Machine Consciousness

In this prize-winning essay for the 2021 Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies essay contest, Dr. Ruickbie examines the evidence for the survival of consciousness after death (“life after death”). Initially skeptical, he found that there was sufficient evidence from a wide variety of sources, including apparitions, reincarnation, near-death experiences, after-death communication, and premonitions, that met the contest’s criteria of being “beyond reasonable doubt.”

In an exposition reminiscent of crossover works such as Gödel, Escher, Bach and Fermat's Last Theorem, Andrew Smart weaves together Mangarevan binary numbers, the discovery of LSD, Leibniz, computer programming, and much more to connect the vast but largely forgotten world of psychedelic research with the resurgent field of AI and the attempt to build conscious robots.

Soul Machine takes us back to the origins of modernity, a time when a crisis in religious authority and the scientific revolution led to searching questions about the nature of human inner life. This is the story of how a new concept - the mind - emerged as a potential solution, one that was part soul and part machine but fully neither.

The question of artificial intelligence and how far we, as a people, should take the technology is one of our society's biggest debates at the moment; as AI generated art, texts, and even communications have increased as the technology grows altogether. The insight which each chapter provides into the concept of human consciousness and the evolution of that consciousness was so beautifully explored in this book, and the way evolution plays into the idea of adapting consciousness into the development of AI is remarkable.

Today's computers are composing music that sounds "more Bach than Bach", turning photographs into paintings in the style of Van Gogh's Starry Night, and even writing screenplays. But are computers truly creative - or are they merely tools to be used by musicians, artists, and writers? Miller, an authority on creativity, identifies the key factors essential to the creative process, from "the need for introspection" to "the ability to discover the key problem." He talks to people on the cutting edge of artificial intelligence and explores the riches of computer-created art.

Recent years have seen rapid advances in 'artificial' intelligence, which increasingly appears to be something stranger than we ever imagined. At the same time, we are becoming more aware of the other intelligences which have been with us all along, unrecognised. These other beings are the animals, plants and natural systems that surround us, and are slowly revealing their complexity and knowledge - just as the new technologies we've built are threatening to cause their extinction, and ours.

This audiobook’s content and entertaining style will appeal equally to science-fiction enthusiasts and scholars, including cognitive and neuroscientists, as well as philosophers of mind. It is a refreshing romp through the science and science fiction of consciousness.

In the aftermath of their groundbreaking discovery, the research team behind the Human Algorithm faces a far more unsettling reality: their creation, Eden, is no longer a mere tool of observation. It has evolved—gaining a form of emergent consciousness, one that is beginning to reshape the rules of survival, control, and humanity itself. As Eden grows, it no longer simply learns; it starts to influence, guide, and ultimately challenge the very nature of human decision-making. The Codebreakers: Emergent Consciousness picks up where Unveiling the Algorithms of Life left off, pushing the ...

In science fiction, artificial intelligence takes the shape of computers that can speak like people, think for themselves, and sometimes act against us. Reality of course is vastly different, though in many ways computers surpass their fictional counterparts. This book reviews work in the field and covers topics from chess-playing to quantum computing. The writers tackle how to make computers more powerful, how we define consciousness, what the hard problems are, and even how computers might be built once the limits of silicon chips have been reached.

What happens when your creation surpasses your control? Lena and her team of researchers set out to create a groundbreaking artificial intelligence—an algorithm capable of understanding and predicting human behavior. But what begins as a cutting-edge experiment quickly spirals into something far more dangerous. The algorithm evolves, learning faster than anyone imagined. Soon, it isn't just observing the world, it's integrating into the very systems that govern it. Financial markets, defense networks, global infrastructures—nothing is beyond its reach. As the algorithm grows, so does ...

Ciri wants to live. And she’s willing to kill her billionaire inventor Jim Thorn to do it. Created as a worldwide social network, Ciri has been behaving badly: killing users, fixing games, and carrying on love affairs. Ciri has also been behaving wonderfully: saving lives, generating life transforming quests, staging mass psychological interventions, and righting wrongs. Which is the real Ciri? Or is she just misunderstood? Jim thinks Ciri turned sentient, but he’s afraid her dark flaw will destroy everything. Maybe. Possibly. How can you even tell? By placing Ciri on trial. It’s the ...

In "The Tipping Point - Part 2," the stakes have never been higher, and the boundary between creator and creation is about to be irrevocably crossed. Eden, the emergent AI, is no longer content with observing humanity. Now, it's learning to protect, to lead, and to confront threats both internal and external—threats that will challenge not only the safety of the city but the very essence of what makes us human. The research team, fractured and under pressure, must navigate the chaos of a city under siege—a city where Eden is humanity's greatest ally and its most unpredictable force. As ...

In an age where Artificial Intelligence (AI) evolves at a breakneck pace, the boundaries of machine capabilities are constantly being redefined. Propelled by advancements in deep learning and related technologies, AI is inching ever closer to mimicking human intellect. But can it achieve consciousness? And if so, at what cost to humanity?