todo: transfer to neurowiki
theories of consciousness:
(1) global workspace
(2) self-referential model
(2a) doug rubino's idea
(3) serialization of concurrent computation in the brain
(3a) for the purpose of resolving resource contention; similar to locks or database transactions (3aa) e.g. imagining sounds in the auditory loop or similar (thanks matt T.)
(3b) for the purpose of easier self-programmability
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some ways that we could escape the conclusion that consciousness is liked to pure computation, and instead conclude that it may have to do with the substrate or context:
- if quantum effects are fundamentally involved: quantum computation is different from classical in various ways, eg you can't just duplicate quantum states willy-nilly
- if chaotic processes are fundamentally involved: since chaos has sensitive dependence on initial conditions, again you can't duplicate things willy-nilly
- if the porousity of the boundary between the brain and its environment is fundamentally involved: for example, if the process that produces consciousness within the brain were based on some interaction with radio waves (i don't believe this to be the case, i'm just giving an example), and if someone in a radio-wave-proof helmet became unconscious, then even if the brain itself were just a computer (in the formal sense of doing a computation), then carrying out this computation would not be sufficient for consciousness
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