[LINK] Scott Aaronson on Integrated Information Theory

DanielFilan

Scott Aaronson, complexity theory researcher, disputes Tononi's theory of consciousness, that a physical system is conscious if and only if it has a high value of "integrated information". Quote:

So, this is the post that I promised to Max [Tegmark] and all the others, about why I don’t believe IIT. And yes, it will contain that quantitative calculation [of the integrated information of a system that he claims is not conscious].

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But let me end on a positive note. In my opinion, the fact that Integrated Information Theory is wrong—demonstrably wrong, for reasons that go to its core—puts it in something like the top 2% of all mathematical theories of consciousness ever proposed. Almost all competing theories of consciousness, it seems to me, have been so vague, fluffy, and malleable that they can only aspire to wrongness.

http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=1799

Scott Aaronson, complexity theory researcher, disputes Tononi's theory of consciousness, that a physical system is conscious if and only if it has a high value of "integrated information". Quote:

So, this is the post that I promised to Max [Tegmark] and all the others, about why I don’t believe IIT. And yes, it will contain that quantitative calculation [of the integrated information of a system that he claims is not conscious].

...

But let me end on a positive note. In my opinion, the fact that Integrated Information Theory is wrong—demonstrably wrong, for reasons that go to its core—puts it in something like the top 2% of all mathematical theories of consciousness ever proposed. Almost all competing theories of consciousness, it seems to me, have been so vague, fluffy, and malleable that they can only aspire to wrongness.

http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=1799

Here's one particularly weird consequence of IIT: a zeroed-out system has the same degree of consciousness as a dynamic one, because it's a structural measure of a system. For example, a physical, memrister based neural net has the same degree of integrated information when it's unplugged. Or, to chase after a more absurd-seeming conclusion, human consciousness is not reduced immediately upon death (assuming no brain damage), instead slowly decreasing as the cellular arrangement begins to decay.

Given that, I agree with Scott- while interesting, IIT doesn't track particularly well with 'consciousness' in the conceptual sense.

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[LINK] Scott Aaronson on Integrated Information Theory

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[LINK] Scott Aaronson on Integrated Information Theory

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