How to Simulate Consciousness Using a Computer System

Dedication Page

This book is dedicated to:

My Mom and Dad.

My wife Paul Anton-Czora

William P. Doyle, III, a friend with whom I have spent untold hours discussing ideas on almost every subject imaginable.

Dr. James Spohrer, a research scientist and manager at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA., a scientist who has the objectivity to recognize the value of my ideas, even if they are a bit outside the mainstream.

Preface

I first thought of my idea of how to simulate consciousness using a computer system at about 5 AM one day in March of 1967 while shoveling coal into a boiler at Burgard Vocational High School in Buffalo, NY. Now, 34 years after conceiving the idea, and continuously working on it whenever I had a few spare moments, my invention is becoming a reality: I have finally filed my patent application for it.

In 1967, I was shoveling coal to work my way through college at the State University of NY at Buffalo, majoring in philosophy and minoring in computer science. My choice of epistemology and computer science was an unlikely combination that some thought was ill advised, but one I'm glad I pursued. Ayn Rand® had just published Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. In contrast to more traditional views, hers explained concept formation as a quasi-mathematical process, and it occurred to me that mathematical processes are just what computers are about, so it should be possible to program a computer system to simulate sense perception and the formation of concepts in order to simulate human thought processes and natural language, thereby making computer systems easier to use. As it turns out, there is a little more to it than that! Many attempts (and years) later, I have discovered that my idea was much harder to implement than I had first thought: It requires much more powerful computers than were available then and much more knowledge than I had at that time in my life; one needs knowledge of computer science, the biology of life, the processes that make consciousness possible, the meta-physical status of both life and consciousness, the difference between mechanism and teleology, how to simulate free will, knowledge of the nature of concepts and of human language, and much more. Knowing just where to begin such a project as this is important too, because the choice of starting points is far from obvious.

This book is an explanation of what the simulation of consciousness involves and how to build such a system. The book is an integration of what I have learned in the intervening years since I first conceived of my idea, and it explains how to apply that knowledge to build a working computer simulation system. Most of the ideas the book contains are proven facts, but a few are my theoretical opinions based on those facts.

I cannot stress enough that the operative word in this book's title is "simulation." Computer systems are machines, not life-forms, and they cannot be conscious like people are. Also, all references to Objectivist ideas and all conclusions I have drawn from them are based on my personal understanding of that subject; my comments and conclusions are my own personal opinions and interpretations of Objectivism and its potential applications to computer technology.

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