There are many different ideas of what consciousness is and how it manifests itself. In the research paper “A landscape of consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications (2024)”, Robert Lawrence Kuhn describes over 200 different explanations or theories of consciousness.
So when I read about Nirvanic, a company whose mission it is to “…understand consciousness, build it in machines and enhance it in people”, I was curious to say the least.
David Chalmers, a philosopher and professor at New York University, a leading thinker in the field of defining consciousness, wrote in one of his recent papers that: “I don't think the hard problem of consciousness can be solved purely in terms of neuroscience.”
So then, how can it be solved? What magical approach has Nirvanic taken? Instead of defining what it is, they instead try to replicate it through quantum computing. That new models of consciousness that include quantum physics might explain consciousness.
One such model — the Penrose-Hameroff ORCH-OR theory — proposes that trillions of tiny cylindrical structures in neurons called microtubules have the capacity to hold quantum mechanical states. Consciousness is here at its most basic is the output of these quantum networks. The many possible states of superposition collapses into one single outcome. And it is here we experience consciousness.
If this sounds confusing, it is because it is.
I’ve argued in a previous article that consciousness is not required for AI, but I am all in for the ride with Nirvanic. It sounds so outlandish that it could be true. Whether we need it or not.
References:
The company website: https://www.nirvanic.ai/
“A landscape of consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications”: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079610723001128
“How Can We Solve the Meta-Problem of Consciousness?”: https://consc.net/papers/solving.pdf
Various papers written by Professor David Chalmers discussing aspects of consciousness: https://consc.net/consciousness/
“Ghost in the machine: The race toward conscious, sentient AI”: https://newatlas.com/ai-humanoids/ai-consciousness-sentience-nirvanic-gildert/
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