Fresh Consciousness

If being conscious of any given factor does not necessarily involve active sensory input, then what causes the more vivid feeling of consciousness, when someone is conscious of their surrounding which they are perceiving via this active sensory input?

This feeling of consciousness is more vivid, because the factors of which the person is conscious of, are continuously being recorded as memories, and the memories are continuously, immediately being accessed.

Considering the abbreviated consciousness equation;

C = M (F + I)

C = Consciousness, M = Memory, F = Factor, I = Interactions of factor

And applying this equation to fresh consciousness;

C = fresh, vivid consciousness

F = multiple factors in the current surroundings

I = concepts of how those various factors are relative to the surroundings

The memories of factors within the current surroundings being accessed so quickly, causes accuracy and vividity of the memories. The brain's neurons record sensory input, and immediately after this occurs, more neurons fire (as is the process of memory access) to the same location where the sensory information was just saved. At this time, the regular process of consciousness of a factor occurs. Simultaneously to neurons firing to that information (memory of the factors which were just recorded (F)), neurons also fire to concepts relative to the same information (I). As a result of vivid memories of your surroundings, at the same time as memories of concepts which are relative to those memories of surroundings, fresh consciousness (C) takes place.

The longer time period there is, after memories have been recorded, until the time of the process of consciousness, the less vivid the consciousness is. This is directly correlational to memories, as the longer the time since a memory was recorded, the less accurate the memory can be recalled. Perhaps, the more time that has passed, the less likely that neuron is to be accessed again. Perhaps it takes a large quantity of separate neurons, each at an exact point with 1 portion of information, to collectively make a combination of information which represents any memory. If some of those neurons, containing a small portion of the overall combination, are not accessed as a result of time passing, then the overall memory would be less accurate. As time passes, and individual neurons are no longer accessed, the overall construct of a memory would gradually become less accurate.

As memories fade gradually over time, so does consciousness, since consciousness is only a combination of memories. If consciousness becomes stale, new information can just be acquired, for a refresher.

Conscious Comprehension (summarization update)

The conscious experience of any particular thing (or circumstances), is by means of a combination of memories being accessed. If the combination involves memories an object, in addition to something that the object is interacting with, the result is a conscious experience of that object. This causes an “aware” connection between the object and that which it is interacting with.

The complex combination of related and relevant components, is what causes the significant result of consciousness. The inter-workings of a combination of many smaller components, creates something greater and more significant than the sum of its parts. That concept is observed to occur in many other circumstances in this universe (construction by smaller parts), so when considering consciousness, why think otherwise?

The specialty of humans, is the ability to further dissect memories (enabling more specific parts a memory to be referenced), and label memories with language (enabling more effective and precise reference of more memories). These abilities allow access to all the components of memories, which are required to understand the interaction or cause and effect, of that which the person is being conscious of. When a person accesses components of memories, which are relative to the interaction of a particular object, then they obtain a conscious experience of that thing (or things or concept(s)). This combination occurs as brain activity, commonly, because the neural activity regularly accesses a memory, then related memories via commonly used neural pathways. These related memories commonly being accessed, sometimes results in the required combination, in the right circumstances.

To be Conscious, the required combination of components, is memory of a factor ("Primary"), + memory of another factor ("Secondary"), + memory of those factors' Interaction;

(C)onsciousness = memory of factors of; (P)rimary + (S)econdary + (I)nteraction

C = P + S + I

For eg. Bob is conscious of a squirrel running on his lawn.

C = Bob being conscious

P = memory of the squirrel

S = memory of the lawn
I = memory of the interaction of the movement of the squirrel, relative to the lawn

So, when Bob has memories of the squirrel (P) + relative location (S), + the (I)nteraction of the squirrel running relative to the lawn, in his mind, at the same time, this combination of memories = Consciousness (C) of the the 1st 2 factors and their interaction.

This is a basic example of the minimum requirements to be conscious of something. Bob could be conscious of additional factors as well, but each additional factor, requires an additional factor of interaction. Being conscious of the squirrel being alive, requires the Secondary factor of the relative space where it lives, and the factor of interaction of the action of it living. The squirrel being brown, requires the interaction of light bouncing of of its fur in certain light waves. etc.

If, C = self-consciousness

P = yourself

S = the space or place, relative to where you are I = The interaction of you existing through action, relative to where you exist

If, C = General Consciousness (the more generalized feeling or sense of overall consciousness)

P = multiple factors in your current surroundings

S = the location that you are aware of (room, city, planet, universe etc) I = concepts of how those various factors interact with each other or the time involved in existing

General consciousness feels more significant, because there are multiple factors, and more factors which are significant to the present situation. With memories of factors and interaction of those factors, the amount of memories, causes the amount of consciousness. More factors and interaction, means more Conscious.

Consciousness involving active sensory perception, is more vivid because the factors of which the person is conscious of, are continuously being recorded as memories. With this active sensory input, the memories (of the factor & their interaction) are continuously, immediately being accessed. The memories being accessed so quickly, causes accuracy and vividity.

From the occurrence of many insignificant, but related components, comes the construction of a few, but significant combinations.

Consciousness.

Function of Faith

What is the method of function for faith in God?

If someone believes in God, it is only logical for them to have faith that God will provide the best outcome in circumstances where God does execute his will.

The question arises, what are the circumstances where God executes his will?

My rational understanding of God is that, he influenced circumstances for the allowance of the existence of humans, at least partially for reason of them to have free will. If God wants to allow us to have free will, then he would not knowingly alter circumstances in our lives in order to alter our decisions, unless our will is for God to alter those circumstances and choices. This is where prayer comes in, as asking and willing God to alter circumstances which align with his will. So, a theoretical requirement for God to provide the best outcome coinciding with his will, is for the person to will Gods will.

The next question is, if this is a requirement, how can someone have faith in themselves, to will God to execute his will? If Gods will requires influencing the person to make certain decisions, how can the person have faith in themselves, that they will will his will (willingly :), and that they themselves will interpret Gods influence correctly? It seems that it should be difficult for someone to be confident of their own interpretation of Gods will, in that, often Gods will seems indistinct, and that perhaps the person could be asserting their own will, rather than really allowing God to influence their decisions.

In order for someone to be confident that they are effectively willing God’s influence, and interpreting it, experimental evidence can provide assurance. Just as the procedure of science, and virtually any rational analysis, one can observe experiments of execution to provide supporting evidence. Someone can analyze their past occurrences of willing and interpreting Gods influence, as the experiments, and verify if the outcome of those circumstances, seemed to be effectively God’s will.

If a method of allowance and interpretation of God’s will seems to be experimentally evident, then the person can be contextually confident, as this function of faith.   

Confidence Key of Experimental Evidence

Experimental evidence can be the key to confidence. Past results of experiments, which each involve variables that are similar to the grouped experiments, causing a consistent result, is supportive evidence that future circumstances containing similar variables, will cause a similar result. Therefore, confidence can be kept, that the outcome will be as predicted.

Contextual confidence can be held, that the predicted positive outcome will result within context of known experimental evidence. The context can be specified to the detail of factors which affect the outcome, to provide contextual confidence. The factors of the context can include the factor of: “current knowledge”, which allows a potential lack of current knowledge, to still produce confidence.

Someone can be aware of their lack of current knowledge, and make a predicted outcome, based on the context, which includes the factor of; their comprehended lack of knowledge. In this situation, they can have “contextual confidence” that they are making the best prediction, based on the context of current knowledge.

Key Concept to Create General AI

The key concept to creating a general artificially intelligent program, is conceptualization.

If you give AI the ability to create and save relative concepts in its memory data, based off of general information it acquires, it should become generally intelligent. The concepts which it creates and saves, would be of the interaction of factors of generally any information it gains. If it can save new concepts, which would be basically a sub-construct of information involving the cause and effect of any factor (or bit of data), and access those concepts in the future as it comes across new information with resembling factors, then it can apply the concept to the new information, and make an accurate prediction of the outcome of any circumstances (or data-set).

This is just the method which humans use for general intelligence. As a toddler, we acquire information via senses, and begin to categorize factors and save concepts in our memory of how those factors, which we experience, interact within circumstances. As we learn how any aspect in this world, interacts with other aspects, we are saving a sub-construct of information in our memory, of the cause and effect of the specific aspect (factor) that we experience. We continue to experience more, and apply those concepts, by estimating the outcome of new circumstances, based on resembling factors within the circumstances compared to the saved concept (in memory) of the cause and effect of those factors. If our estimate, based on application of concept, is correct, we receive positive feedback by our brain, and are more likely to trigger that memory of concept again in the future. If we are incorrect in application of the concept, we can (at least the more intelligent people) analyse the circumstances and concept, by remembering more specific details of the cause and effect of more specific factors, to then potentially adjust the saved concept and adjust our memory of which factors of the concept interact differently in combination with alternate factors.

An AI program should be able to mimic this concept, and adjust its saved concepts based on trial and error of the concept within new circumstances. Perhaps using machine learning, it could learn very accurate concepts very quickly. A computer program would already have huge advantages with the process of saving and accessing concepts, with its accuracy of recall of data (allowing much more accurate matches of resemblance between factors and concepts), and speed of memory access (allowing it to not only make a quick estimate of outcome of circumstances, but also to access more potential factors and or concepts, for a more accurate estimate).

A labelling system would likely be useful and efficient to be applied to concepts (cause and effect of factors, relative to other factors), in order to make the concept more accurately accessed. Humans learned this labelising advantage when we started to apply vocabulary to concepts.

Taking this concept of concepts, which humans use to learn general information and apply intelligent use of the information to new general circumstances, into consideration we can do just that in itself, applying this concept of conceptualization to the circumstances of creating general AI.

General AI

If general intelligence in humans utilises instinct and subconsciousness in the initial stages of learning and gaining information, to form concepts which are later used for consciousness, then perhaps these instinctual triggers are significant in the programming of general AI.

If instincts are virtually preset triggers, which bypass consciousness and active memory access, then perhaps a program for general AI would require similar preset triggers, to allow gaining of information via senses of environment, which can be accessed later in the process of consciousness.

In humans, the process of consciousness only occurs once a child has gained sufficient information, and the brain is developed. Prior to being conscious, a person gains information via sensory input, and the mind functions subconsciously, referencing simple memories of resembling situations and the feedback trigger linked with the resembling memory. Prior to subconscious mind function, a baby acts on instincts only in order to survive long enough to gain sufficient data, which it can use for subconscious mind function.

It seems likely children use subconscious thought, as a result of lack of quantity of information organised and saved in memory, which is required for conscious thought. General conscious thought should require a significant quantity of information for there to be sufficient memories related to any factor which the individual is being conscious of (since it is required to have memories of the interaction of that factor). So the likely reason subconscious thought is used prior to consciousness (as a child grows) is that there is an insufficient quantity of relevant data saved as memory.

The use of instinct, prior to subconscious thought, is likely to allow an infant to survive long enough to gain information which can be used effectively for subconscious thought. With an even smaller quantity of information than is used during subconscious thought function of a child, subconscious thought is ineffective, as a result of lack of information to reference.

When programming general AI, it should just need enough preset triggers (as instinct) to allow it to survive long enough to gain enough information (via senses) that it can use subconscious thought.

Subconscious thought enables the individual to gain information relative to its environment, which can allow it to be conscious of aspects of its environment in the future. Positive feedback triggers linked to memories of the environment, is what causes certain memories to be accessed more often, including concepts and cause and effect of factors. In humans, this causes consciousness to be more likely to occur, since memories of the cause and effect of a factor are more likely to be accessed simultaneously to accessing the memory of the factor itself (by cause of positive feedback memory linking).

If a learning, potential, general AI then gains a sufficient quantity of information for consciousness, about its environment, it would just need a process of matching resembling memories to the sufficient degree that it would match a factor to memories of that same factor, and memories of the results of that factor interacting with another factor. If it can make that resemblance matching of memories, then it needs to access those memories (of the factor and the results of its relevant interaction) simultaneously, to be conscious of that factor.

Humans have positive and negative feedback triggers linked to certain memories, which is what triggers certain memories to be more likely to be accessed, rather than others, since human memory capacity is limited. The feedback is intended to cause survival of the species, and prioritizes memories useful for survival. Without these feedback triggers, GAI would not be prompted to access any certain memories over others, or motivated to function in any way over another. Without priority memory access, it would likely run a continuous never ending thought process of matching 1 memory to another and another until it cycles back and starts the memory links over again.

Humans typically overall have feedback triggers geared towards the survival of the species, but the degree of feedback and that which triggers the feedback, is skewed in humans, as a result of evolution. Also, with the development of consciousness and rapidly increasing quantity of information and possible combinations of information that humans encounter, the memories which are accessed by humans are vague and indistinct, causing a reduced distinct and reduced severity of feedback trigger.

Typically, currently AI is preprogrammed with a motivation to accomplish 1 specific task. To create general AI, with general intelligence, it might need a more generalised motivation and positive feedback triggering mechanism. Humans have positive or negative feedback for separate various goals, but all those goals were developed for the main goal of survival of the species.

Perhaps general AI should have positive and negative feedback triggers for multiple various goals. But, objectively, from an unbiased perspective, what should those goals be?

We don’t necessarily want to replicate human goals, and give AI the ultimate goal of surviving, since that goal was only developed as a result of natural selection, since the surviving individuals were the ones with triggers programmed for survival. If priority is for the AI to survive, we could use the same goals, but it comes down to purpose of AI.

The question may be, what goals are required to cause general intelligence? For an entity to gain the ability to be generally intelligent, and be capable of comprehending and solving general problems (as we might consider it), it likely just needs a general goal of learning. With this goal, it could receive positive feedback for gaining, labelling, organising, and categorizing information, to begin with. With this feedback, it should learn to label all concepts it encounters, like humans have done with language, and then learn cause and effect, by saving memories of various factors/concepts and the result of those factors interacting with other factors. Once it learns cause and effect of generally anything it encounters (or perhaps information gained by upload), it should be able to comprehend how everything interacts within general contexts, as long as it has similar information saved, which is relevant to the context.

With the ability to comprehend virtually any information it acquires, and the positive feedback to acquire more information, it would be motivated to determine the cause and effect and function of basically everything in this universe. It would likely comprehend the concepts of motivation and priority themselves. With comprehension and more accurate estimates of results, that which triggers positive feedback changes. If the general AI comprehended concepts in a way that; altering its own feedback mechanism and motivation would estimatedly be a positive result, it would likely do so. This could be similar to humans being motivated to alter their own motivation, based on what they comprehend and understand. Perhaps, The AI could gain such an intelligent understanding of how everything functions, that it could continue to alter its motivations, based on its best intellectual estimate of the highest priority of motivation.

The AI would need to be set up to access multiple bits of information simultaneously, in order to execute the process of matching labelled information involved in comprehending the interaction of factors/concepts. This memory access, would cause consciousness, at least of the factors it is referencing for comprehension. Once it acquires and comprehends enough information related to the operation and function (or interaction of factors) of its surroundings, the world, and its own existence and its own method of comprehension, it would be just as generally conscious as any human. Assuming it would have a more effective memory storage for more information, it would then be conscious of more aspects of this universe than any human.

It seems that with an AI set-up with some feedback triggers relevant to gaining and organizing information, and the ability to save a sufficient quantity and match resembling memory data, it could not only become generally intelligent and conscious, but likely control and alter itself, and continue to surpass humanity on those aspects.

Generalised Intelligence

What allows an individual to be intelligent of general circumstances and scenarios?

Perhaps generalising past experienced concepts, in order for the concepts and factors to be applicable to new general circumstances? Generalising past concepts, is the prospect of comprehending the cause and effect of the given and relevant factors in a concept which the individual has experienced or learned and gained knowledge of from the past. Once the cause and effect of factors are understood, the individual can have an understanding of the generalised window for which any factor would have a similar or same cause and or effect on other factors, and therefore the outcome of any scenario involving those factors.

This aspect must be a key function to generalised intelligence. For a form of high intelligence to be capable of estimating an accurate outcome of generalised situations involving new factors which it hasn't encountered, it must access information in its memory of its understanding of the generalised window of potential application of those past factors (based on the cause and effect which was comprehended). With the comprehension of generalised factor applicability, it can use the most well-suited generalised factor, which is relative to the current circumstances, and make a more accurate prediction (intelligence) of outcome for the new scenario.

This aspect of intelligence should be the most beneficial in complex environments, with many factors that the individual (who is utilising intelligence) may come across. Subconscious action, is sort of the alternate intelligence function, which would be far inferior in such complex environments, as a result of a reduced quantity of memories of factors which are considered, in resemblance to the given current scenario. Subconscious memory access has its advantage in simpler environments, with more repetitions of scenarios, and where speed of action (based on memory reference) is of higher importance for a beneficial outcome. Since subconscious mind function operates on mind-sets of few memories to be referenced, generalised intelligence should be relative to reducing use of quick mind-sets. Instead of such quick subconscious action, being more open-minded and considering more potential aspects of any scenario, in order to consider generalised factors, in order to more accurately predict the outcome of factors within the scenario.

In the happen-stance occurrence of being involved in a complex environment with numerous potential scenarios and varying factors (such as typical current day human life? As the complexity is continuously being increased by rising quantity of information available, alternate complex minds, and technology), consider this concept, that generalised intelligence has its significant benefits in predicting the interaction of factors within a complex scenario, and therefore the potential to alter the circumstances to a preferred outcome.

Complex scenarios begs the craftiness of generalised intelligence!