lan- situation in which, at some stage in the future, a
guage translation, house cleaning, medical surgery, computer is able to pass a Turing test conducted in
surveillance, law enforcement, and so on. Chinese, so being indistinguishable from human
But if machines will become as good as humans in beings. Searle claims that, no matter how good
many disciplines, such that they are indistinguish- the performance of the program, it cannot in fact
able from them in the sense of the Turing test, does think and understand. This can be proved, he says,
it mean they are self-aware? Of course, no. How- by considering an imaginary human being, who
ever, determining self-awareness is a more delicate speaks no Chinese, hand working the program in a
issue. In fact, if intelligence is an expression of an closed room. The interogator’s questions, expressed
external behavior that can be measured by specific in the form of Chinese ideograms, enter the room
tests, self-consciousness is a property of an internal through an input slot. The human in the room
brain state, which cannot be measured. Hence, to follows the instructions in the program and carries
address the issue we are forced to make some out exactly the same series of computations that an
philosophical consideration. electronic computer running the program would
From a pure philosophical point of view, it is not carry out. These computations eventually produce
possible to verify the presence of consciousness in strings of ideograms through an output slot. As far as
another brain (either human or artificial), because the waiting interogator is concerned, the ideograms
this is a property that can only be verified by his form an intelligent response to the question that
possessor. Since we cannot enter in another being’s was posed. But, as far as the human in the room is
mind, then we cannot be sure about his conscious- concerned, the output is completely meaningless.
ness. Such a problem is deeply discussed by Hof- He does not even know that the inputs and outputs
stadter and Dennett, in a book entitled The Mind’s I are linguistic expressions, nor does an electronic
[10]. computer.
From a pragmatic point of view, however, we The problem with this reasoning is that it also
could follow Turing’s approach and say that a being applies to the biological counterpart. In fact, at a
can be considered self-conscious if able to convince neural level, human brain is also operated by elec-
us, by passing specific tests. Moreover, among trochemical reactions and each neuron automati-
humans, the belief that another person is self-con- cally responds to its inputs according to fixed laws.
scious is also based on similarity considerations: Each neuron is not conscious, but contributes to
since we have the same organs and we have a similar thinking without understanding what is going on in
brain, it is reasonable to believe that the person in our mind. However, this does not prevent us of
front of us is also self-conscious. Who would ques- experiencing happiness, love and irrational beha-
tion his best friend’s consciousness? Nevertheless, if viors.
the creature in front of us, although behaving like a With the emergence of artificial neural networks,
human, were made by synthetic tissues, mechatro- the problem of artificial consciousness becomes even
nic organs, and neural processors, our conclusion more intriguing, because neural networks replicate
would be perhaps different. the basic electrical behavior of the brain and provide
The most common objection to this issue is that the proper support for realizing a processing mechan-
computers, being driven by electronic circuits work- ism similar to the one adopted by the brain. In the
ing in a fully automated mode, cannot exhibit crea- book ‘‘Impossible Minds’’, Aleksander [12] addresses
tivity, emotions, love, or free will. A computer is a this topic with depth and scientific rigor.
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142 G. Buttazzo
If we remove structural diversity between biolo- world by considering all events as mental construc-
gical and artificial brains, the issue about artificial tions. Unfortunately, here there is not space to
consciousness can only become religious. In other discuss the various theories on the subject, and this
words, if we believe that human consciousness is is out of the scope of this article. However, it is
determined by divine intervention, then clearly no important to point out that, with the progress of
artificial system can ever become self-aware. If Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, a new
instead we believe that human consciousness is a approach took root among scientists and philoso-
natural property developed by complex brains, then phers, according to which mind is considered as a
the possibility of realizing an artificial self-aware form of computation emerging at a higher level of
being remains open. abstraction with respect to neural activity.
The major weakness of the reductionist approach
in the comprehension of mind is to recursively
5. Is consciousness separated from the decompose a complex system into simpler subsys-
brain? tems, until at some stage the units can be fully
analyzed and described. This method works per-
From a religious point of view, the main argument fectly for linear systems, where any output can
against the possibility of replicating self-awareness be seen as a sum of simpler components. However,
in an artificial system is that consciousness is not a a complex system is often non-linear, thus analyzing
product of the brain activity, but a separate imma- its basic components it is not sufficient to under-
terial entity, often identified with the soul. Such a stand its global behavior. In such systems, there are
dualistic theory about brain and mind was mainly holistic features that cannot be seen at a smaller
developed by Rene Descartes (1596—1650) and is level of detail, but they appear only when consider-
still shared by many people. However, it lost cred- ing the structure and the interactions among the
ibility in the philosophical community, since it components.
encounters several problems that cannot be Davies, in his book God and the New Physics [13],
explained with it. explains this concept by observing that a digital
picture of a face consists of a large number of
1. First of all, if a mind is separated from its brain, colored dots (pixels), each of which does not repre-
how can it physically interact with the body and sent the face: the shape takes his form only when we
activate a neural circuit? Whenever I think to observe the picture at a certain distance which
move, specific electrochemical reactions take allows us to see all the pixels. The face is not a
place in my brain, which make some neurons property of the pixels as such, but of the set of
start firing to actuate the desired muscles. pixels.
But, if mind operates outside the brain, how is In Gödel, Escher, Bach [14], Hofstadter explains
it able to move atoms to create electrical pulses? the same concept by describing the behavior of a
Are there mysterious forces that activate neural large ant colony. As known, ants have a complex and
cells? Does a mind interact with a brain by violat- highly organized social structure based on work
ing the fundamental laws of physics? distribution and collective responsibility. Although
2. Second, if a conscious mind can exist outside the each ant has a very little intelligence and limited
brain, why do we have a brain? capabilities, the whole ant colony exhibits a highly
3. Third, if emotions and thoughts come from out- complex behavior. In fact, building an ant nest
side, why does a brain stimulated with electro- requires a large and complex design, but clearly,
des and drugs responds by generating thoughts? no individual ant has in mind a complete picture of
4. Finally, why in patients with brain diseases con- the whole project. Nevertheless, a scheme and a
scious behavior is severely affected by surgically finalized behavior emerge at the colony level. In
removing portions of their brain? some sense, the whole colony can be considered as a
living being.
These and other arguments caused dualism to From many aspects, a brain is similar to a large
loose credibility in the scientific and philosophical ant colony, since it consists of billions of neurons
community. To solve such inconsistencies, many that cooperate for achieving a common objective.
other alternative formulations were developed to Interaction among neurons is much tighter than
address the mind/brain issue. From one side, reduc- among ants, but the underlying principles are simi-
tionism did not recognize the existence of mind as a lar: work subdivision and collective responsibility.
private sense data and considered all mental activ- Consciousness in not a property of individual neu-
ities as specific neural states of the brain. On the rons, which just automatically operates as switches,
other hand, idealism tried to refuse the physical responding to input signals. Consciousness is rather
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144 G. Buttazzo
An interesting coincidence with the date pre- growth will not stop with the end of Moore’s Law.
dicted in Terminator’s movie [16]. It is also worth The industry is not without choices for the future
observing that similar predictions were derived by and new technologies are being investigated by
Moravec [17], Kurzweil [9], Paul and Cox [15]. scientists, such as three-dimensional chip design,
In order to fully understand the meaning of the optical computing, and quantum computing [18].
achieved result, it is important to make some con- Thus, although Moore’s Law will not hold in the
siderations. First of all, it is worth recalling that the future (since it does not apply to non-silicon-
computed date only refers to a necessary, but not based systems), the exponential growth of comput-
sufficient, condition to the development of an arti- ing power will probably continue for many years to
ficial consciousness. This means that the existence come.
of a powerful computer equipped with millions of
Gigabytes of RAM is not sufficient alone to guarantee
that it will magically become self-aware. There are 8. Can a sequential software program
other important factors influencing this process, become self-conscious?
such as the progress of theories on artificial neural
networks and on the basic biological mechanisms of If consciousness is a product of a highly organized
mind, for which is impossible to attempt precise information processing system, then it does not
estimates. Furthermore, someone could argue that depend on the hardware substratum, but on the
the presented computation was done on personal information processed by that hardware. Then
computers, which do not represent the top of tech- simulating the hardware with a software program
nology in the field. Some other could object that the would produce the same result. Indeed, most arti-
same amount of RAM memory could be available ficial neural networks today are simulated by
using a network of computers or virtual memory sequential programs running on a single processor.
management mechanisms to exploit hard disk A simulation software is much more flexible
space. In any case, even if we adopt different (although slower) than a hardwired network, since
numbers, the basic principle of the computation it allows changing simulation parameters, as well as
is the same, and the date could be advanced by a the network architecture, in a more flexible way.
few years only. One could argue that a simulation of a process is
Someone may object that the prediction of the different than the process itself. Clearly, this is true
2029 date relies on mindless extrapolation of cur- when simulating a physical phenomenon, like a
rent trends, without considering events that may thunderstorm or a planetary system. However, for
alter that trend. Indeed, the exponential growth of a neural network, a simulation is not different from
computing power and memory was noted in 1973 by the process, because both are information proces-
Gordon Moore, one of Intel’s founders, who pre- sing systems. Similarly, the software calculator
dicted that the number of transistors on integrated available in most PC operating systems performs
circuits would continue to double every 18 months the same operations as its hardware counterpart:
until fundamental physical limits are reached. The they are functionally equivalent. Hence, if we
accuracy of the prediction over the past 25 years accept that consciousness is the product of a com-
was such that it is referred to as ‘‘Moore’s Law’’. But plex information processing system, we must
how much longer this law will continue to hold true accept that artificial consciousness (in the strong
in the future? Chip companies estimated that sense) can also be generated by sequential simula-
Moore’s Law will continue to be valid for another tion software.
15 or 20 years. Then, when transistors will reach the
size of a few atoms, the conventional approach will
not work and this paradigm will break down. What 9. How would we feel with a faster
next? Will microprocessor evolution come to the end brain?
around the year 2020?
Some people, including Kurzweil [9] and Moravec Does consciousness depend on the speed of the
[17], noticed that computers have been growing computing elements? It is hard to say, but intuition
exponentially in power long before the invention suggests that it should be independent, since the
of the integrated circuit in 1958, regardless of the results of a computation do not depend on the
type of hardware used. So Moore’s Law on inte- hardware where the process is performed. However,
grated circuits was not the first, but the fifth processing speed is important to meet the real-time
paradigm to continue the exponential growth requirements imposed by the external world. If we
of computing. Each new paradigm came along could ideally slow down our neurons uniformly in the
just when needed. This suggests that exponential whole brain, we would perhaps perceive the world
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as a fast-motion movie, where events occur faster puters, as a consequence of their complex interac-
than our reactive capabilities. That sounds reason- tions?’’
able, because our brain evolved and adapted in a
Or:
world where the important events for reproduction
and survival are within a few tenths of a second ‘‘Could human beings be responsible for generating
scale. If we could speed up the events in the envir- a new form of conscious thinking as a consequence
onment or we could slow down our neurons, we of their social interactions at a planetary level?’’
would not be able to operate in real-time in such
Looking at lights distribution in a landscape from
a world any more, and probably we would not
a plane during a night flight, it is interesting to
survive.
observe how cities tend to spatially expand follow-
Conversely, how would we feel having a faster
ing a highly branched structure similar to neural
brain? Today a logic port is six orders of magnitude
cells with lot of dendrites, where roads represent
faster than a neuron. While biological neurons
neural connections and moving vehicles represent
respond within a few milliseconds (103 s), electro-
elements for exchanging information. Is human
nic circuits respond within a few nanoseconds
society unconsciously weaving a sort of neural sys-
(109 s). This observation leads to an interesting
tem around the Earth from which a new form of
question: if consciousness will emerge in an artificial
conscious thinking could emerge as a consequence
machine, what will time perception be like to a
of the complex interactions of its elements?
brain that thinks millions of times faster than a
If such a conjecture is correct, two observations
human brain?
are still worth making. First of all, if this is going to
It is possible that for conscious machines the
happen sometime in the future, it will be extremely
world around them seems to move slower. Perhaps
difficult, if not impossible, to verify. In fact, such a
the same thing happens to insects, having a smaller
new form of intelligence would operate with a dif-
but fast reactive brain. Perhaps, to a fly, a human
ferent time scale, several orders of magnitude slower
hand that tries to swat looks like it is moving in slow
than our thinking speed. Considering the time taken
motion, giving the fly plenty of time to glide lei-
by humans to travel between sites, a simple conscious
surely out of the way.
thought of such a hyper-being would take days or
Paul and Cox address this issue in Beyond Human-
even months. Similarly, conscious thinking in our
ity [15]:
brain (evolving in the order of seconds) evolves thou-
‘‘. . . a cyberbeing will be able to learn and think sand times slower than neuron reaction times (milli-
at hyperspeed. They will observe a speeding bullet seconds). Space and time are often related in nature:
fired from a moderate distance away, calculate its the bigger a system, the slower it evolves. The second
trajectory, and dodge it if necessary. [. . .] Imagine observation is that this sort of neural system is self-
being a robot near a window. To your fast thinking repairing. In fact, if a catastrophic event destroys a
mind, a bird takes what seems like hours to cross the communication channel (e.g., a road), special active
field of view, and a day lasts seemingly forever.’’ elements (human workers) would cooperate to repair
the damage, exactly like blood cells contribute to
It is worth noticing that the issue of time percep-
repair blood vessels. Like a biological neural system,
tion has been somehow addressed in The Matrix
the hyper-being would also be self-adaptive, since
movie (Larry and Andy Wachowski, 1999).
intensive communication between two units (e.g.,
cities) would reinforces the channel, stimulating the
development of new roads between them to satisfy
10. Are there different levels of the need of an increased traffic.
consciousness?
146 G. Buttazzo