[HS]

In terms of some definition of "Awareness": It is an ability to realize any internal states with an intent of self-interest for the organism or even machine, effectively awareness battles entropy. This is soo generic that perhaps even DNA could have a form of awareness, and even some programs that implement error trapping to prevent them from crashing would qualify!

Yeah, I had a similar thought. It's as if evolution and resultant life processes are somehow powered by entropy. Like a sailboat which has figured out how to tack against the prevailing wind.

[MagnusWootton]

If we werent conscious,  wed be aware of less of the situation, and wed be less adaptive, so u could think.

Well, no, the degree of awareness is directly proportional to cognitive abilities. So we could gauge or grade consciousness (awareness) to what cognitive capabilities an animal or person has. This can explain machine consciousness, animal consciousness, as well those with mental disabilities, and even cultural perspective consciousness that emphasize certain kinds of thinking or skills.

Since weve never seen a person that hasnt got a soul yet. (Or so I guess)  We actually dont what type of "unawareness" this would cause,  Im just saying it could be likely there is some.   

[chattable]

you could have a ai system have awareness by timing how long it has been since a particular spoke to it then respond accordingly.

and also you could have that ai system have awareness time how long anyone has talked to it then respond accordingly.

and also you could have that ai system have awareness by timing how long it takes you to respond during
a conversation then respond are you there.


and also you could have that ai system have awareness by thinking
about it's output.
by making it's output go into it's
input then putting the result into a database to formulate a response.
gpt 3 or gpt 2 could be made to do this.

this ai system uses text like a chatbot.

i know i am speculating.

[MagnusWootton]

Yes to add an "awareness" one needs to add the functionality for that specific awareness.

But true consciousness seems to be awareness of everything,  in one unified mechanism maybe.

But I spose that mechanism is fixed?  The god mechanism!   

[chattable]

you do not have to have eyes or ears to be aware.

[DaltonG]

Well, one thing for sure, we all need a working definition for Awareness and Consciousness. Early on, I pondered this for a long time aggravated by how ambiguous the term has become over time. It's one of those meta-words that has come to embody a slew of concepts. The only rational approach to dealing with it that I can see is to focus on what consciousness does or its purpose. I read some place a statement that claimed, "the brain operates primarily by veto." An unconscious person or a person who is asleep seems to support this notion and one would expect that without it being that way, a state of chaos would exist - kin to epilepsy.

Now, it seems that the brain can be both consciously and unconsciously aware of something and this implies that consciousness is a subdivision or subset of awareness. Since we can only thinking of one thing at a time or perceive one thing at a time, consciousness is serial and I believe this is due to attention and focus. We can be aware of things going on outside of what we are conscious of and that is generally seen as a distraction. So, I have adopted a definition that Consciousness is that part of awareness that is in focus and being attended too. Furthermore, as to its purpose. responses generally require some timing considerations and therefore, its purpose is to release the chosen response from its inhibited state. The simple example would be when to swing a bat to hit a ball.

All this subjective stuff, be it an experience of qualia or emotion originate peripherally to consciousness and our taking notice of their existence is relative to a variety of other mental influences, not the least of which is intensity. The subjective stuff are interpretations assigned to experiences that may then interact secondarily with our physiology to arouse and provide an additional dimension of meaning to the experience usually over an alternate modal pathway. The blush, nausea, pain, and tremors initiated by the emergence of an emotional reaction come after the fact - secondary responses that feed back to consciousness through awareness. Awareness is the input buffer from our sensory modalities and consciousness is just the part in focus and being attended too.

[MagnusWootton]

Yes I agree.  To me if consciousness had a purpose (But I think its not what reality in a spiritual sense is.) It would be to make it more aware of its situation in life, for the creature at hand.

Then u would get functionality improvements from it,   at the cost of opening Pandoras gates!!   Which I keep stressing that making living A.I. is a nightmare a  person like a vegen would reject out of their lives completely!!

I wish we werent even here, alot of the time,  But When I'm finally dead I'll get my wish.

[infurl]

I also lean towards the "nuts and bolts" view of consciousness and certainly don't ascribe anything metaphysical to it. I thought the following video did a great job explaining what appears to be the nature and origins of consciousness. I'm sure I've posted this here before, maybe even earlier in this thread, but I don't remember where because it must have been a while ago. 

[MikeB]

Why is awareness & consciousness of our actions talked about - in combination with - superhero/terrorism advertised round the clock on TV and movies?

That's the answer...

[DaltonG]

Why is awareness & consciousness of our actions talked about - in combination with - superhero/terrorism advertised round the clock on TV and movies?

That's the answer...

Fear of the Unknown. Fear is the dominant emotion and applied by default to novel experiences that we have not had before. It's an evolutionary survival thing that has spread throughout the species by virtue of those who have survived long enough to reproduce.