A Theoretical Computer Science Perspective on Consciousness
Manuel Blum, Lenore Blum

TL;DR
This paper formalizes a model called the Conscious Turing Machine (CTM) to provide a precise computational perspective on consciousness, connecting it with the Global Workspace Theory and offering a simple yet rigorous framework.
Contribution
It introduces the formal definition of the Conscious Turing Machine (CTM) and a formal explanation of consciousness within this model, bridging theoretical computer science and cognitive science.
Findings
Defines the Conscious Turing Machine (CTM) as a formal model of consciousness
Provides a formal definition of consciousness in the CTM framework
Explains why the CTM model aligns with intuitive and scientific concepts of consciousness
Abstract
The quest to understand consciousness, once the purview of philosophers and theologians, is now actively pursued by scientists of many stripes. This paper studies consciousness from the perspective of theoretical computer science. It formalizes the Global Workspace Theory (GWT) originated by cognitive neuroscientist Bernard Baars and further developed by him, Stanislas Dehaene, and others. Our major contribution lies in the precise formal definition of a Conscious Turing Machine (CTM), also called a Conscious AI. We define the CTM in the spirit of Alan Turing's simple yet powerful definition of a computer, the Turing Machine (TM). We are not looking for a complex model of the brain nor of cognition but for a simple model of (the admittedly complex concept of) consciousness. After formally defining CTM, we give a formal definition of consciousness in CTM. We then suggest why the CTM has…
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