A Neuroscience Perspective of Artificial Intelligence

This seminar course asks what would be required to achieve Strong Artificial Intelligence, also referred to as Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), in light of what we know about the emergence of life and mind in the universe. Specifically, we will consider the question whether it is possible for machines to become self-aware by asking what Natural Intelligence is, and considering what it implies about whether and how AGI can be achieved. To grapple with this question, in Part I of the course we will examine what is known about the emergence of Natural Intelligence in the universe. This study includes the phenomena of: (1a) Abiogenesis, (1b) The Universal Role of Entropy and Information in Evolution, (1c) Signal Transduction, intracellular signaling, and Mechanism of Stimulus-Response Coupling in Unicellular Organisms; (2a) The Evolution of the Metazoa during the Cambrian Explosion, (2b) The Consequences of Motility and Preditor - Prey Dynamics in the Metazoa for the Evolution of Complex Nervous Systems and Behaviors; (3a) The Implications of Invertebrate Navigation by Dead Reckoning for Understanding Insect Behavior, (3b) Insect Behavior in Relation to Robotics; (4a) Origin of the Vertebrates and the Evolution of the Vertebrate Nervous System, (4b) The Mammalian Neocortex; (5) Molecular Mechanisms of Synaptic Plasticity; (6) The Evolution of the Hominins and the Hominin Brain; (7) Higher-Order Thinking and Epistemology; (8a) Meta-awareness as the Foundation of Human Consciousness, (8b) The Fluidity of Mind Embodiment, (8c) Theories and Philosophy of Human Consciousness. (9a) Other Minds: The Atypical Nervous System of the Ctenophore and The Nervous System and Mind of the Octopus, (9b) Animal intelligence. (10a) The History and Trajectory of AI, (10b) Superintelligence, Human Cognitive Fluidity and the Existence of a Global Network of Human Superintelligence.