Problems of consciousness modeling. Artificial intelligence

Consciousness and self-awareness

Consciousness involves the subject identifying himself as the bearer of a certain position in relation to the world. This isolation of oneself, attitude towards oneself, assessment of one’s capabilities, which are a necessary component of any consciousness, form different forms of that specific characteristic of a person, which is called self-awareness.

Self-awareness is a dynamic, historically developing formation that appears at different levels and in different forms. Its first form, which is sometimes called well-being, is an elementary awareness of one’s body and its fit into the world of surrounding things and people. A higher level of self-awareness is associated with awareness of oneself as belonging to a particular human community, a particular culture and social group. Finally, the highest level of development of this process is the emergence of the consciousness of the Self as a completely special formation, similar to the Self of other people and at the same time unique and inimitable in some way, capable of performing free actions and being responsible for them.

The problem of reflection is closely related to the problem of self-awareness. Reflection is the turning of consciousness to itself, its focus on its own states, acts and contents. Reflection is a secondary position of consciousness. The primary state is the pre-reflective state: the direct focus of consciousness on its object.

Consciousness and self-awareness, providing the possibility of self-control, freedom, sanity and responsibility of a person, are a condition for the possibility of specifically human existence in the world, the possibility of a cultural, moral order in being, different from the natural order, from animal existence. Self-awareness involves comparing oneself with a certain ideal of the Self accepted by a given person, making some self-evaluation and, as a consequence, the emergence of a feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with oneself.

Self-awareness is such an obvious property of every person that the fact of its existence cannot raise any doubts. Moreover, a significant and very influential branch of idealist philosophy has argued, starting with Descartes, that self-consciousness is precisely the only thing that cannot be doubted.

Endowment with consciousness and self-awareness transforms human experience of the world and oneself into a space of ordeal for a person with doubt and sovereignty. And at the same time, this space is his only chance to realize himself in the world as a thinker.

The problem of consciousness and brain, artificial intelligence

A philosophical analysis of consciousness presupposes an answer to the question of what consciousness is from the point of view of its material carrier - the brain, which provides the ability to think. Any mental phenomena are functions of the brain. Consciousness cannot exist in isolation from matter. Intelligence (from Latin intellectus - mind, reason, mind), the highest power, natural light as the ability to comprehend the essence of things. The philosophical significance of the problem of consciousness and the brain is determined by the ontological status of consciousness.

The starting point of the philosophical consideration of consciousness is the understanding of its natural scientific premises. Natural science proves that consciousness cannot exist in isolation from the brain and is associated with the activity of highly organized matter.

The study of the brain has gone through a long history, in which two main trends stand out: the concept of strict localization of mental phenomena and the point of view according to which the brain functions as a single whole.

IN Lately this factor plays an increasingly important role modern life as "virtual reality" or "cyberspace". In fact, the long-term impact of virtual reality on the psyche is similar to the impact of drugs and hallucinogens. Sitting children for many hours playing computer games may not be such a harmless activity. Will people's brains be able to adapt to the new world of images created by mathematical processes inside computer chips? Will cyberspace cause gradual addiction and subsequent rejection of reality? Or maybe this, on the contrary, is a step towards new opportunities? Only new research can answer these questions.

The limits of the possibilities of “controlling oneself” are still completely unclear. Thus, yogis are able to stay under water for several hours, slowing down their breathing and heartbeat, walk 100 km in one night without external signs of fatigue, and not eat for months. Examples of suggestion in a state of hypnosis are no less well known.

The above is, of course, far from complete. There is still much we do not know about the workings of the brain, and especially about what underlies its higher functions and human consciousness. However, progress in this area has been last years is quite obvious, and brain science is gradually moving closer to revealing this secret of nature.

Over the past 30-40 years, the question of the essence of consciousness is often associated with the prospects of creating “thinking machines” (computers). If previously the possibility of “artificial intelligence” was categorically denied by our philosophers, recently there has been a freer discussion of this issue.

Both in philosophy and in a number of individual sciences, in fiction the question is posed and interpreted in its own way: is it possible to create artificial intelligence? The initial theoretical basis for the formalization of thought processes was created by Aristotle's formal logic. With the emergence of cybernetics, the task of creating artificial intelligence became urgent. Various research programs on “artificial intelligence” arose in philosophy and science, when sciences such as cybernetics, zoopsychology, and psychology gave a strong impetus to the scientific study of intelligence: the creation of computers capable of performing functions traditionally attributed to the field of human intellectual activity; an attempt to model human intelligence based on the brain substrate (neurocomputers); creation of artificial self-learning devices capable of evolving.

Since its separation from cybernetics in the late 1950s. Research in the field of artificial intelligence went through 3 stages:

the first stage (1950-1960s) - the time of the formation of artificial intelligence research programs, the formation of a range of tasks related to this area (games, theorem proofs, pattern recognition, machine translation, robotics), the creation of methods and tools for solving these problems;

the second stage (1970s) - artificial intelligence acquired the status of a “classical” scientific and technical discipline with the holding of international conferences, the publication of journals, the teaching of relevant courses at universities, the creation of new intellectual programs (fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms, value representation models);

the third stage (1980-1990s) is associated with the practical use of artificial intelligence achievements in various fields of activity (finance, economics, management, computer and household appliances), the study and modeling of rational structures and connections with emotions, beliefs, feelings, practical methods processing of figurative information, smoothing modern artificial intelligence models with their natural human prototype.

There are two main directions in the development of the philosophy of artificial intelligence. Firstly, the idea of the possibility of computer simulation of the human psyche was received quite positively, after which attempts were made to use this idea to rethink the traditional problems of the philosophy of consciousness, the philosophy of intelligence, as well as the psychophysical problem. Secondly, many scientists have tried to comprehend the problems of artificial intelligence from the standpoint of the philosophy of consciousness. It was the representatives of this direction who first expressed doubt about the fundamental solvability of the problem of creating artificial intelligence and tried to find out how human intelligence can fundamentally differ from any of its possible computer imitations.

And yet: is it possible to create a machine that would think like a person - that is, with artificial intelligence? The computer already models processes such as learning, abstraction, and generalization. According to most scientists, it is theoretically possible to simulate any brain function. The question is whether this is practically feasible (this is, apparently, a matter of time) and whether such modeling is necessary at all, whether we are taking upon ourselves unusual functions of creating a mind (and this is already a question of scientific ethics, like, for example, human cloning) .

To create a machine that functions like a brain, it is necessary to create a substance that has the properties of, or is similar to, the highly organized proteinaceous matter that makes up the brain. Indeed, such a machine will function “like a brain,” but it will function, not think. In order to think, matter must exist not only in an economic form, but also in a social form.

Many disputes surrounding the problem of “cybernetics and thinking” have an emotional background. Recognizing the possibility of artificial intelligence seems to be something degrading to human dignity. However, one must not confuse questions about the possibility of artificial intelligence with the question of the development and improvement of the human mind. Of course, artificial intelligence can be used for unsuitable purposes, but this is not a scientific problem, but rather a moral and ethical one.

Among the many unsolved problems associated with the phenomenon of consciousness, the problem of artificial intelligence (AI) occupies a special place. It is quite obvious that any serious reflection on this topic is impossible outside the general context of the philosophical theory of consciousness. After all, in order to talk about AI, we must to some extent understand what it is consciousness, what's happened intelligence and how this all relates to physical matter and the organic brain. Therefore, the considerations presented below are based on the impersonal theory of consciousness that we are developing, in which mental and physical realities are considered as different, but dialectically interconnected ontological states of cosmological space (a single natural substance).

Among the wide range of issues related to the problem of artificial intelligence, only three have deep philosophical content. First: Is artificial intelligence even possible?? Second: will artificial intelligence reflect all the capabilities of human consciousness?? Third: What will the creation of artificial intelligence bring to humanity?, if it is still possible? The question is how to create AI, is not so much philosophical as technological. However, in the development of the theoretical foundations of such technology, the philosophical theory of consciousness plays an important role.

Before we try to formulate answers to the questions posed, we need to establish the meaning and relationship of the concepts used here. From the point of view of impersonal theory, consciousness is a broader concept relative to the concept intelligence. Consciousness is a multidimensional mental space of interaction of virtual signals, which arises at the dawn of the evolution of Nature as an immanent property of the substantial cosmological continuum. In this mental space, various virtual processes of reflection, processing and modeling of signals can be carried out. We call one such process intellectual thinking. However, not only does it not exhaust all possible abilities of consciousness in general, but it is not even the only possible type of thinking.

Simplifying the real picture, we can distinguish three main types of thinking: perceptual, rational And irrational, which should be considered as thinking of a suprarational or suprarational type. The rationality of consciousness also has three main ( known to man) evolutionary levels of development: rational thinking, reasonable thinking, super-intelligent thinking. The first is predominantly based on simple analytical operations and inductive type logic, the second - on complex operations of rational analysis and synthesis, as well as on logic of both inductive and deductive types, the third is based on all of the above, plus on superphysical sensory perception of impersonal and transpersonal information flows . In other words, superintelligent thinking operates and generalizes wider arrays of information that are inaccessible to simple reason or intellect. Thus, superintelligent thinking presupposes an extremely high and very complex level of rationality.

Intelligence in its essence corresponds to rational thinking mainly at the first level and only partially at the second level of rationality, which we designated as level of rational thinking And level of rational thinking. Moreover, the intellectual abilities of consciousness reflect only a small part of the wide range of abilities of consciousness as such: sensory, irrational, creative, psychoenergetic, transpersonal and many others.

The so-called thinking is one of the procedural characteristics of consciousness. It shows the virtual mental activity of consciousness in reflecting and processing incoming information signals from the physical and mental realities. By and large, the levels of development of thinking are related to what specific mental operations have been mastered by the personal consciousness. The wider the range of such operations and the more complex they are, the higher the spiritual level of thinking. Compare the thinking of a savage and a brilliant philosopher. Both of them think. But they think about completely different things and in completely different ways. It is impossible at a university to teach a savage to think like a philosopher. It’s not at all because he doesn’t know something or is genetically inferior. But because his consciousness has not yet mastered complex mental operations and such mastery will take a long evolutionary period.

Is it possible to teach a computer to think? The answer to this question depends on how we understand thinking. If so integral procedural characteristic consciousness, then my answer will be negative. The virtual activity of consciousness is too complex, and therefore is not a process that can be fully calculated and reproduced on a computer. Roger Penrose is absolutely right when, based on the consequences of Gödel's theorem, he proves the fundamental impossibility of establishing mathematical algorithms for the thinking process. However, some particular aspects of the natural thinking process can be simulated on a computer. Here's a simple analogy. A neuroprosthesis does not completely replace a person’s lost arm, but only reproduces some of its capabilities. Likewise, the computer computational process is not completely identical to the mental process of natural thinking, but only models its individual characteristics.

In this regard, it is appropriate to pay attention to the vague meaning of the concept “ artificial intelligence" In russian language. Some experts rightly emphasized that English term artificial intelligence does not contain clear claims for full compliance with technical ersatz intelligence to its creator and predecessor - natural intelligence, that is, human. He points not so much to artificial intelligence, how much for artificial ability intelligent thinking or intelligent action. These semantic nuances, completely invisible to the average person, are of great importance in scientific discussions on AI topics.

Our first philosophical question was whether it is possible to create artificial intelligence. If we understand such AI as complete information reproduction using a human thinking machine, then such a system is apparently impossible. If we are talking about computer modeling of individual information aspects of the human thinking process, then such a system is quite possible. In other words, our impersonal theory allows for the creation of the so-called weak artificial intelligence and rejects creation strong artificial intelligence .

The criteria for the emergence of AI are very vague and conventional. In what cases can we say that artificial intelligence has actually been created by us and is already operating, and in what cases do we only have a complex computer program, but not the desired AI? There are three alternative approaches here.

First approach: AI exists when a computer machine behaves in a way that is no different from human behavior. Within this approach, the criterion is the famous Alan Turing test. Its meaning is that if a machine talks to a person (for example, sends him emails), and the person does not understand that he is talking to the machine, then it has real AI.

Theoretically, this is quite possible. But this does not mean at all that the machine acquires intelligence in its strong sense and begins to actually think. John Searle's famous thought experiment ("Chinese Room") provides a good argument that passing the Turing test is not a serious criterion for a machine to develop a thinking process similar to human thinking. His thinking suggests semantic space, that is, subjective reality and subjective experience of meaningful actions. The problem is that no syntactic or mathematical means can create an artificial analogue of semantic space.

Second approach: AI exists when a machine has feelings, emotions, intuition, creativity and other specific qualities of human consciousness. In other words, here we already assume the artificial reproduction of not only individual information aspects of the thinking process, but reproduction of consciousness as such. But is it possible to reproduce consciousness by technical means? Our answer will be negative.

The ontological roots of consciousness are located in the noumenal depths of the cosmic substance. Matter and Consciousness are first potential, inextricably linked dialectical modes of ontologically neutral Absolute Space, into which, like the mathematical Zero, the infinite numerical series of all existence (Being) and all non-existence (Nothingness) are folded. These modes, in the process of cosmological evolution, acquire real physical and mental manifestation in the form of various material forms And virtual states information spatial continuum, which represent various forms of so-called consciousness. Therefore, the task of developing artificial Consciousness by technical means is comparable in scale and complexity to the task of reproducing artificial Matter. I don’t think that solving such problems is possible at the human stage of development of the mind. And is this even possible?

I'll try to make this position a little more specific. For creating artificial consciousness(IS) a person will have to solve at least five fundamental mega-problems, the essence of which goes far beyond the scope of his modern cognitive and technological capabilities.

The first problem: the reproduction of IS will require a deep understanding of the essence and mechanisms of manifestation of all existing and potential abilities of natural Consciousness, from intellectual thinking and irrational intuition to supersensible perception and the phenomenon of psychokinesis. However, the problem of the abilities of consciousness is an open set or equation with an indefinite number of variables. The potential of consciousness is great, if not limitless, but man sits on the tip of the iceberg and does not understand his position.

The second problem: it will be necessary to create a virtual information environment for the interaction of signals (technical virtual space as a model of mental virtual space), integrated into the global cosmological continuum. In other words, such a task involves the reproduction of a number of fundamental ontological properties of our Universe. This is indicated by the following two problems.

The third problem: an IS cannot be created without reproducing the property of spatial and temporal (temporal) non-locality of the cosmological continuum, as well as without the property of transferring information and energy. Simply put, artificial consciousness should be capable not just of complex information operations, but also of transgressions into the past, future and various points in space, as well as quantum energy effects on physical processes and objects.

The fourth problem: the emergence of artificial consciousness involves the creation of a system for recording and almost eternal storage of information at the quantum level - that is, on the space-time continuum of the Cosmos without any material carriers of information arrays. This means that a person must learn to record information in the topological structure of space itself or in the global virtual environment of the cosmological vacuum.

And finally, the fifth problem: true consciousness, including artificial consciousness, is impossible without the existence of the non-physical semantic space, that is, subjective reality, reflecting, establishing, comprehending and transforming the meanings of conscious experience. In this case, the problem is that human consciousness does not simply operate information arrays like a computer does, but also elusive meanings things and events.

This is the fundamental difference between a smart machine and a smart person. Comprehension of the meanings of existence requires an inextricable ontological and mental connection with the whole World, by comprehending which a person begins to see the hidden spiritual goals of his existence and the great creative mission of intelligent life in the Universe.

Human consciousness is initially integrated into general structure Being, and in the process of evolution he only needs to realize the illusion of personality and his unity with the World in all the diversity of its manifested forms. Such awareness will be a spiritual springboard in the further development of the human mind and will lead it to a completely different, immeasurably higher level of posthuman evolution of intelligent life. But the intelligence of the machine is initially created and will forever remain isolated from world unity, which will not allow the machine to gain the transpersonal experience of universal integral existence. And this means that the machine will never discover for itself the hidden Meanings of things, the deep Truths of the Universe, the purposes of the existence of the Mind and the distant spiritual horizons of the evolution of cosmic Consciousness.

So, we are deeply convinced that no artificial intelligence will have complete functional identity with human or other natural consciousness, but will only be able to partially simulate some of its information properties. A highly developed consciousness will always have greater mental capabilities and evolutionary potentials compared to artificial intelligence systems. This is the third approach to understanding AI.

Of course, computer intelligence can perform a higher number of analytical operations per second. But this does not mean that he will solve complex, non-standard problems better than a creature with a highly developed consciousness. Eagles see better than humans, and dogs have a more developed sense of smell. But these abilities still do not make their owners more perfect than humans in the integral-evolutionary sense, since the range of their capabilities is much wider. The analogy here is direct. The number of analytical operations per second is only one of many parameters of the activity of human consciousness. But there are others. For example, the ability to reproduce a priori axioms based on irrational intuition or obtaining additional perceptual data based on extrasensory perception.

How can high-speed computer intelligence make effective decisions in the face of a lack of empirical information? The reliability of inductive analytical inference in such conditions, as is known, does not exceed 50 percent. How can computer intelligence model new generalities (axioms and postulates) as the cognitive basis of deductive logical operations if it does not have the ability of so-called “intellectual intuition”?

Even the emerging successes of computers in playing chess with humans do not at all mean their intellectual advantage. It's like comparing the power of a person with the power of a tractor. Without a doubt, the physical power of the tractor is much higher. But it does not at all follow from this that the evolutionary prospects of the tractor are also much higher than those of humans. We must not forget that natural life, real existence is always much more complicated than a chess game, because it does not have clearly established and formalized rules, like a fictitious conventional game. The survival of a creature in such uncertain and changeable conditions requires non-standard solutions and extremely flexible behavior, the effective mathematical formalization of which is very unlikely.

A person survives in an unfavorable environment due to the incredibly high creative potential of his consciousness. He can come up with unexpected solutions, find patterns, set rules and overcome established rules. In some cases, it will be vital to follow these established rules. In others it will be necessary to resolutely abandon them and establish new principles. When should you follow them, and when should you overcome them? There is no simple and unambiguous answer to this question at all times. The answer will always be historically and culturally contextual. Only the greatest spiritual thinkers and geniuses of human civilization clearly understood this. Do you think that all this can be explained by an intelligent machine that does not have its own semantic space of meaningful experience?

Followers of the ideological trend of transhumanism consider the creation of artificial intelligence one of the most important pressing tasks of humanity. But what are the consequences of solving this problem for the person himself? After all, even if we are talking about AI of a weak type, it is quite obvious that its appearance can radically change the life of each individual and the entire civilization as a whole. It seems to us that there are potentially several very serious threatening consequences of the emergence of AI that a person will have to overcome one way or another. These are psychological, professional, moral and existential consequences.

Firstly, the emergence of AI will strengthen the already emerging suppression of human consciousness by the technosphere and virtual computer space. For a strong and developed consciousness, the emergence of an intellectual machine does not pose a threat. However, such people are a minority. The bulk of humanity, psychologically and professionally, will not be able to compete with machines. What will the masses do if machines take over routine operations for analytical processing of information and the production of most simple things?

For example, a multimillion-dollar group of employees in the accounting sector will no doubt find themselves on the streets. The same sad fate will befall tens of millions of office clerks at various levels, who at their workplace are engaged in receiving information and issuing certificates. In a word, a person will be forced to seriously fight for his social existence, so as not to lose himself in the new technological and information reality.

But the professional aspect of this struggle may not be the most difficult. It is much more difficult in the global technological environment not to lose the freedom of one’s spiritual consciousness, which must not only survive, but constantly develop in cognitive, moral and creative senses. By plunging into technical virtual reality, a person runs the risk of playing with it and losing the sense of true natural reality. Many people are already more interested in the virtual illusion than the real World with all its problems, opportunities and prospects. And this, in the near future, may lead human consciousness to a state of psychological singularity and spiritual collapse.

To prevent this from happening, a person must be able to force smart car to serve oneself and one’s creative interests, just as a trained dog is forced to serve. To do this, human consciousness must be much more stable and powerful than artificial intelligence in all existential senses, from cognitive activity and creative activity to efforts at self-improvement.

Secondly, artificial intelligence cannot be taught universal ethical principles, which do not lend themselves to strict formalization and cannot be presented as a list of simple instructions with moral content that allow or prohibit the machine from certain actions. Even among representatives of the human community there is no complete agreement in understanding the basic principles of high morality.

For example, some consider the death penalty necessary and morally justified, while others consider it completely unacceptable and inhumane. Some put forward the ethics of selfishness and hedonism, others proclaim the ethics of altruism and asceticism. Some condemn sexual perversion (homosexuality), others justify it as the triumph of the free choice of a free person. In this case, what ethical paradigm will AI choose? What will determine his choice, and will such a choice be acceptable to a person?

However, the problem of computer formalization of morality is even more complex than it seems. Human morality is historically fluid and culturally relative. It develops along with the development of human spiritual consciousness, which is very complex and contradictory. Look: the moral truths of Buddhism and Christianity refute the outdated moral principles of the old national religions tribal society. They no longer carry the brutally just revenge of the talion principle, but higher love, boundless compassion and great mercy.

But this aspect does not exhaust the complexity of the problem under consideration. Even the absolute ethical commandment “thou shalt not kill,” when directly implemented, in some cases leads to the paradoxical spread of evil and inhuman violence. What should an armed policeman do when in front of his eyes a maniac shoots children at school? If a representative of the law mindlessly follows this commandment, he will turn out to be an accomplice to mass inhumane murder.

All this gives rise to insurmountable dilemmas in the computer formalization of morality. Whatever one may say, the threat to humans remains in any case: when artificial intelligence strictly follows the ethical principle “thou shalt not kill” and when it is allowed to deviate from this principle in some situations. In one case, he may be a passive accomplice in the destruction of a person, that is, he will refrain from providing the necessary assistance. In another case, he may become the initiator of deadly violence against a person in active mode.

Thirdly, in addition to psychological, professional and ethical problems, the emergence of AI can also give rise to existential problems for humanity. In this case, by them we mean the problems of the coexistence of the human mind and artificial intelligence.

Will a new civilization of intelligent machines be able to find common interests and exist harmoniously together with human society? After all, AI is not just a collection of some complex computer programs operating according to the algorithms embedded in them. AI assumes the possibility of free choice and alternative behavior of the system depending on internal priorities and external circumstances. This means that such a system will one day begin to “feel” itself as a subject of arbitrary and independent action. What will such actions be aimed at? Who can guarantee that the free choice of artificial intelligence will not be directed against the interests of humans and human culture?

Suppose that in the future we somehow manage to teach AI to be guided by the principles of humanism and environmental ethics of the harmonious coexistence of nature, man and machine. But a real person in his real life is not always humane. He can destroy his own kind in military and social conflicts. It can destroy the environment and cause environmental disasters. And in general, he makes many personal and global mistakes, the existential cost of which increases exponentially as his technological power grows. Why do we believe that AI should be an ally to humans in their misconceptions, imperfections and mistakes? For example, from the best environmental considerations, AI can make an irreversible decision to stop the development of human civilization, which, with its thirst for profit and unbridled technotronic expansion, is destroying its own planet.

As can be seen from the above example, even in the case of high humanism of AI, the prospects for the coexistence of man and machine are far from clear. And if AI still turns out to be not as humane as we would like, then the uncertainty of the future of human civilization becomes even more cloudy. We must not forget that artificial intelligence may sooner or later escape human control.

Therefore, apologists for the ideology of technotronic transhumanism are deeply mistaken in their illusions regarding AI. The most important task of humanity is not to create ever more complex and independent machines, but to own improvement. A person must acquire noospheric consciousness and rise to a higher - posthuman - stage of the spiritual evolution of life. A highly developed consciousness of the noospheric type is potentially capable of controlling not only mental reality, but also the physical space of the Universe. And to do this, he will not need to pump out all the raw materials from the available planets, devastating and destroying them - like insatiable termites.

The ideology of technotronic transhumanism is a new version of the old scientism and technicism. It is based on the naive belief that scientific and technological artifacts will solve all of man's existential problems. In addition, the hidden weakness of human consciousness of the current evolutionary stage is revealed here. It again seeks to shift the burden of decision-making and the unbearable burden of responsibility for them to some external entity. If in the past such a role was assigned to theological to God, then in the future it will be attributed to the technocratic Artificial Intelligence.

Thus, a person is ready to exchange not only his freedom, but also God for AI, anxiously expecting from him a caring and effective solution to the problems generated by civilization. Such mentalities are reminiscent of the mentality of popular characters in American science fiction comics. IN computer game or on the silver screen, the selfless battles of yet another technical or mystical superhero for the interests of humanity look exciting and cause affection. But the problem is that all such fantasies have nothing to do with reality.

The harsh truth looks completely different: a person must learn to solve his problems with the power of his own spiritualized mind. If he is capable of this, the boundless horizons of a great cosmic future will one day open before him. Otherwise, the fatal justice of natural existence will mercilessly erase the weak Homo Sapiens from the Book of Life with all its intellectual computer toys and technological crutches.

Note

The concept of strong artificial intelligence was introduced in the 20th century by the American philosopher John Searle. In this sense, artificial intelligence is considered not just as a certain model of the mind, but actually is such a mind. Thus, it is assumed that there is no fundamental difference between natural intelligence (human) and artificial intelligence (machine).

Jan R.G., Dunn B.D. The boundaries of reality, the role of consciousness in physical world/ Per. from English M., 1995.

Dubrovsky D.I. The problem of the ideal. Subjective reality. M., 2002.

Zolkin A.L. Language and culture in Anglo-American analytical philosophy of the 20th century. M., 2005.

Ivanov A.V., Mironov V.V. University lectures on metaphysics. M., 2004.

Putnam H. Philosophy of consciousness / Transl. from English M., 1999.

Priest S. Theories of consciousness / Transl. from English M., 2000.

The problem of consciousness in philosophy and science / Ed. D.I. Dubrovsky. M., 2009.

Chalmers D. The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory / Trans. from English M., 2013.

See also...
Philosophy cheat sheets for the candidate minimum Part 1
Philosophy and natural science: concepts of relationships (metaphysical, transcendental, anti-metaphysical, dialectical).
Nature as an object of philosophizing. Peculiarities of knowledge of nature.
Natural science: its subject, essence, structure. The place of natural science in the system of sciences
Scientific picture of the world and its historical forms. Natural science picture of nature
The problem of objectivity of knowledge in modern natural sciences
Modern science and changes in the formation of worldviews of technogenic civilization
Interaction of natural sciences with each other. Sciences of inanimate nature and sciences of living nature
Convergence of natural science and social and humanities knowledge in non-classical science
Methods of natural science and their classification.
Mathematics and science. Opportunities for using mathematics and computer modeling
Evolution of the concepts of space and time in the history of natural science
Philosophy and physics. Heuristic possibilities of natural philosophy
The problem of discrete matter
Ideas of determinism and indeterminism in natural science
The principle of complementarity and its philosophical interpretations. Dialectics and quantum mechanics
Anthropic principle. The Universe as an “ecological niche” of humanity.
The problem of the origin of the Universe. Models of the Universe.
The problem of the search for extraterrestrial civilizations as an interdisciplinary direction of scientific research. Concepts of noocosmology (I. Shklovsky, F. Drake, K. Sagan).
. Philosophical problems of chemistry. The relationship between physics and chemistry.
. The problem of the laws of biology
Evolutionary theory: its development and philosophical interpretations.
Philosophy of ecology: prerequisites for formation.
Stages of development of the scientific theory of the biosphere.
Interaction between man and nature: ways of its harmonization.
Philosophy of medicine and medicine as a science. Philosophical categories and concepts of medicine
The problem of the origin and essence of life in modern science and philosophy
Concept of information. Information-theoretic approach in modern science.
Artificial intelligence and the problem of consciousness in modern science and philosophy
Cybernetics and general systems theory, their connection with natural science.
The role of ideas of nonlinear dynamics and synergetics in the development of modern natural science.
The role of modern natural science in overcoming global crises.
Post-nonclassical natural science and the search for a new type of rationality. Historically developing, human-sized objects, complex systems as objects of research in post-non-classical natural science
Ethical problems of modern natural science. The crisis of the ideal of value-neutral scientific research
Natural sciences, technical sciences and technology
All Pages

Artificial intelligence and the problem of consciousness in modern science and philosophy

Experts in the field of cybernetics immediately pointed out the fundamental possibility of modeling consciousness, both individual and social, using technical means. Already in the mid-90s, the problem of modeling neural systems located at the level of the nervous system of a cephalopod (about 100 thousand neurons) was solved. Such systems are capable of self-learning, the formation of conditioned reflexes, and even the simplest “inferences” based on identifying analogies.

Intelligence (according to J. Piaget) – highest form spiritual adjustment to the environment by instantly organizing stable space-time logical structures.

Machine (artificial) intelligence is primarily an artificial system that imitates how a person solves complex problems in the process of life. Thus, thinking, reason, intelligence, creativity, reflection, higher levels mental activity is a product of human activity, biologically and socially determined.

The historical problems of artificial intelligence are connected with the search of medieval thinkers for a perfect “philosophical” or “proto-Adamic” language, through which one can know the absolute truth. In the process of transforming mythological ideas about artificial intelligence into a rational scientific construct, three key ideas stand out:

– the idea of the possibility of final rational knowledge of the world;

– the idea of objective knowledge, independent of either man or humanity;

– an idea of the objectivity of knowledge, which is, from the point of view of cybernetics, a set of processes of receiving, transmitting and processing information.

Research in the field of artificial intelligence has gone through three stages.

The first stage (1950-60s) was the time of the formation of artificial intelligence research programs, the formation of a range of problems related to this scientific direction, the creation of methods and tools for solving these problems (programming languages Lisp, Prolog, etc. .). This stage is characterized by a wide public response to research and high expectations.

The second stage (1960-70s) is associated with artificial intelligence acquiring the status of a “classical” scientific and technical discipline, holding the first international conferences, starting to publish journals, and teaching relevant courses at universities.

The third stage (1980-90s) is associated with the practical (commercial) use of artificial intelligence achievements

The main artificial intelligence programs include:

– creation of computers capable of performing functions traditionally classified as artificial human intellectual activity;

-attempts to model human intelligence itself based on modeling the brain substrate (neurocomputers);

– creation of artificial self-learning devices capable of evolving (cybernetics).

Next, we should note the main differences between natural and machine thinking. The function of thinking in the case of a machine is reduced to the logical transformation of signs, sign structures and relationships between them, presented in specialized languages in machine programs and implemented by the electronic devices of the machine.

In the intellectual mechanisms of human decision-making, the leading role is played by imaginative phenomena, holistic vision, intuition and the accompanying states of emotional tension. Through images, as mental representations of the source object, decisions and actions are regulated and the acquired experience is transformed into a creative idea.

Computers work without such images.

In addition, human thinking is richer than its logical structure, which can be reproduced in machine processes.

Activities for organizing human-computer interaction include the following:

– the use of computer technology in the field of management to prepare human decision-making;

– interaction between man and machine in the field of cognitive activity to solve system prognostic problems (simulation modeling methods);

–organization of information services based on interactive interaction between humans and computers in the information sphere, etc.

The intellectual potential of human-computer systems has a certain uniqueness, which consists in the fact that these systems not only provide the means for cognition and design of reality (primarily the information environment surrounding a person), but are themselves “included” in this reality.

In addition, the efficiency of using society's intellectual resources is sharply increasing (development of databases, technical and software means of interaction, etc.). This allows you to build much more diverse and flexible semantic structures and relationships from data, transform them, collect them into fragments, update, exclude, represent the entire wealth of states of the subject world in the form of a set of models for solving new applied problems.

Consciousness is one of the traditional eternal philosophical mysteries. In its most general form, “consciousness” is one of the most common philosophical concepts denoting subjective reality associated with the activity of the brain and its products: thoughts, feelings, ideas, prejudices, scientific and extra-scientific knowledge. Without clarifying the place and role of this reality, it is impossible to create either a philosophical or scientific picture of the world.

In philosophy they have developed and retain their significance in modern culture the following concepts of consciousness.

An objective-idealistic interpretation of consciousness as a superhuman, transpersonal, ultimately transcendental idea (the world of ideas in Plato; the absolute idea in Hegel; God in theologians; alien intelligence in ufologists), underlying all forms of earthly existence. Human consciousness is a particle, product or other being of the world mind.

Subjective-idealistic systems consider human consciousness as a self-sufficient entity that contains a picture of itself and is the substance of the material world (R. Descartes, J. Berkeley).

Hylozoism (materialized life) states that all matter thinks, consciousness is an attributive property of the entire material world. From the point of view of hylozoism, all matter is animate or, at least, has the prerequisites for thinking. This concept goes back to the early teachings of the Milesian school; its elements are contained in the teachings of Aristotle, J. Bruno, B. Spinoza. The data of modern science on the elements of rational activity of animals, the successes of physiology in diagnosing diseases of the central nervous system, the achievements of cybernetics in the creation of “thinking machines” revive the ideas of hylozoism and psychophysiological parallelism, according to which both the mental and the physiological are two independent entities, the study of which should be carried out through own substantiality.

Vulgar materialism as a reductionist identification of consciousness with material formations in the human brain. Consciousness is purely material in nature, it is the result of the functioning of certain parts or formations of the brain. The denial of the qualitative specificity of consciousness and human thinking has its origins in ancient culture and was especially clearly manifested in ancient atomism, but the materialization of consciousness gained particular popularity at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries in connection with the spread of the idea of Darwinism. Its most prominent representatives K. Vogt, L. Büchner, J. Moleschott, promoting the achievements of science in the mid-19th century, coarsened and simplified the most complex philosophical and psychophysical problem, the problem of the relationship between matter and consciousness. In the 20th century, in connection with the success of solving technical problems in the construction of artificial intelligence, philosophical discussions about the problem “can a machine think?”, and research that discovered a direct relationship between the content side of thinking and the structure of processes occurring in the brain, the ideas of characterizing thinking as attribute of the material substrate.

Sociologization of consciousness. Consciousness is placed in absolute dependence on the external, including social, environment. At the origins of these ideas are J. Locke and his followers, French materialists of the 18th century, who believe that a person is born with a soul, consciousness, like a blank sheet of paper. Criticizing the concept of “innate ideas” of Descartes, they believed that the content of ideas and concepts, with the help of which a person analyzes sensory data about the individual properties of things, shapes society and education. The beginnings of this concept can be found already in Aristotle, who made the formation of human abilities and virtues dependent on the needs of society and the interests of the state - the polis. These ideas deny the individuality of human thinking, the dependence of the abilities of a thinking individual on the structural features and functioning of his central nervous system.

Dialectical materialism approaches the study of consciousness as a complex, internally contradictory phenomenon of the unity of the material and ideal, objective and subjective, biological and social. Based on the achievements of classical and modern science, the dialectical-materialist concept of consciousness reveals the essential features and characteristics of human consciousness.

Consciousness is an ideal phenomenon, a function, a special property, a product of a highly organized material substrate - the human brain, thinking matter.

Consciousness is an ideal image, snapshot, copy, reflection of a material object in the subject’s brain.

Consciousness has creative activity, manifested in the relative independence of its functioning and development and the reverse impact on the material world.

Consciousness is a product of socio-historical development; it does not arise outside of society and cannot exist.

Consciousness as an ideal reflection of the material world does not exist without language as the material form of its expression.

All six concepts considered contain some truth in understanding the nature of consciousness, have their supporters, advantages and limitations, answer some questions, but do not give answers to others, and therefore have equal rights to exist within the framework of philosophical knowledge. In non-classical and post-non-classical philosophy, a paradoxical situation arises: in theoretical terms, the question of the specificity of consciousness and, consequently, the philosophical status of the phenomenon of consciousness is called into question, and the practical study of consciousness by objective, including scientific, methods is intensified, which indicates the enduring significance and significance human thinking. Throughout the 20th century, some participants in the debate about the nature of consciousness reproduce ideas about the unreality and transcendence of consciousness, while others reduce consciousness to language, behavior, and neurophysiological processes, denying the specificity and special structure and essence inherent in consciousness itself.

The variety of interpretations of consciousness is associated primarily with the question of the nature of consciousness and the justification of its content. Representatives of modern concrete scientific knowledge and philosophical systems Science-oriented people give preference to the dialectical-materialist concept, which, unlike others, makes it possible to study various forms and products of mental activity using scientific methods. However, despite its popularity in the scientific community, this concept does not provide logically consistent and testable answers to the most complex, fundamental questions of the problem of consciousness:

Consciousness is formed as a result of the natural-historical evolution of matter and its universal, attributive property - reflection. In the process of evolutionary development, matter, becoming more and more complex in its structural organization, gives rise to such a substrate as the brain. Outside the brain, which is capable of producing information not only to adapt to reality, but also to transform it, consciousness does not arise. Consequently, the appearance of a developed brain, a mental form of reflection, is the main result of the evolution of prehuman forms of reflection.

Home > Document

VI International Scientific and Practical Conference of Students, Postgraduate Students and Young Researchers “Intellectual Potential of Universities - for the Development of the Far Eastern Region of Russia and Asia-Pacific Countries”, VGUES, Vladivostok, May 2004.

Section “Information Technologies”

Topic: “Principles of intelligent systems and problems of their study and modeling”

Introduction

Currently this area scientific research, as artificial intelligence, is an interesting phenomenon. The theoretical foundations of reason were never given in essence. Many thinkers described such phenomena as the mind, intelligence, consciousness, thinking, etc., built approximate models of groups of nerve cells, various behavioral models, etc. But all these studies did not allow us to build a full-fledged model of the mind and were reduced to simplified and vague qualitative descriptions . For example: “The mind operates with concepts, is aimed at satisfying needs and is subordinated to a certain system of goals” or: “A model of the surrounding world is built in the brain.” The question turned out to be one of the most difficult, because the brain is the finest mechanism in the Universe. A new impetus for studying the mechanisms of intelligence was the development of such sciences as cybernetics, psychology, computer science and databases, modeling of various processes and systems using the emerging technical capabilities of storing and manipulating large volumes of information.

Subject of study

The subject of this work is intelligent activity alive beings, which consists in such accumulation and processing of information that allows you to actively adapt to environmental conditions, survive, get what you want, predict changes in these conditions, etc. I do not give a detailed definition of mind or intelligence. And I don’t explain how these concepts differ from each other, or how they differ from consciousness. This is the goal of the work, not its initial conditions. The existence of such a phenomenon as reason is obvious and beyond doubt.

Methods for studying the mind

The following methods of studying the mind can be distinguished:

simple systems

Principles of Intelligent Systems (RS)

Many principles and patterns describe intelligent activity. There is no consensus on their composition. Let us list the basic principles of intelligent systems. 1. The principle of existence and action. This principle is primitive, but not useless. Some philosophical systems manage to refute even the most obvious facts. So, the mind exists, actively acts and influences its carrier and the world. 2. The principle of subjectivity (or object orientation). Each intelligent system has its own content. In the same situations, different intelligent beings behave differently, think differently and have their own position, based on the characteristics of their material shell and accumulated and inherited experience. This can be easily verified using MS study methods. 3. The principle of universality for one world. Using the same methods, we can come to the conclusion that many properties and patterns of intelligent behavior of different systems are similar and even analogous. This happens because intelligent systems act in one world and the laws of this world impose restrictions on the possible actions of creatures and force them to act and think according to similar laws. For example, the skills of finding the shortest way out of a maze are developed in many creatures, including humans, rats, etc. With active interaction with one world, the mind acquires various skills, which are largely the same for all creatures. On what basis do they purchase them? Obviously, according to one possible principle - the principle of adaptation to the environment, adaptability, survival, etc., and this principle determines all minds. Although, it should be noted that theoretically different systems can react to the world in three ways: 1) actively adapt by evolutionary (genetic) and informational (intelligent) paths to the laws of the world (which is what we do); 2) stop active information exchange with the world, reconcile, dissolve in it (non-living systems); 3) Change the laws of the world, thus destroying it. 4. The principle of changeability and continuity. The mind continuously acts and changes over time. Any person can confirm that at every moment of time his thoughts change (“getting stuck” on one thought is a special case). Over the course of a lifetime, opinions about something can change greatly. Obviously, one or even several thoughts are active at one time. Moreover, they are active to varying degrees. The degree of activity of thought indicates the degree of focus of attention (or consciousness) on this information. The focus is on information with the most activity. 5. The principle of egoism. All researchers say that the mind operates due to motivation, is aimed at achieving certain goals, etc. What is its purpose? If we reach the highest level of generalization, then the goal is to obtain pleasure. Genetically, we have the pleasure of eating, reproducing, being active and much more. Pleasure from abstract images appears due to an associative connection with primary images of pleasure. In principle, everything can be reduced to one scale of pleasure. Why? Because a person can always choose from any! two alternatives more desirable, i.e. compare them. Thus, everything that the mind operates on can be placed on a certain scale of pleasure, desirability or priority. A reasonable question may arise: what about the case when a person cannot choose between two alternatives. This is because silence or inaction is a third alternative and may be more desirable. But still, if you “force” a person, he will definitely choose something. So, everything a person does is aimed at obtaining maximum pleasure, the most favorable conditions. Perhaps we can limit ourselves to these well-known facts when listing the basic principles of intelligent systems. The rest is the subject of much debate.

Problems in studying the mind

To understand the mechanism of the mind means to construct its diagram or model. Only by knowing all the components of the mind - its objects, processes, principles, etc. can one repeat its main effect of rationality. Many problems stand in the way of this. Some of them are largely exaggerated, while others are practically insoluble. I would classify the following as pseudo-problems:

Resource problem. In fact, it is now objectively possible to create complexes comparable in computing power to the human mind. The problem of the inability to model such aspects of the mind as consciousness, feelings, creativity, soul, etc. If we adhere to a materialistic point of view, the question of the possibility of modeling any thing is resolved positively. What are the main problems facing the mind explorer? They can be divided into two main ones: research problems and modeling problems. Main research problems:

Complexity of the research object. Research error, when the object of research is located inside the subject and affects the study process itself. It is impossible to study your own mind without distortion - the process of studying affects the object of study and vice versa. But we study our own mind most of all. Lack of effective methods for studying third-party intelligence.Main modeling problems:

human concept

Types of artificial intelligent beings.

As mentioned earlier, it is possible various options building artificial intelligence. One of the options for creating artificial intelligence (AI) could be material autonomous mechanisms based on different bases(technological, biological). The robot’s body itself is the material and “causal” basis of the mind and does not process data, but only records it and transmits it to the mind system (Fig. 1). Initially, the designer (human) creates a robot body and organizes a system for intelligent information processing. The main characteristics of the robot's body, specified by humans: the number of transmitting channels (sense organs), the type of channels that collect information about the outside world, the importance of the channels. The main thing is that the right combination of channel types and their importance ensures the survival of the robot. The “death” of a robot finally occurs when any exchange and change of information within the mind system ends.

Fig.1 Simplified information diagram of an autonomous non-living intelligent system.

Another option for constructing an IR may be the case when the body of the creature (robot) itself is modeled, environment and the interaction between them (Fig. 2). This approach imposes many restrictions on the capabilities of an intelligent system. It is very difficult to simulate models of a creature and environment that are close to reality, so such models at the initial stage will have more of an academic rather than practical significance. Initially, the designer develops a model of the creature and a model of the world. Subsequently, it influences the processes in the system by changing the model of the world, or rather, changing some of its parts, adding information. Thus, the designer interacts with the simulated creature: he trains, stimulates, communicates, and receives answers to requests. Obviously, it makes no sense for the designer to change the mind itself, as well as the robot’s body and the principles of interaction with the world. Because after such changes, the mind itself will become inadequate to its body, one of the principles of intelligent systems will be violated.

DESIGNER

MODEL OF THE WORLD

CREATURE MODEL

Fig.2 Simplified information diagram of a simulated intelligent being.

What do they think?

Of course, the principles of intelligent systems listed above do not give complete information, allowing us to understand the structure of the thinking mechanism. There are also others objective problems that prevent you from doing this. It is obvious that elucidation of the true mechanism of the mind is impossible without full description his models. And a step-by-step solution to the problem will not work here. Some researchers believe that by dividing the task of the mind algorithm into many subtasks (assessing the external environment, constructing a hierarchy of goals, the process of achieving a separate goal, reflection, etc.) and solving them, they will be able to model the mind. But very soon it becomes clear that something is significantly missing, many functions and processes in their semantic meaning overlap each other, many things simply “fall out” of the overall picture, etc. In general, the effect of rationality is not achieved. It turns out to be a vicious circle. To understand the algorithm of the mind, you need to build its complete model (and make sure it is reasonable). And in order to build a model of the mind, one must understand it. So it turns out that thousands of people in the world intuitively feel how the mind works, but cannot describe it. Because they cannot describe its complete model. Because they know it 50, 70 or 90 percent, but cannot get the full picture. In my research, I used primary material - my own mind with its thoughts, emotions, memories, feelings, etc., as well as elementary logic. The first mental experience was the door experience. Sitting in the room, I tried to imagine and analyze the situation when there was a knock on the door. It's easier, so to speak. This example is simple, but based on it we can draw some conclusions. So: I hear sound. And I don’t just hear it, but I pay attention to it (for example, I don’t hear my breathing, although it is there). Why am I paying attention to him? It’s just that this sound is very different from others in the overall picture of sounds and is a troublemaker. Question 1 becomes interesting for me: Why does the thought come to me (or do I understand) that someone is knocking on the door (standing behind it)? I am gradually coming to the following conclusions. Among the variety of sounds, this one is most similar to knocking. It’s just that in my memory there are already precedents for the fact that I also sat on the bed and heard a similar sound. Moreover, in most cases, the door opened almost immediately and someone entered. The sound activates memory regions that are similar to the sample being tested, and subsequently those regions that were observed near it in the past are also activated. Moreover, it is close both in the sense of space and in the sense of time. Notice that the answer to the question immediately emerges: “Why did I automatically look at the door after the sound, although the same sound could have been made by the floor or frame near the door? The answer is obvious - the door was very often a link in a chain of experiences: sound - door opening - person - strong emotions. Moreover, it is an active link. It was there even when there was no floor, no frame, etc. The door opened and was closest to where the person appeared. And a person for another person is one of the most powerful sources of experiences, both good and bad. The brain remembers and predicts in the direction of the most powerful experiences. The door is actually not that important, the appearance of the person is more important, since this is the final stage of the forecast (maximum experience). Hearing a sound, all images similar to it, as well as images similar to the current environment (using vision, touch, etc.) are activated in the brain. It is their combination that causes the activations to spread to the image of the door, then to its opening and to the appearance of a person. But, if, for example, I heard this knock in the forest, and not in the room, the image of a woodpecker would most likely be activated. So I hear a sound; through transitional activations, the brain predicts the opening of a door, the appearance of a person, strong emotions, I turn my head. I look at the door, waiting for a person. To answer question 1, it is necessary to note that when knocking, memory images are also activated, accompanying the following situations: when I stood and knocked on the door from the other side, when I stood next to the one who knocked on the door from the other side, when I heard the words “someone is knocking” or the words “let’s knock” and the accompanying images. It is this parallel activation that causes the comprehension that someone is knocking on the door (standing behind it)! Those. in parallel, the brain predicts the appearance of a person and looks at the door and realizes the process of someone knocking on the door from the other side. You can also notice that the mind predicts (thinks) not just in the direction of strong emotions, but in the direction of good emotions (pleasure). Very often the door opened and we saw a friend, or they brought us something or told us something - all these are good emotions. That is why the brain predicts up to this moment and waits for someone to appear. To make sure that we are thinking in the positive direction, imagine the following situation. You live in a certain society; almost every time the door opens, a lot of people come in and make you feel bad. Then, when the knock sounds, you will no longer look at the door and wait, but will look at the window and climb out. After all, getting rid of potential displeasure is also pleasure. Based on this experiment, I made the following conclusions:

was (observed)

by and large

End. Future chapter titles:

Problem of presentation.

A simplified algorithm for an intelligent system.

Examples of explanations of various phenomena of intelligent activity in the light of this theory.

Model of an elementary intelligent being.

Throughout the development of philosophy, starting from antiquity, the problem of the relationship between mental and physical (and then physiological) phenomena and processes was repeatedly raised. Particular interest in it manifested itself in the philosophy of modern times in connection with the search for the foundations of human consciousness. So, hylozoism(from the Greek hyle - substance, matter, zoe - life), proceeding from the recognition of the animation of all bodies, the Cosmos, nature, tried to find the roots of mental phenomena in the material world. B. Spinoza, who shared his views, for example, considered thinking an attribute of matter, a property inherent in all nature.

In the 19th century vulgar materialism (from Latin vulgarus - ordinary, simple), the theoretical predecessor of which was the French philosopher of the 18th century. P. Cabanis, attempts have been made to reduce complex mental processes to physiological manifestations of the functioning of the human brain. Modern versions of this tradition, in particular, are presented in biofield concepts of consciousness, which similarly underestimate the ideal essence of consciousness, its sociocultural nature.

In contrast to vulgar materialism and idealism, dialectical-materialist philosophy proceeded from the recognition that human consciousness, being ideal in nature, is a functional property of highly organized matter - the human brain.

In the 2nd half of the 20th century. Thanks to the information and computer revolution, new opportunities have arisen to study the work of the human brain and its functions using artificial intelligence systems. Artificial intelligence research can be divided into four interrelated areas of development:

1) systems that simulate individual creative processes (programs for solving gaming problems, automatic translation, proof of theorems, image recognition, etc.);

2) intelligent systems based on knowledge (information retrieval, computational and logical, expert);

3) new computer architecture (fifth generation computers and new technologies for their use);

4) intelligent robots (for example, autonomous vehicles, armed with numerous sensory systems).

Developments in the field of artificial intelligence have laid a real basis for testing philosophical and scientific hypotheses about the nature of the human mind. Philosophy turned out to be involved in the experimental activities carried out in the development of artificial intelligence programs. For example, in the course of attempts to create universal educational programs (M. Bongard), J. Locke’s idea of recognition as the basis of thinking was successfully tested. The creation of programs that understand natural language, programs capable of proving mathematical theorems, in particular, is based on the interpretation of reason by G. Leibniz, who considered it not as a “blank slate”, but, to put it modern language, a set of specialized programs that are connected to work as needed. Behind the discovered need to introduce “universal explanatory schemes” into artificial intelligence programs is the idea of I. Kant about the existence of “a priori synthetic judgments”, such as the concept of causality, the idea of space and time.

In modern humanities, the problem of artificial intelligence is considered in the following aspects:

1) development of criteria for the effectiveness of developed algorithms for processing unformalized data (such as ordinary human speech), linguistic communication with other machines and people “right” to be considered artificial intelligence (this is associated with the name of Alan Turing and the “Turing test” he proposed - artificial intelligence an algorithm may be considered such that when communicating with it, an independent human observer will not be able to distinguish between a person and a machine;

2) discussion of anthropological problems in the context information technologies(what is “human” if most of a person’s real life functions can be reduced to communication in a network environment; what will happen if the power of artificial intelligence for some reason comes into conflict with human intelligence; relatively speaking, “due to which an army of people will be able to win an army of combat robots, and whether it can do it at all” is still a question from the realm of science fiction, but accessible for theoretical modeling);

3) discussion of special ethics information society, networking etiquette and "etiquette" for cars.

Not only scientists and IT specialists, but philosophers, cultural scientists, psychologists (Slavoj Žižek, Umberto Eco, Manuel Castells, etc.) take part in the discussion of these and other similar issues.

Thus, the development of the problem of artificial intelligence creates the prerequisites for the synthesis of natural science and humanitarian approaches to the analysis of the phenomenon of human consciousness, to unraveling its secrets.