Toward A Science of Consciousness 2001

"CONSCIOUSNESS AND ITS PLACE IN NATURE:
TOWARD A SCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS"
August 7 - 11, 2001 * Skövde, Sweden

SET OF ALL PLENARY SESSIONS IN BINDERS FOR $200
COMPLETE CONFERENCE SET (not Pre-Confs.) FOR $435

CONFERENCE CODE: TSC21

The conference is jointly organized by

Consciousness Studies Programme (CSP), Department of Humanities, University of Skövde
Center for Learning Systems (CLS), Department of Computer Science, University of Skövde

PLENARY SESSIONS
001 Searching for a Unified Science of Consciousness - Antti Revonsuo 1 $11.00

002 A Neuroscientist’s Approach to Consciousness - Susan Greenfield 1 $11.00

003 Conscious Thought as Simulation of Perception and Behaviour - Germund Hesslow 1 $11.00

004 Consciousness in Theory - and in the Computer? - Rodney Cotterill 1 $11.00

005 The Grand Illusion - Susan Blackmore 1 $11.00

007 Consciousness Theories and Conscious Machines - Igor Aleksander 1 $11.00

008 "Conscious" Software: In Quest of the Ultimate Artifact - Stan Franklin 1 $11.00

009 Artificial Consciousness - Panel Discussion 1 $11.00

010 Quantum Models of Consciousness in Brain Microtubules - Scott Hagan 1 $11.00

011 Quantum Theory, the Implicate Order and Consciousness - Basil J. Hiley 1 $11.00

012 The Subject in Dissipative Quantum Brain Dynamics - Gordon Globus 1 $11.00

013 Quantum Approaches to Consciousness - Panel Discussion 1 $11.00

014 Condensed Matter Physics Approach to the Brain - Giuseppe Vitiello 1 $11.00

015 Neuronal Network for Global "Conscious" Workspace - Jean-Pierre Changeux 1 $11.00

016 Introspective Physicalism: Towards a Scientific Phenomenology - Anthony I. Jack 1 $11.00

017 Neural Correlates of Consciousness - Panel Discussion 1 $11.00

018 Subjective Experiences in Animals - Sverre Sjölander 1 $11.00

019 The Scientific Evidence for Animal Consciousness - Bernard Baars 1 $11.00

020 Consciousness as Existence & the End of Intentionality - Ted Honderich 1 $11.00

021 Consciousness and its Place in Nature - Panel Discussion 1 $11.00

055 In Defense of Physicalist Accounts of Consciousness - Ron Chrisley 1 $11.00

056 Away From a Science of Consciousness - Daniel Hutto 1 $11.00

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

022 AI and Consciousness - I - Narayanan, Adamatzky, Stuart et. Al. 2 $20.00
- A. Narayanan - Cloning consciousness: The future for artificial intelligence and cognitive science?
- S. Stuart, C. Dobbyn - The self as an embedded agent
- J.M.Bishop - Dancing with Pixies: why counterfactuals can't count
- D. Fearnley-Sander - The appearance of consciousness in machines
- J. Treur - Representational content in terms of dynamics for meta-cognition
023 The Hard Problem and the Explanatory Gap - I - Gluck, Franck, Binder, Lipkind, et. Al. 2 $20.00
- A. L. Gluck - Causality and the hard problem of consciousness
- G. Franck - The presence of mind and the temporal present
- M. Binder - Perhaps time is the missing link?
- M. Lipkind - The concept of field applied for explanation of consciousness: Attempts for naturalistic expression of extra ingredient
- V. Mascarenhas - The Kantian Antinomies and the "hard problem" of consciousness
- R. Pepperell, M. Punt - At the interface of consciousness: The postdigital membrane
024 Ontology of Consciousness - I - Hutto, Pickering, Cohnitz, et. Al. 2 $20.00
- D. Cohnitz - A riddle of reduction? Multiple realizability and natural kind terms
- F. Radovic - Some troubles with the mind-body problem
- L. Schuster - Consciousness and Chaos - Towards a Fractal Geometry of Consciousness
- N. Praetorius - Circularities in causal theories of perception, cognition and language
025 Neural Correlates of Consciousness - I - Radil, Bergström, Cook, Mogi, et. Al. 2 $20.00
- T. Radil - "Consciousness still unexplained" (but successfully studied experimentally)
- P. Ikonen, M. Bergström - The problem of consciousness - A physiological approach
- N. D. Cook - The protophenomenon of consciousness is the opening of ion channels during the action potential - A momentary loss of the boundary between cellular "self" and the external electrotonic environment
- K. Mogi - The systematic turn in cognitive neuroscience
- A. Roepstorff, A. I. Jack - Imagined brains - Interacting minds: First, second and third person aspects of a brain scanning experiment
- J. Hvorecky - Content of consciousness and the state of consciousness: conceptualisation, clarification and confusion
026 Epistemology and Philosophy of Science - Dwyer, Malmgren, Allwood, Hooper, et. Al. 2 $20.00
- D. J. Dwyer - The methodological forgetfulness of the science and philosophy of consciousness
- H. Malmgren - Other minds and your own
- J. Allwood - Language and Consciousness
- J. B. Hooper, J. Brink - Mythemesis: The human way of knowing
- H. De Preester - Phenomenology and the naturalizing project
027 Quantum Approaches - I - Hagan, Bierman, Duggins, et. Al. 2 $20.00
- D. J. Bierman - Can we assess decoherence times of Rhodopsin in the human retina?
- A. Duggins - The mind-brain inequality
- D. Mender - A linguistic approach to physics
- G. J. F. Blommestijn - The place of consciousness: Next to the quantum mechanical reduction process
028 Vision - Taya, Mogi, Price, Norman, Tamori 2 $20.00
- F. Taya, K. Mogi - Dynamical adaptability in binocular rivalry
- M. C. Price, E. Norman - Fringe consciousness, non-conscious perception, and attention shifts
- T. Murata, N. Matsui, S. Miyauchi, T. Yanagida - Discrete stochastic dynamics underlying binocular rivalry and ambiguous figure perception
- Y. Tamori, K. Mogi - The role of the primary visual cortex in binocular rivalry
- S.-S. Chen - A mathematical formulation of quantum visual dynamics
029 The Hard Problem and the Explanatory Gap - II - Pallbo, Mileikowsky, Worley, et. Al. 2 $20.00
- R. Pallbo - First person - Second thoughts
- C. Mileikowsky - The explanatory gap: Some aspects of it
- S. Worley - Conceivability, possibility, and the truth of physicalism
- H. Kondo - Impossibility of seeing from the external point of view outside a conceptual scheme of the brain and its implications for the problem of consciousness.
- T. Togawa - The content space defined as the set of all possible contents of consciousness
030 Ontology of Consciousness - II - Thomas, Heikes, Evangeliou, et. Al. 2 $20.00
- A. Thomas - The ontology of consciousness: Neo-Kantian perspectives and Kant's perspective
- D. K. Heikes - Empirical consciousness and epistemic objectivity
- C. C. Evangeliou - "The function of nous in Aristotle's cosmos."
- M. Kafatos, S. Roy - Physical process and consciousness
031 AI and Consciousness - II - Zlatev, Tani, Manzotti, Holland, et. Al. 2 $20.00
- J. Zlatev - Meaning and consciousness in natural and artificial systems
- J. Tani - Conscious and unconscious processes in the bottom-up and the top-down interactions of robots
- R. Manzotti, V. Tagliasco - Intentional robots: goal-seeking, environment-driven, neural network as a foundation for consciousness
- O. Holland, R. Goodman - Consciousness and adaptive model-based predictive controllers for mobile robots
- R. Sanz, J. Escasany, I. López - Cybernetic consciousness
- R. Sun, P. Slusarz - The interaction of explicit and implicit learning
032 Free Will and Mental Causation - Havel, Vaas, Westcome, et. Al. 1 $11.00
- I. M. Havel - Conscious action and Searle's gaps
- R. Vaas - Evolving language, I-consciousness and free will
- A. Westcombe - A generic account of decision-making
- C. Webel, A. Stigliano - Consciousness and its vicissitudes: A materialist foundation for mind and ethics?
- M. Coppola - Cartesio's revenge: Against non-reductionist physicalism
033 Higher-Order Thought - Weisberg, Overgaard, Bergström, et. Al. 2 $20.00
- M. Bergström, P. Ikonen - Julia Brain - A fractal model of the limbic self and neuro-mental complex dynamics
- J. O'Dea - "Phenomenal" qualities as "secondary" qualities in the higher-order representation theory of consciousness
- O. Kauffmann - What does blindsight tell us about higher-order thought theories of consciousness ?
- E. M. Morelli - Consciousness and the brain: More than meets the eye
034 The Concept of Consciousness - I - Shanon, Racevskis, Kiverstein, et. Al. 1 $11.00 (partial)
035 Personal Identity and Self - Seager, Radovic, Voorhees, Kjellman, Ublagger 2 $20.00
- W. Seager - Emotional introspection
- S. Radovic - Identifying the self and the external world
- B. Voorhees - Nature and its place in consciousness
- A. Kjellman - The subject oriented approach to knowing
- H. Skovlund - The problem of the self between philosophy and psychology
036 Qualia - Tolliver, Grassia, Brown, Ake, Meehan, Sanfey 2 $20.00
- J. T. Tolliver - Sensory holism
- R. Brown - The problem of qualia: Blindsight and its implications
- D. B. Meehan - Sensational properties and nonconceptual content
- J. Sanfey - The experience and description of "now": Key to a fundamental equation of consciousness?
037 Literature and Arts - Eilittä, Freer, Bezzubova, Smith, Montague, Felsen, et. Al. 2 $20.00
- C. Freer - Consciousness and nature in John Milton's _Paradise Lost_
- E. Bezzubova - "Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness" - The vision of Dostoevsky
- B. Reffin Smith - Some technical and medical aspects of 'Zombie' in art
- E. Montague - Music, movement, and agency in the formation of consciousness
038 Cognitive Architectures and Emotion - Briscoe, Anceau, Singh, McGovern, Nomura 2 $20.00
- G. Briscoe - A dual-path model of cognition and consciousness
- F. Anceau - Consciousness seen as a framework for high-level cerebral functions
- R K Singh - A model of the neural connectivity in the brain
- K. McGovern - Feelings and fringe consciousness in phenomenal experience and in the brain
- T. Nomura - On some social constructivism of emotions: Hochschild and Gergen
- M. de Leonni - Stanonik, J. H. Dougherty, C. A. Licata - Alzheimer's disease and the biology of consciousness
039 Sleep, Dream and Hypnosis - Kallio, Revonsuo, Karlsson, Valli, Kozmova, Wolman 2 $20.00
- S. Kallio, A. Revonsuo - Towards an empirical testable account of hypnosis
- M. Kozmova, R. N. Wolman - Self-awareness in the non-lucid dreaming state
- L. Karlsson - Perceptual awareness in dreaming a neurophenomenological analysis
- K. Valli, A. Revonsuo - The threat simulation theory of dreaming: Empirical explorations
040 Ethics and Religion - Torrance, Poochigian, Gooch, Freeman, Merrifield 2 $20.00
- S. Torrance - Science, consciousness, value
- D. V. Poochigian - Ethical mind
- A. O. Gooch - Consciousness as a natural kind
- A. Freeman - God as an emergent property
- D. P. Merrifield - The experience of self within the Jesuit spiritual tradition: Finding God in all things
041 The Concept of Consciousness - II - Chrisley, Lagerspetz, Brouwer, et. Al. 2 $20.00
- O. Lagerspetz - Experience and consciousness in the shadow of Descartes
- E. J. Brouwer - The representation of animal consciousness
- M. Boisvert - Consciousness (Vinnana) in early Buddhist texts
- J. A. Ross - The miph of consciousness - The mathematics, informatics, and physics of consciousness and its place in nature
- Valerie Gray Hardcastle - The Unexploited Power of Unconscious Processing (invited paper; to be read by India Morrison since VGH had to cancel her participation)
042 Neural Correlates of Consciousness - II - Bernroider, Tegner, Frecska, et. Al. 2 $20.00
- G. Bernroider - Illuminating the hues of qualia behind cortical projection amplitudes
- J. Tegner - Towards a minimal model of consciousness
- M. Overgaard, O. Kauffmann, T. Z. Ramsøy - Consciousness and introspection
- E. H. Price - Phantom limbs and phantom evidence. Observations supporting a requisite role of the body in the formation of human body image
- S. Benzoni - There is nothing like to be a newborn
- O. Dolsenhe - The cognitive synthetic model
043 Quantum Approaches - II - Plotnitsky, Khrennikov, Matsui, Jones, et. Al. 2 $20.00
- A. Plotnitsky - The final cut: Quantum theory, information, and consciousness
- A. Khrennikov - Conscious field as the pilot wave on hierarchic p-adic tree
- T. Matsui, K. Sakakibara - Decoherence time in quantum field theory of a microtubule
- U. Awret - On bridges, poiesis and the Explanatory gap
- F. H. Thaheld - Proposed experiments to determine if there is a connection between biological nonlocality and consciousness
- S. Jones - On resolving classical experience with the quantum world (presented by Anthony Freeman)
044 Evolution - Foltmann, Zucker, Beitas, Kumicak 1 $11.00
- B. Foltmann - Evolution of Consciousness
- A. Zucker - Glymour's "Freud's androids"-give them a foot?
- K. Beitas - About interpersonal function of consciousness
- J. Kumicak - Emergence of future in phylogenesis of consciousness
- S. Willert - Consciousness as a natural, biological phenomenon
PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

045 An Introduction to Memetics: Memes, Minds and Evolution of Self - Susan Blackmore 2 $20.00
The aim of this workshop is to provide an introduction to the theory of memetics and explore its relevance to the nature and contents of consciousness. By the end of the workshop participants should (a) understand what is, and is not, a meme, and how memetics can be applied in several different fields (b) be familiar with the major controversies and disagreements within memetics (c) have an informed opinion on whether or not memetics is useful for the understanding of consciousness.

046 Nouns, Verbs and Consciousness - Maxim Stamenov 2 $20.00
The problems of representability of linguistic form and meaning belong to the classical core of linguistic theory and remain hotly discussed topics in modern linguistics, e.g., in generative grammar and cognitive linguistics. During the workshop I will consider some basic aspects of the problem of 'visible' and invisible' to consciousness language structure at the level of meaning (semantics) and structure (syntax).

047 Consciousness as Cells, as Other Stuff in the Head, and as Existence - Ted Honderich 2 $20.00
The materialism about the mind of Hobbes in the 17th Century has persisted, and now takes the form of Functionalism and of Cognitive Science With Philosophical Ambitions. In addition to various objections to these doctrines, they face the Wholly Resilient Proposition About Consciousness. It is that consciousness isn't cells. The view of consciousness as other stuff in the head is less developed but more pervasive. It is implicit in much philosophy. It is incredible if not incomprehensible. Therefore a radical departure is needed in thinking about consciousness. We can make a start by considering perceptual (as against reflective and affective) consciousness. What is it for you to be aware of this room? It is for the room in a way to exist. That answer can be shown to be an analysis, not circular or metaphorical or a piece of 'impressionism'.

048 What We Have Learned About the Brain Basis of Consciousness: Evidence, Theory, Animal Consciousness and Ethical Implications - Bernard Baars & Katie McGovern 2 $20.00
Contrary to past beliefs, many aspects of consciousness are not untestable at all, as shown by productive research traditions. The key, we would suggest, is to study consciousness as a variable, by seeing whether it is a difference that makes a difference. But do the results tell us about real consciousness? In fact, objective approaches correspond well to our own experience. Recent brain and behavioral findings are generally consistent with the theoretical framework called Global Workspace theory (Baars, 1988, 1997, 1998). Work on neural dynamics is also consistent with this cognitive framework, and adds fundamental findings about the brain and its evolutionary history (e.g. Edelman & Tononi, 2000; Crick, 1996; John, in press; Freeman, in press). One striking result from brain studies is the similarity among mammals in the fundamental brain mechanisms of consciousness, the thalamocortical core. Scientific evidence for consciousness may be one plausible way of assessing "personhood," a fundamental ethical and legal construct that may allow us to make wiser decisions about birth, death, and suffering in medicine and elsewhere. If mammals (and perhaps species in other genera) are conscious, this scientific fact raises fundamental ethical questions. However, human ethical decisions are complex, subtle, and largely intuitive, and scientific evidence can only be one ingredient for ethical decision making.

049 Quantum Approaches to Consciousness - P. Pylkkänen, S. Hagan 2 $20.00
The "microworld" of atomic systems is radically different from our familiar "macroworld" of usual physical objects. The quantum theory accounts for these radically different features which include the indivisibility of systems during interactions, the wave-particle dual nature of all matter, and instantaneous non-local entanglements between systems. In various different ways researchers have suggested that quantum theory can also help to understand the relation between mind and matter, and even the nature of consciousness. This workshop considers some of these suggestions.

050 Social Construction of Consciousness: Theory, Analyses and Practical Applications - Tom Burns & Sviatoslav Korepov 2 $20.00
The workshop will identify and analyze practial problems and pathologies of individual and collective consciousness - with illustrations from social and management problems: distortion and blockage of consciousness processes; dilemmas and pitfalls of consciousness; and the problems arising from the cyclicity of consciousness development. Related dicussions will consider dilemmas of flexibility versus order and stability of consciousness; dealing with consciousness problems with social and institutional strategies, which, in themselves, may be a source of problem and pathologies; the opportunities - especially in the face of crisis -- to learn and evolve through develping higher levels of consciousness. The final part of the workshop considers the role and importance of uncertainty in consciousness development. Types and sources of uncertainty are identified, drawing on the General Principle of Uncertainty in Complex Systems. The implications for the introduction of new social and institutional strategies of consciousness development are considered

051 The Diversity of Neuroscientists' Current Theories of Consciousness: Strengths and Weaknesses - Susan Greenfield 2 $20.00
First, are the approaches using metaphor, eg Crick's original concept of consciousness as a 'spotlight'; Baars: the 'theatre'; Parfit: the thought explained as the 'tele-transporter'; Dennett: the concept of 'multiple drafts'; Weiskrantz: and the idea of a 'commentary'. It is important to note that some, more notably philosophers, dispense with the physical brain altogether, - in particular Chalmers and Birnbacher. Second, within artificial intelligence approaches, there is the top down ideas of Minsky countered by the bottom up concepts of Edelman. The work of Aleksander, which falls mid-way between the two, and the familiar refutations by Searle, in his image of the Chinese room. Third, the evolutionary approach to consciousness has been propounded by Dennett, Calvin and Pinker. Fourth is the physiology approach. In particular, attention to dynamic neural nets have been emphasised by, not just Edelman, but Llinas, as well as Crick and Koch. Within this latter group, we can also consider the work of Penrose and Hameroff. We will view these approaches, first in terms of the validity of models, when we do not know what the salient feature is that is to be modelled, and secondly in their potential for inspiring an empirical approach.

053 Whitehead's Even More Dangerous Idea, or: What Process Philosophy Has to Say About Consciousness - Peter Farleigh 2 $20.00
The topics I intend to cover in the workshop will include:

The historical background to process philosophy and Whitehead's place in the history of ideas.
Whitehead's philosophy of science, and the development of the event ontology, with particular reference to his concepts of space and time.
Differences between organic processes and mechanical or computational ones.
Causation, and the concept of 'prehension'
Experience, perception, consciousness, panpsychism, and the relation between qualia and free will.
How the process view relates to the contemporary debate; for instance how 'prehension' relates to intentionality, and 'concrescence' to the binding problem. And also what the process view is on artificial intelligence, artificial life, memes, information and complexity theories.

054 Materiality, Phenomenality and Critique of Consciousness: From Kant and Hegel to Quantum Epistemology to Postmodernist Thought - Arkady Plotnitsky 2 $20.00
The workshop will address, first, the relationships among materiality, phenomenality, and consciousness, and the critiques of each of these concepts in Kant and Hegel. (The term "critique" is here used in the Kantian sense of analytic exploration of the structure of concepts.) The primary role of this discussion is to establish a rigorous philosophical basis for an analysis of the epistemology of quantum physics. Indeed, it may be argued that in order to do so an engagement with Kant and Hegel may be unavoidable given the history of the concepts (such as materiality, phenomenality, and consciousness) involved in constructing such a basis. In discussing quantum epistemology itself, the workshop will specifically consider the relationships between Bohr's and Bohm's views, and why Bohr's view may be seen as closer to Kant, while Bohm's closer to Hegel. We will then discuss Derrida's (Bohr-like) and Deleuze's (Bohm-like) philosophy. We conclude by considering the implications of these topics for the current debates concerning the relationships between quantum theory and the question of consciousness.