Speaker:
Acer Chang, PhD 張宇瞻
Araya Inc., Japan
Topic:
Information Closure Theory of Consciousness
Abstract：
Neural systems can be described and analyzed at multiple spatiotemporal scales. Generally, information at lower levels is more fine-grained and can be coarse-grained at higher levels. However, information processed only at specific levels seems to be available for conscious awareness. We do not have direct experience of information available at the level of individual neurons, which is noisy and highly stochastic. Neither do we have experience of more macro-level interactions such as interpersonal communications. Neurophysiological evidence suggests that conscious experiences co-vary with information encoded in coarse-grained neural states such as the firing pattern of a population of neurons. In this talk, I will introduce our new informational theory of consciousness: Information Closure Theory of Consciousness (ICT). We hypothesize that conscious processes are processes which form non-trivial informational closure (NTIC) with respect to the environment at certain coarse-grained levels. This hypothesis implies that conscious experience is confined due to informational closure from conscious processing to other coarse-grained levels. ICT proposes new quantitative definitions of both conscious content and conscious level. With the parsimonious hypothesis, ICT provides explanations and predictions of various phenomena associated with consciousness. The implications of ICT naturally reconcile issues in many existing theories of consciousness and provides explanations for many of our intuitions about consciousness. Most importantly, ICT demonstrates that information can be the common language between consciousness and physical reality.
Date & Time:
2020/10/06 Tuesday, 14:00-16:00, including seminar (14:00-15:00) and QA section (15:00-16:00).
Venue:
For NCU : Science Building #5, S5-607-1, National Central University（中央大學科學五館607-1室, idea brain）
For NYMU : Please log in the virtual room individually
The attachment is the CV of the speaker