Caution: People really in the know in A.I. don't use the term "consciousness." It's basically a bad word in the field, used mainly by laymen, and nothing useful can come of discussing it. I recommend the more down-to-earth concept of "self-awareness" instead.
(p. 96)
A large part of the problem with these scenarios is that there is no uni-
versal consensus as to the meaning of the word consciousness.
Philosophers
and mathematicians have grappled with the word for centuries, and have
nothing to show for it. Seventeenth-century thinker Gottfried Leibniz,
inventor of calculus, once wrote, "If you could blow the brain up to the size
of a mill and walk about inside, you would not find consciousness." Philos-
opher David Chalmers has even catalogued almost 20,000 papers written
on the subject, with no consensus whatsoever.
Nowhere in science have so many devoted so much to create so little. Consciousness, unfortunately, is a buzzword that means different things
to different people. Sadly, there is no universally accepted definition of the
term.Kaku, Michio. 2011.
Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives By the Year 2100. New York: Doubleday.
(p. 57)
THE MYSTERY OF SELF-AWARENESS
If the space-time theory of consciousness is correct, then it also gives us a
rigorous definition of self-awareness.
Instead of vague, circular references,
we should be able to give a definition that is testable and useful. We'll define
self-awareness as follows:Self-awareness is creating a model of the world and simulating the
future in which you appear.
Kaku, Michio. 2014.
The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind. New York: Doubleday.
Psychologists have developed many types of self-awareness, such as social self-awareness, but I believe the following article is particularly good. It discusses three types of self-awareness that can mostly be applied to A.I. in a technical way.
"Self-awareness in animals" (David DeGrazia)
https://philosophy.columbian.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs1676/f/image/degrazia_selfawarenessanimals.pdf