Edelman's Steps Toward a Conscious Artifact

TL;DR

This paper discusses Gerald Edelman's proposed roadmap from 2006 for creating a conscious artifact, outlining key steps and its ongoing influence in consciousness research.

Contribution

It presents a detailed reconstruction of Edelman's unpublished roadmap for developing conscious artifacts, highlighting its significance and influence over the past 15 years.

Findings

The roadmap outlines essential steps toward creating conscious artifacts.

Edelman's ideas continue to influence consciousness research.

The paper emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary approaches.

Abstract

In 2006, during a meeting of a working group of scientists in La Jolla, California at The Neurosciences Institute (NSI), Gerald Edelman described a roadmap towards the creation of a Conscious Artifact. As far as I know, this roadmap was not published. However, it did shape my thinking and that of many others in the years since that meeting. This short paper, which is based on my notes taken during the meeting, describes the key steps in this roadmap. I believe it is as groundbreaking today as it was more than 15 years ago.