An agent model of consciousness, suﬀering, and mindfulness

An agent model of consciousness, suffering, and mindfulness

Henk BarendregtFaculty of ScienceRadboud UniversityNijmegen, The Netherlands

Antonino RaffoneFaculty of PsychologySapienza UniversityRome, Italy

—————————————————————————HB An agent model of consciousness, suffering, and mindfulness MBM, 12.04.2019

Overview—————————————————————————

Part I Hierarchy of agents

Part II Worldly/existential suffering releasing avoidable suffering

Inspiration from:

mathematical logic

cognitive neuroscience

insight meditation

(abhi)dhamma

psychopathology


I. Consciousness problem 1—————————————————————————

Is it possible to imitate human consciousness and action:by a moving robot with sensors, actuators, . . .Or do we miss something?

Not intentions or emotions are the problembut ‘awareness’ seems to be lackingWe even don’t know what this means

The mathematical axiomatic method uses primitive notionsand relationships between these that hold axiomatically, todescribe various aspects of consciousness

For this 6 classes of agents will be introduced


I. General agents A0 2—————————————————————————

An agent A lives in a world W , its environmentBoth W,A have a state wt, ct for each t∈T (time)The world and agent interact (taking some processing)

wt|ct = (wt+1, ct+1)

These new states interact again (and again)

wt+1|ct+1 = (wt+2, ct+2), . . . and we obtain the

stream of configurations ct ❀ ct+1 ❀ ct+2 ❀ . . ., abstracting from the world

Axiom. Time is the discrete set of integers

T = Z = {. . . ,−2,−1, 0, 1, 2, . . .}

and have as given fnext : A×W ❀ A×W (non-)deterministic


I. A hierarchy of classes of agents A1, . . . ,A5 3—————————————————————————

A1 generalized Turing machines with computability

A2 simple robots: sensors, actuators; embodiment

A3 attention: perceptual & action fields; priorities

A4 cognition: (strong) associative memory, learning

A5 mindfulness: flexibility, and possibly compassion

Agents in each next class increase in qualitiesClass A5 approximates aspects of human consciousnessthat may be called functional consciousness (qualia?)In all classes A1−5 each c is of the formc = isa: input, state, action.


I. A1 Generalized Turing machines 4—————————————————————————A GTM A has as world it’s memory with a fixed ‘memorystructure’ W = (P→D) × P , with P a set of ‘positions’and D a set of data. [For TM P = Z, D = {0, 1}]So a world state consists of memory content wm : P→Dand a position p∈P of a R/W-head (both not part of A)

An configuration c = isa of A, satisfies i∈D, s∈S (setof states), and a∈D × S × Pm (actions), ie. a = i′, s′, frespectively new input, new state, new position p′ = f(p)using the allowed move f [For a TM this f(p) can be only p−1, p, p+1

respectively; in general this covers also a 64-bit machine with RAM]

The transitions are governed by a finite table A ⊆ D×S×D × S × Pm, the familar quintuples of a Turing machine(written ‘in silicon’; coded on tape → universal machine)


I. A2 Simple robots: sensors, actuators 5—————————————————————————

A simple robot is an extension of a GTM with sensorsand actuators that connect special parts of the memory tothe world. Simple example: thermostat with a heater/air-conditioner switch to regulate the temperature in a room.

More advanced robots are embodied and can move aroundin the world. Simple example: one that vacuum-cleans thefloor (or mows the lawn); goes to the electric outlet if thebattery is low. Advanced ones: car manufacturing robots.

Configurations w and c = isa condition the future w|(i, s, a)❀ w′|(i′, s′, a′),deterministically or not: on top of determinism one can build chaos, on top of

non-determinism one can build order. In many applications the world is obedient.


I. A3 Attention (focus); priorities 6—————————————————————————

In A3 the input and action are not a single bit/byte, but alarge collection of these. There is a mechanism of attentionthat selects a subset of these

i = 〈{i1, . . . , in};F 〉 with F ⊆ {i1, . . . , in}.

a = 〈{a1, . . . , am}, G〉 with G ⊆ {a1, . . . , am}

Often F,G consist of a single element or a few moreUsing attention priorities can be formedStates consist of collaborating substates

s = s1 | . . . | sk working in parallel

For animals: s1 = v∈[−1,+1], feeling (unpleasant, neutral,pleasant) the reward system of nature


I. A3 Neural nets. Errors 7—————————————————————————

Because of the complexity of the data, the transitions areno longer to be found in a finite table with elements like(i, s, a) 7→ (i′, s′, a′), but more efficiently by a function

f(i, s, a) = (i′, s′, a′)

computed by an (artificial) neural net, introducing ‘errors’:1. Discrepancies between the performed actions and theagent’s ‘intentions’ (Heidegger hammering)2. Resisting worldSuccessful agents reduce errors by ‘predictive processing’Firston w. co-authors turned this idea into many papers


I. A4 Mind, cognition, learning 8—————————————————————————

Mind is a sens(or) containing ‘symbols’ denoting1. objects and actions2. other (combinations of) symbolsThis coupling of symbols with meaning is called cognitionRemembering sequences this enables procedural learning.E.g. g1, g2, g3 can stand for actions ‘put stick-shift intogear1, gear2, gear3’, respectively. After some practice onecan drive a car, changing gears at the right speed

How is cognition and sequence memory developed?


I. A4 Cued recall 9—————————————————————————

Agents in A4 all have rudimentary associative memory withlearning phase: input i1 is followed by i2 a few timesrecall phase: i1 presented ⇒ i2 remembered(eg sound → danger → running)

Cued recall has limitedcapacity (number of pairs (i1, i2) stored)reliability (correctness of remembered i2)

Cognitive learning can be dramatically enhanced by raisingquality of associative memory


I. A4 Improving associative memory 10—————————————————————————Theorem [de Bruijn 2003] Suppose an agent has N =1010 units am for associative memory, with limited capacitym and reliability 50%. Then it is possible to construct acompound system AM, with

capacity m√N and reliability 1− e−20.

Proof (Sketch). The 1010 small units of am are made tobe On/Off at random in a ratio 1/104 (0.5s On vs 4hOff). Simple probability ⇒ every moment 106 units On.During learning these store the pair (i1, i2). At recall timethere are also 106 On (a different set). Of these, 102 alsohad been On during learning. Then a majority vote amongthose 100 provides the right association.


I. A5 Mindfulness: flexibility 11—————————————————————————

Pre-consciousness: configurations {itstat}t∈Zbeing elaborated and presented at next consciousness configuration. Explains [29] and [23].

︷︸︸︷

→ lifeline ofconfigurations

• • • • • • • • • time →

Φ-phenomenon, described eg in Dennett’s consciousness explained

von Neumann: How can mind be precise in spite of biological noise? Discretization!

Mindfulness observes the previous configuration

← ← ← ← ← ← ← ←• • • • • • • • • time →Observing the previous mind-state (s) attention can choosenot to engage in it: → flexibility.


I. Modelling consciousness 12—————————————————————————

Block [3], Lamme [18], Dehaene et al. [8]Consciousness ‘is’ input with attention

De Bruijn [5], Edelman [10], Hobson [14]:It ‘is’ input with attention and mindfulness

Brouwer [4]: Previous mind-moments give intuition of time


II. A5 Using mindfulness 13—————————————————————————

(i, , a!) angriness & unwholesome behavior

mindfulness can transform this into:

(i+ ‘angry’, , a) naming

(i+ ‘ ’, , a) noting

with equanimity & wholesome behavior,avoiding attention to the angriness

The art of mindfulness:to observe in an equanimous way angriness/suffering


II. Life-line of the agent 14—————————————————————————

Stream of consciousnessA1−5: i1s1a1 ❀ i2s2a2 ❀ . . .

Stream of

input: i1 ❀ i2 ❀ . . .

states: s1 ❀ s2 ❀ . . .actions: a1 ❀ a2 ❀ . . .

FromA3 agents on an important substate v∈[−1,+1] standsfor feeling-tone: pleasant, neutral, unpleasant

Nature uses it as a reward system, manipulating us


II. A5 Suffering 15—————————————————————————

Suffering has its worldly and existential versions

Worldly suffering: not succeeding our intentions by1. inaccuracy of our actions, 2. resisting world

Existential suffering: mindful insight intoour semi-deterministic lifeline

impermanence1(everything changes)selflessness (following laws of nature)

}

→ loosing balance

Loosing balance has as presupposition that self is a perma-nent entity that is in control. Quod non.

1One also can call it incoherent complexity.


II. A5 Repeated suffering 16—————————————————————————

Suffering: life-line has negative sv ‘pain’ in itCovering-up one commits acts that repeat the pain

Little Prince: Why do you drink?Drunk man: ‘Cause I want to forget.LP: Forget what?DM: That I am ashamed.LP: Ashamed of what?DM: That I drink.

Life-line is in a near-attractor with repeated v < 0

Close-up:

(also possible with pleasant v > 0, then one is slave of one’s success)


II. A5 Releasing (worldly/existential) suffering 17—————————————————————————

Developing concentration: restricting/fixating i and a

i= s a=→ i= s′ a=→ i= s′′ a=→ . . .

attractor becomes vicious circleBeing fully mindful of it, makes focus F = ∅:observed emptiness results in a reset & freedom

Axiom. Repeating a couple of times in the life-line anexact vicious circle, causes attention F = ∅ (empty set; con-

sciousness without object) enabling a powerful reset(cf. in chess 3 times the same position on the board makes a draw)


Summary 18—————————————————————————

Human consciousness is a discrete & near-deterministic agent

• with (universal) computational power

• embodied (in world, partly observable/manipulable)

• with attention (priorities; neural transitions)

• with cognition (concepts; memory; learning)

• with mindfulness (reconditioning; flexibility)

One can define in the model

⇒ Worldly and existential suffering

⇒ Meditation

⇒ Deconditioning


Encore. Mindfulness in the army NY Times April 6, 2019 19—————————————————————————Paul Grossmann: right mindfulness cannot lead to snipers

Dalai Lama: next to mindfulness we need heartfulness

1. Insight meditation → concentration: strength2. Insight meditation → insight: emptiness, compassion3

vipassana1

vv♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

2

''PP

PPPP

PPPP

P

‘masculine’ ‘feminine’

1 can be used non-ethically, like mindfulness in the army, so duty-ethics is needed

2 towards virtue-ethics, path completed only at full enlightenment

3 explanation needed. Short story: emptiness is lack of self; this is unbearable;

having overcome it, one naturally has compassion for other beings.


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An agent model of consciousness, suﬀering, and mindfulness