For this episode, I’m joined by Princeton professor of psychology and neuroscience, Michael Graziano. The particular goal of this conversation was an exploration of Michael’s theory of consciousness, known as the Attention Schema Theory. This is Michael’s attempt to do away with what he sees as more magical explanations of consciousness by grounding consciousness in the information that our brain uses to detail our awareness and attention.
As you might imagine, this takes us on a wide ranging exploration of topics, including qualia, how consciousness evolved, the ability for consciousness to impart top down control over our behavior, and more. We further highlight the important role social cognition plays in Michael’s theory, revealing how our need to model the attention of others helped us evolve a way to model our own attention. We conclude by exploring how his scientific efforts on consciousness relate to AI, including how we might be able to impart consciousness into AI, why it’s crucial to better understand consciousness in the age of AI, the challenges of measuring consciousness, and the societal impacts of machine consciousness.
Find out more about Michael and his work at grazianolab.princeton.edu, where you can find his research, books, and more.
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