SETI and Consciousness

Dr. Matthew Colborn

The Drake Equation

Does the Drake Equation need an additional factor?

• Currently no generalizable metric rating for intelligence.

• Intelligence not defined with reference to consciousness.

• Is consciousness a necessary, additional precondition of contact?

• Is fconsciousness needed?

What is Cognitive Science?

“Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind and its processes. It examines the nature, the tasks, and the functions of cognition (Wikipedia).”

What is Consciousness Studies?

Consciousness: A brief definition

• Griffin distinguishes between perceptual and reflective consciousness. Perceptual conscious is awareness, reflective is “thinking, or experiencing feelings, about thoughts or feelings themselves…including self awareness (Griffin, 2001, p. 7).”

• Does consciousness make a difference or is nonconscious information processing enough?

The (Apparent) Dilemma “How can we square [the] self-conception of ourselves as mindful, meaning-creating, free, rational… agents with a universe that consists entirely of mindless, meaningless, unfree, nonrational, brute physical particles? (Searle, 2007, p. 5).” IMAGE: NASA

The ‘Hard’ Problem: Qualia • “It is undeniable that some organisms are subjects of

experience. But the question of how it is that these systems are subjects of experience is perplexing. Why is it that when our cognitive systems engage in… information-processing, we have [an] experience: the quality of deep blue, the sensation of middle C? How can we explain why there is something it is like to entertain a mental image, or to experience an emotion? It is…agreed that experience arises from a physical basis, but we have no good explanation of why and how it so arises. Why should physical processing give rise to a rich inner life at all?”

Chalmers, 1995.

The overdetermination problem

1. Suppose mental states supervene/are dependent upon physical states.

2. For every mental change, there is a corresponding physical change.

3. IF 1 & 2 true THEN mental states & physical states are exclusive of one another.

4. THEREFORE mental states can be ELIMINATED (see Feyerabend, Churchlands, Popper, Kim, Heil, etc.)

Consequence: the ‘Zombic Hunch’

“The Zombic hunch is the idea that there could be a being [a Zombie] that behaved exactly as you or I behaved, in every regard…and yet not be conscious at all.”

Dan Dennett, in Blackmore, 2005, p. 81.

The ZOMBIE ALIEN Problem

Would Zombie Aliens who lacked subjective consciousness be

INTERESTED in Contact? Are they even PLAUSIBLE?

But this can’t be right!

• “…it is disastrous to treat… consciousness…as an isolated, mysterious problem …. (p. 144).”

• “Epiphenomenalism is not a good idea. It is incompatible with any real belief in our evolutionary continuity with the rest of nature (Midgley, 2006, p .137).”

• Consciousness a matter of ACTING CONSCIOUSLY (adverb not noun).

• Discuss?

Consciousness MUST have a place cosmic evolution, so….

Is our kind of SUBJECTIVE

CONSCIOUSNESS a NECESSARY

precondition of contact?

Illustrations: NASA, Wikicommons, Cicero Moraes

Conclusion

• Need to better define ‘intelligence’ factor of Drake Equation.

• Cognitive Science/consciousness studies have plenty to offer in terms of clarifying terms.

• Emergence/evolution of subjective consciousness needs to be seen as part of wider picture of cosmic evolution, so relevant to SETI & Astrobiology.

References Chalmers, David (1995), “Facing up to the problem of consciousness,” Journal of Consciousness Studies. 2 (3): 200–219. Churchland, P. (2013), Touching a Nerve: the Self as Brain, London: W.W. Norton. Dennett, D.C. (1991), Consciousness Explained, Allen Lane, London. Dick, S.J. (1996), The Biological Universe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Griffin, D.R. (2001), Animal Minds: Beyond Cognition to Consciousness, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Haack, S. (1993), Evidence & Enquiry, Blackwell, Oxford. Feinberg, T.E. & Mallatt, J.M. (2016), The Ancient Origins of Consciousness: how the Mind Created Experience, The MIT Press, London. Midgley, M. (2006), Science and Poetry, Routledge, London. Raymont, P. (2003) “Kim on overdetermination, exclusion and nonreductive physicalism,” in Walter, S. & Heckmann, H. (eds.) Physicalism and Mental Causation, pp. 225—242, Imprint Academic, Exeter. Searle, J.R. (2007). Freedom & Neurobiology, Columbia University Press, New York. Shanahan, M. (2015). The Technological Singularity, the MIT Press, London.