Month: May 2016

Functioning Human Consciousness

Is it conceivable that your everyday person has what I call a “Functioning Human Consciousness”. This term may refer to the level of consciousness that this person has. But you would ask how can we have different levels of consciousness?

Think of a baby, around the age of 7 months. Could it not be possible that this young human has a consciousness that falls lower on the spectrum of adult functioning consciousness?

Could an animal such as a dog or a dolphin have a level of consciousness that is not as “aware” as our own but is still experiencing consciousness? Would we not have the ethical and moral responsability to take care of such life since we are able to perceive our own and their consciousness?

But even if most humans possess a functioning human consciousness, there must be a common denominator for this consciousness. Could the following properties be some of the underlying common properties of FHC?
1. Self Awareness
2. Awareness of other beings’ awareness

…..
More info to come later

Understanding Neurons

Questions
– Do Neurons form connections to similar neurons or are different types of neurons

    1. If there are different types of neurons are they stored in groups and what is the bridge that connects the different groups of neurons
    2. Will the connections amongst the same type of neurons be more complex with a less complex connection to different groups thus creating clusters of connections

Artificial Consciousness

Possible Requirements

    – A fixed/or flexible amount of “neuron like” nodes (as neurodes) that are able to form connections and change those connections due to different stimuli (this is the medium in which “thinking” will occur)
    – A memory like storage facility through the use of neurodes that remain and don’t change (this is non-human like but functions similarly*)
    * Humans store long-term memories but they are still malleable to a point where it can become unreliable.

Human Consciousness

Questions

    – Does consc. happen at birth or after being stimulated by the environment through senses at a later point possibly close to 1 year of age?
    – Does consc. arise due to connections formed by neurons, whereas most non-human animals neurons don’t have the capacity to form many connections or
    there are not enough neurons to develop a sense of self-awareness?
    – Is it an requirement for the neurons and their connections to maintain previous connections for a prolonged period of time?

Postulations

    – If consc. occurs because of many types of connections to different parts of the brain along with a minimum number of neurons and/or connections, then consc. is an inevitable part of the brain given more neurons, connections.

Human Mind (Thinking Process)

– Does the mind think in steps? we may not know but could there be an algorithm that the mind performs while going through the process of thinking?

    1. Start with input of data
    2. And the mind directs the sector of the brain to be utilized deterministic
    3. As each “sector” is accessed, a different thought occurs
    4. Or are all thoughts randomly created with different parts of the brain lighting up
    and then connecting

About Me

My name is William Tavares. My interests lie in many different fields but I have focused most of my time with computer specifically in the areas of software and web development. I received my bachelors degree in Computer Science from Georgia State University in 2011. Below are some of the areas that peak my interest and have given considerate thought. As ideas in these areas come into my head I will create a post. This will create a personal journal for me and a record for those that would like to follow these posts.

  • Artificial Intelligence and Consciousness
  • Astronomy and Cosmology
  • Computer Programming (Web/Software)
  • Philosophy

 

First Post

This blog will serve as a collection of thoughts that I have in different subjects. As I form new ideas and formulate different theories I will update posts accordingly rather than create a separate post on the same subject. On some posts I will create completely new entries if the ideas are different enough that a new post is merited.

Enjoy 😀