What is consiousness? Can AI become conscious? How will AI affect the future? Is a life in VR worth living? Is AI art real art?
These questions lie at the intersection of my different methods of research. I am a 3D artist with an M.Sc. in mathematics and an M.A. in philosophy. I used to develop 3D and AI algorithms for software companies and I have specialized in questioned about consciousness and virtual reality in my philosophical studies. I am positioned across these 3 dimensions - philosophy, art and technology - and my life's mission is to understand interdisciplinary questions concerning them better and spread the knowledge among others.
Think about it for a minute: over the course of centuries the scientific revolution has (understandably) influenced us into believing that most if not all phenomena in our universe are physical. Lightenings, motion of stars and even love have been shown to rest on physical phenomena such as electricity, gravity and changing in hormone levels. It is therefore natural that we tend to believe that reality is just a giant soup of physical particles that we experience as colors, shapes or smells.
But wait. Why, even if reality is just a soup of particles, is there anyone experiencing this reality? In other words, is our conscious exprience also just a collection of particles? Why does the universe "need" consciousness, i.e. someone experiencing it, at all? Will a robot whose silicon brain is wired in an identical manner to mine also be conscious? Will it report that it is conscious even if it is not?
These questions are important especially given recent developments in AI. If robots turn out to be conscious, using them in a similar manner to the way we use electrical devices today would be slavery. If robots are conscious, discussions about the use of AI in art will have to dramatically adapt to this fact.
If you find these questions intriguing and are interested in having my talk in your organization, please contact me here.
