What do neural nets and quantum theory tell us about mind and reality?
Paul J. Werbos
Abstract
This paper proposes an approach to framing and answering fundamental questions about consciousness. It argues that many of the more theoretical debates about consciousness, such as debates about "when does it begin?", are misplaced and meaningless, in part because "consciousness" as a word has many valid and interesting definitions, and in part because consciousness qua mind or intelligence (the main focus here)is a matter of degree or level, not a binary variable. It proposes that new mathematical work related to functional neural network designs -- designs so functional that they can be used in engineering -- is essential to a functional understanding of intelligence as such, and outlines some key mathematics as of 1999, citing earlier work for more details. Quantum theory is relevant, but not in the simple ways proposed in more popular philosophies.
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