I Think, Therefore I Think You Think I Am

Abstract

Conceptual clarity is the foundation of scientific discourse. Therefore, I wish to propose a new way to speak about and quantify consciousness. This new definition is based on the ability of a system to accurately monitor and predict its environment and itself. While I am at it, I will also explain philosophical zombies, free will, and the purpose of life.

Appendix

A simple way to probe the consciousness-level of an anesthetized patient or a patient with locked-in syndrome might look as follows.

Level one: Testing for level one awareness is straight-forward. Play the patient a sound that repeats in regular intervals, or apply any other regular sensory stimulus, such as touch or, if necessary, direct brain stimulation. If the brain shows any reaction in the same regular sequence as the stimulus that constitutes a simple morphism. (Yes, it’s hard to not at least be unconsciously aware of direct brain stimulation.)

Level two: If the patient is able to generate a predictive model, the brain signal should show additional activity if the sequential stimulus—after some period of repetition—changes or suddenly stops. We would be looking, essentially, for a sign of surprise which would demonstrate forecasting ability.

Testing awareness level three and four is much more difficult for it requires finding evidence for the integration of subsystems.

Level three: One way to demonstrate experience, according to our definition, would be to demonstrate that the patient is able to model not only the input signal but the connection between various types of input signals. This would show that the patient is—to some extent—aware of the way their own brain is connected internally and with the environment. This could be done for example by probing whether the patient’s reaction to two different kinds of stimulus is the same whether or not the input is synchronized, or where it is coming from.

Level four: Probing cognition isn’t all that difficult because we are used to doing it. It can be done by looking for the ability of the patient to learn and react, for example by adding a feedback look to the input signal. A practical way to achieve this may be to continue a signal as long as the patient is displaying a certain brain activity. Over time, the patient should learn of this connection, meaning when the feedback is suddenly discontinued, there should again be a surprise reaction. The presently used tests, such as asking patients to imagine performing a certain action and measuring their response, are much more complex ways to test for level four awareness.