Anil Seth takes us on a journey to understand what it means to be alive… scientifically
In the well-regarded Charles Simonyi Lecture of 2024, Anil Seth, Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience in the University of Sussex, guides a theater packed full of enthusiasts to recognise what consciousness is in humans and its implications in various fields, namely the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI).
To start, Anil explored the concept of the brain as a prediction machine, emphasising that our perception is actually used as inference for the brain to perceive our surroundings. He challenged the audience to think of themselves as a brain in a meat bag with no light – we do not actually know for sure that we see is what is real. This is the basis of optical illusions, which he deftly displayed to prove that indeed, humans are highly suggestible and are not always right.
Anil then touches upon the scientific definition of consciousness – it enhances the ability of the brain to predict situations by modeling the environment and the self. He speaks in detail about two separate dimensions of consciousness, explaining how research of such can lead to in-depth understanding of psychiatric disorders and even our very selves.
After providing a comprehensive review of what consciousness is, Anil then briefly addresses consciousness in other things. He exhibits a strong belief that consciousness is more related to life than intelligence. Whilst many theories surround the concept of whether AI can lead to real consciousness, it is highly unlikely to happen. He further presents the controversies for building sentient AI, such as the possibility of artificial suffering, and the human reactions to such suffering – if AI does become conscious, will we start caring for them the same level we do with humans, or will we treat them as mere tools?
To end the lecture, he highlighted the fact that the understanding of what consciousness is extremely important as it flows into different disciplines, ranging from wellbeing to law and ethics, and to medicine and technology. This therefore serves as a valuable concept, enabling us to truly make the right decisions for ourselves and the society we live in.
I will be honest and admit philosophy has never been a strong suit of mine, and so I struggled slightly with fully grasping the concepts shown. However, I highly appreciated the different situational and visual examples as they provided a simple, yet impressionable understanding throughout the lecture. There were bits and pieces that stood out to me, including the part where he stated that emotions are reactions to physiological changes to external stimuli. Personally, it added a layer of complexity to what consciousness really is.
Overall, it was a great 60 minutes spent, and I will be spending my next few days consciously reading Anil’s newly published book, Being You: A New Science of Consciousness.