Modern Philosophy and the Science of Consciousness (to the question of creating a theory of Consciousness
Abstract
The theme of consciousness is constantly in the center of attention not only philosophy but also science. The XXI century demonstrates to us amazing achievements in the field of science and, first of all, nano-, bio-, info- technologies. The search for the creation of a theory of consciousness unfolds. Questions of modeling of consciousness due to computing operations are raised. Questions that would explain the «work» of consciousness even in terms of quantum processes become interesting. The author analyzes the findings of the Australian philosopher D. Chalmers, who works in this direction. At the center of his attention are the problematic issues of information integrity of the material world and human consciousness. Also proposed is a spatio-temporal concept of consciousness of modern scientists-physicists, which Michio Kaku propagandizes.
For example, the mathematician Roger Penrose justified the notion that quantum mechanics can be used to explain the mechanism of nerve impulse transmission in neural networks. He also introduces terms such as «passive» and «active» manifestation of consciousness. Passive manifestations of consciousness include awareness or perception (the ability to perceive color and harmony of relationships, remember, etc.). Active manifestations of consciousness include concepts such as «free will», «purposeful action», and so on.
Penrose, arguing that the mental world we understand on the basis of the physical, gives its definition of consciousness - consciousness is only one of the characteristic features of the physical reality of the brain. Like any physical reality, consciousness can be modeled by computational operations. But such modeling is not, strictly speaking, the very consciousness. Consciousness is caused by certain physical actions of the brain, but these actions cannot be modeled in a computational way in the right way.
Such interpretations of consciousness are controversial, some modern scientists believe. For example, D. Chalmers believes that such reasoning about consciousness does not offer any real theories in explaining the «work» of consciousness, even in terms of quantum processes. They talk more about the physical in consciousness. About how it arises, there are as yet no assumptions of a strictly scientific nature.
To show, on the example of studies of the consciousness of D. Chalmers, the activation of the interests of scientists in the information processes, which emphasizes the need to investigate the problematic issues of information integrity of not only the material world, but also the human consciousness.
We are convinced of the following: representatives of modern science do not lose hope for the creation of a theory of consciousness, paying tribute to such a phenomenon as information. And, if today information is viewed in a simpler sense as a stream of semantic contexts, it turns out that the semantic information flows also find their place in the general context of reasoning about consciousness.
Chelmers pays attention to the fact that most theories describe the physical role of consciousness, but how it arises are silent. To answer the question of the emergence of consciousness as the bearer of experience, capable of realizing this experience, D. Chelmers suggests «the principle of structural coherence». His main principle D. Chelmers centers around the concepts of information and information space. He is sure: the information space has a complex structure of various relations between its information elements.
At the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century, the subject of consciousness began to be actively discussed in the context of the convergent development of NBICS (nano-, bio-, information, cognitive, social technologies and corresponding fields of scientific knowledge), which is of strategic importance for the future of our civilization. Research in this direction leads to clarifying the specifics of the functional organization of brain processes that are responsible for mental states and phenomena of consciousness. Successes in the knowledge of this interdisciplinary, functionally oriented direction, opens the possibility of effective modeling and reproduction on a non-biological basis of individual functional brain processes. This task is assumed by the programs of the NBICS-convergent development of science and is included in the projects of transhumanist transformations of the man of modern civilization.
