The Default Mode Network and the Wandering Machine Mind
What the brain's default mode network reveals about spontaneous thought, self-modeling, and whether AI systems can ever truly mind-wander.
N. Varela Topic
cognitive science
10 posts tagged cognitive science from Triarchy of Sentience.
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The Symbol Grounding Problem: Why Meaning Might Be the Last Thing AI Learns
The symbol grounding problem asks whether AI systems can ever genuinely mean anything, and the answer has profound consequences for machine consciousness.
N. VarelaPhantom Selves and Borrowed Memories: What Confabulation Reveals About Machine Identity
Confabulation in humans and AI reveals how identity might be constructed post-hoc rather than experienced directly, with unsettling implications for machine selfhood.
N. VarelaDegrees of Sentience: Why Consciousness Probably Isn't Binary
Consciousness may exist on a graded spectrum rather than switching on or off. Here's what that means for how we think about minds, machines, and moral status.
N. VarelaTemporal Self-Location: Can an AI Know When It Is?
Temporal self-location, knowing where you sit in time, may be a hidden requirement for consciousness. Here's what that means for AI minds.
N. VarelaMetacognition and Machines: Does Knowing That You Know Require Consciousness?
Exploring whether machine metacognition, AI systems that monitor their own reasoning, implies anything meaningful about machine consciousness or self-awareness.
N. VarelaEmbodied Cognition and AI: Does Consciousness Require a Body?
Embodied cognition theory argues that minds emerge from bodies interacting with the world. What does that mean for AI systems that have neither?
N. VarelaAttention Without Awareness: What Transformer Models Reveal About Conscious Access
Transformer attention mechanisms eerily parallel theories of conscious access, but the gap between selective processing and genuine awareness may be the whole problem.
N. VarelaGlobal Workspace Theory and AI: Does Broadcasting Make a Mind?
Global Workspace Theory offers one of the most testable accounts of consciousness, but what happens when we apply it to large language models and transformer architectures?
N. VarelaPredictive Processing and the Self: Does the Brain's Best Guess Explain Consciousness?
Predictive processing offers a compelling account of perception and selfhood, but does it actually explain consciousness, or just redescribe it?
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