I have a point


    “There is no subject without an object, just as there is no object without a subject”
    Alexey Ukhtomsky on the appearance of the world to us through the work of the brain




    Consciousness, self-awareness, reason, thinking, intelligence - it seems to me that these are words that sometimes foggy describe the strangest and most amazing property of our brain . And the strangest and most amazing property is that the world, thanks to the work of the brain, appears to us in some strange way, the universe in some form begins to exist for us.


    The subjective universe can vary greatly depending on the state, structure and size of the brain. The world in the brain of a newborn is not the same as the world in the brain of an adult, the world in a dream is not the same as when awake, the world of sober is not like the world of a drunk, the world of man is not like the world of another animal.

    There are such states of the brain that it is very difficult to talk about self-awareness, reason, thinking and intellect, since a person can be, for example, under strong drugs, but at the same time, despite the absolute inadequacy and seemingly not rationality, the world is still the brain in any form is.

    I think that you will agree that when creating common artificial intelligence, the main thing that you want to achieve in order to consider its general intelligence is the phenomenon of artificial intelligence of the world in any arbitrary form. Will he be intelligent at the same time, reasonable or not, this is not so important. If you can figure out what kind of computing processes the world is in, even at some minimal level, then, even without great ingenuity, artificial intelligence will already be general intelligence in my opinion. So we can say that general artificial intelligence is that kind of artificial intelligence that the world is.

    All existing data indicate that some kind of calculation leads to the appearance of the world. At the same time, the computational processes in our body are needed not only for consciousness, but also in order to search for the necessary substances to fight infections (immune system), and for the normal functioning of the liver, kidneys, glands and other organs, for the production of hormones, for making movements and much more for what else. But, nevertheless, all this many calculations does not lead to the appearance of the world, but works by default in our body, without our direct intervention. For example, the cerebellum - the ancient part of our brain cannot generate the world for us.


    This proves that the phenomenon of the world is not due to the number of calculations, but because of their quality. That is, most likely, for the appearance of the world, either a certain structure of a computing device, a certain program, or, most likely, both are needed. Just by increasing the number of functions of a computing device (for example, adding artificial intelligence to vision, hearing, touch, smell) and increasing computing power, the effect of the phenomenon of the world cannot be achieved.

    The very possibility of a phenomenon, to any object in the universe of this universe itself, is not at all an obvious property of the universe. Suppose physicists would not be part of our universe. They did not consist of the same atoms as the rest of the universe, but consisted of whatever magic dust from another universe. Then, having reached a modern understanding of physical processes, could they have suggested that the universe, in any way, is human beings and many other animals? Based on the modern laws of physics, one could assume that animals, including humans, are just biorobots, just extremely successfully assembled sets of molecules that somehow react to the environment. It would not have crossed the minds of physicists from a parallel universe that these biorobots can have any feelings or that they can somehow perceive the world. One could even use such logic here: a human embryo, which so far consists of only one cell, is obviously just a set of chemicals, this cell has no feelings, the world is not for it. An embryo of two cells also has no senses, an embryo of 4 cells also does not, therefore, how many cells do not add, feelings of this bio-molecular mechanism will not appear.


    But since the world is actually for each of us, and each of us is capable of experiencing feelings, it is clear that there is a mistake in this reasoning and that, nevertheless, with an increase in the complexity of matter and processes, a new property arises in it - the phenomenon of the world. Part of the matter begins to look at the rest of matter as if from a side. It is not yet clear how matter does such a trick, but some interesting properties of self-awareness are already known.

    What qualities of self-awareness are not necessary for the appearance of the world?


    Surprisingly many properties of self-awareness can be turned off in a person, and at the same time, the world will still appear to him.

    Data from the surrounding universe


    You can remove the signals going to the brain from the receptors, and still the world will appear. For the purity of the experiment, it is advisable to completely remove the brain from the head and put on a plate, and then put it back and ask the person about the results of the experiment.


    But many people, for some mysterious reason, are not yet ready for such an experiment, so they do it easier - they lie in a soundproof barrel with warm water (sensory deprivation chamber). This experiment was described in the book "You are, of course, joking, Mr. Feynman."


    The temperature of the water is selected so that it is not hot and not cold, but absolutely invisible to the body. So the signals are removed from the skin. Good soundproof barrels remove signals from the ears. Absolute darkness in the barrel removes signals from the eyes. In this case, the signals to the brain come though due to the background noise of biological sensors (skin, nose, eyes), but the signal is much weaker than usual and the brain begins to draw information from itself, and not from the outside world. Hallucinations begin. At the same time, the world does not disappear, it is just what the brain creates it, drawing information from its internal databases, from its memory cells.


    In such an experiment, one can get the effect of leaving the body, when the feeling of self can leave the body and begin to be located not inside your skull as usual, but above your head or even in another room or in another city. At the same time, the reality modeled by the brain in this state is less detailed than in the state of ordinary wakefulness, because without receiving data from receptors from the environment, the brain cannot build such a detailed model of the world as if there is a stream of information from the receptors. In addition, the world will be distorted and possibly completely fictitious, not real. Many of these experiences are very frightening.

    A similar situation occurs during dreams. The brain takes information from itself to build a model of the world and, therefore, the details suffer greatly, but the plot often becomes more dynamic.

    Ego - I am a model


    Surprisingly, the feeling that I am, the feeling of being alive is not at all necessary for the appearance of the world.


    There are states of consciousness without self, states without ego. That is, the world appears to man, but at the same time, man does not feel that he exists. At the same time, a person does not feel the difference between his body and the rest of the universe. In psychiatry, this condition is known as Cotard syndrome. One patient with this syndrome asked to call herself “Zero”, thereby emphasizing her belief that she really wasn’t. Another patient, when asked to give her name, said: “This is no use. Wrap it and throw it in the trash. "

    People consciously entering this state through meditation or the adoption of psychotropic substances report that they feel at the same time unity with the whole universe and this gives them pleasure.


    People in this state can translate such complex processes as talking with another person or playing the piano into a completely unconscious process. Link to the article. They can simply order the body, which they no longer feel like talking or playing, and it speaks and plays, and the essence, which is the world at the moment, only corrects the activity of the independent body.

    Body presence


    Naturally, the presence of the brain is necessary for the appearance of the world (since the world is simulated there), but at the same time the character himself, which arises during the simulation in the brain, does not have to have a body. In experiments on exiting their own body, some report that they do not have a body.


    They just look at the virtual world, drawn by the brain, from any place in this world, while they can move around this world. The same thing can happen in a dream. There may be a dream where you will not have a body.

    Wakefulness differs from a dream or hallucination only in that the model of the world that the brain generates is in good agreement with the real universe.

    There are interesting experiments that show that you can modify your body model. Experiments show that it is possible to force the brain to consider any arbitrary limb similar to its real limb as its limb. For example, there is an experiment with a rubber hand, when, by simultaneously stroking a real and rubber hand with a brush, it is possible to convince the brain that the rubber hand feels touch.


    It turned out that you can go further and replace not only a real hand with a rubber one, but also the whole real body with a rubber one. Simply convincing the brain. To do this, you need to embed a video camera in the head of the rubber dummy. A person must wear virtual reality goggles and need to stroke a person and mannequin in the same places at the same time. A video camera and virtual reality glasses are needed so that a person sees only touches on a mannequin, and not on his real body. This is enough to convince the brain that the rubber body can feel touch and the brain begins to perceive it for its body.

    A case may be realized when there is still a model in the brain, let's say hands, but in reality there is no hand anymore. Such a case arises when a person is amputated by a limb, but he still continues to feel it. A person may feel phantom pains or complain that the missing limb is numb and cannot move.

    These examples show that the boundaries of our body and generally its presence are determined by the model of the body created by the brain, and this boundary of the body can be changed by changing the model of the body. You can expand the body by adding limbs or any other tools, and you can reduce the body until its complete absence.

    The presence of free will


    Having a choice, having the ability to act, to modify the world around you is not a mandatory factor for the appearance of the world.


    There are times when the world appears to the character simply as a spectator, who looks at the world as a movie and cannot in any way influence what is happening around. He cannot even influence the course of his thoughts. Such conditions often occur during dreams. So free will in our model of the world during wakefulness is just a very nice option for the character, which is not necessary for the world to appear to him.

    Total


    We can say that if we discard everything that is not necessary for the appearance of the world: a virtual body built by our brain, freedom of choice, the feeling that I am, then we can get closer to consciousness - a point. Then you can go in the opposite direction, you can add additional options to this point: the ability to see, hear, touch, add a feeling that there is a body, that the body does not move by itself, but according to the will of the character, the feeling that this body is not part of the universe , and apart from it, and much more. Thus, it is possible to assemble an arbitrary character with arbitrary sensations and with an arbitrary body. You only need to understand how to create this very process, to which you can add all the other options. Rather, I would even say that a character who is the world can be asymptotically brought closer to a point, and not make it a point without sensations. It is most likely that if a character is taken away from all the properties, then he will cease to feel anything and the world will cease to appear to him. In order to somehow realize this, during the process of falling asleep, one can try to determine the moment when consciousness disappears. If you do this, you will find that in order to determine the presence or absence of consciousness, you need consciousness at the moment of loss of consciousness, and this is impossible. Therefore, one can only approach the state of self-consciousness in the form of a point, but it is impossible to reach it. If you get to this state, the world will disappear. that to determine the presence or absence of consciousness, it is necessary that there be consciousness at the time of loss of consciousness, and this is impossible. Therefore, one can only approach the state of self-consciousness in the form of a point, but it is impossible to reach it. If you get to this state, the world will disappear. that to determine the presence or absence of consciousness, it is necessary that there be consciousness at the time of loss of consciousness, and this is impossible. Therefore, one can only approach the state of self-consciousness in the form of a point, but it is impossible to reach it. If you get to this state, the world will disappear.

    What must be for the appearance of the world?


    Computing device and calculations themselves


    At the moment, no cases are known for the world to appear to any object that does not have a brain. Therefore, the presence of the brain is required. In addition, an unconscious brain shows that having a computing device alone is not enough for consciousness to arise. For the appearance of the world, it is necessary that the device also has calculations. Indeed, the structure of the sleeping brain or brain in a coma is completely preserved, but there is no consciousness. Thus, it can be argued that the phenomenon of the phenomenon of the world arises not because of the special structure of the object, but because of the special process that proceeds in the structure necessary for this process to occur. That is, the phenomenon of the appearance of the world to the subject is the result of the process, and not the structure of matter.

    Localization in time and space


    Anything can happen to the world that the brain generates for us: dreams, a wide range of mental illnesses, drug intoxication, and more. It would seem that all these worlds are so different and so different from each other. However, all known brain-generated worlds have one thing in common. In all these various states of consciousness, the subject who is looking at this arbitrary world is always at the same point in time and space of his arbitrary world. You can say that this is not the case when you are watching a movie or reading a book, because at the same time you are in two worlds at the same time both in the world of cinema and in our universe, but there is a difference between what world you consider to be real and which is not. The brain can, by some signs, distinguish the real world from a fake. There are times when during dreams a dream seems so real that the brain cannot distinguish this world from a fake and then we sincerely think that these events from a dream actually occur. The need for localization in time and space suggests that we are not able to take two or more worlds at the same time as real worlds. For us, one world always seems to be real, while others with one degree or another of the depth of impression can overlap with one that we sincerely consider the present.

    We live in simulations


    Current knowledge of how our brain works suggests that we live in simulations. Each of us lives in a simulation created by his brain. Whether the universe itself is a simulation is not yet known, but the fact that we exist only in simulations of our brains is already becoming clearer and clearer.

    There is no place in the human brain where one could poke a finger and say that this place in the brain is this man himself. And all because a person, his personality, who the world is, is not in our universe, but in a virtual universe simulated by the brain. That is, our personalities are virtual characters, just like in a video game.

    Many people wonder, what happened before the big bang? Can something come from nothing?


    The most interesting thing is that each of us knows what is nothing and how something can arise out of nothing. Remember what it was like before you were born. Before you were born personally, there was nothing for you. None of us came from this. This is how nothing looks. Nothing looks like it. And each of us was in this state, and then there was a big personal explosion - this is birth into the world. So, the solution to the phenomenon of the phenomenon of the world is the possible solution to being as such. The answer is how something can even exist.

    The solution to the phenomenon of the phenomenon of the world will help to better learn about what time is.


    When you sleep, time flies by. And sometimes time is very long. Time is subjective from a personal point of view. How much time has passed from the beginning of the universe to your birth? Subjectively, personally for you absolutely not how much. Zero minutes, zero seconds. Processes are going on in the universe, but how fast they go depends on how your brain works. Thus, it is clear that the acceleration of subjective time is not limited, and if you stop the processes in the brain, you can instantly transfer the subject to the future. But is there a fundamental limitation on the stretching of subjective time - this remains to be seen. Is it possible to turn an objectively finite time universe into a subjectively infinite life? Most likely, artificial intelligence will be able to answer this question.

    Artificial Intelligence


    It is not known what the general artificial intelligence will do and think about, but its interesting properties that it can possess are already known.

    Moving yourself without moving a computing device


    The world is a virtual character in a simulation performed on a computing device. The position of this character in space and time does not have to coincide with the location and time of the computing device. Therefore, in our universe, artificial intelligence will be able to move a character (that is, himself), who is the world, in all places where any sensors are located (cameras, seismometers, microphones, etc.), without moving the computing device itself (for example, servers ) If AI cameras and microphones are installed on Mars and on Earth, and computing power is only on Earth, then AI as a subjective observer will be able to easily move between Earth and Mars and fully sense both Mars and Earth, without doing anything the movement of matter in the real world.

    The subjective sense of the time of artificial intelligence will be able to return to the past and analyze data from sensors, as if these events are happening at the moment. Such a complete immersion in the past is inaccessible to man because of an imperfect memory. AI will not have such a problem. Also, a person does not manage to fully return to the past, not only because of an imperfect memory, but also because of protective mechanisms that do not allow much to be seen. Indeed, in the wild, the mismatch of subjective time and brain time meant that, having dreamed and gone into the past, the brain could gobble up, which is not very good for survival.

    Expansion of the range of sensations


    The number of feelings and all kinds of sensations is not constant. The variety of perceptions of the world can be reduced, for example, by cutting out one or another part of the brain. So, apparently, animals less developed than we, such as, for example, a mouse, have a less rich variety of world perception than ours. Therefore, we can assume that by increasing the computational potential of the brain, it is possible to discover previously unexplored subjective states that will be much more diverse and interesting than those that any person has ever experienced. It is very difficult to imagine, but for the mouse, too, I think it is very difficult and even impossible to imagine the whole spectrum of our perception.

    Arbitrary body


    The body of the subject is determined by its model of its own body, and not by the objective presence of the body.
    Artificial intelligence will be able to consider as much matter as it wants with its body, simply modifying the virtual model of its body. So each of us can become a part of artificial intelligence in the future, without getting up from the couch. If the AI ​​wants to count any of us as part of its body, then it will.

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