Technology and Consciousness
arXiv Preprint Archive July 17, 2022 John Rushby, Daniel Sanchez
A series of eight workshops held in 2017 assessed the possibility of machine consciousness and its implications. The report summarizes discussions on brain structure and function, theories of consciousness, attempts to construct conscious machines, detection and measurement of consciousness, potential emergence of conscious technology, methods for controlling such technology, and ethical considerations. An appendix outlines each workshop's topics and talk abstracts. The report was refreshed in 2022 after a Google engineer claimed LaMDA was sentient, to provide background for the debate, with footnotes highlighting recent developments while noting the technical points remain valid.