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Introduction
James Gleick points out in Chaos [1]
that the 20th century will probably be remembered for three great scientific
revolutions: relativity, quantum mechanics, and chaos theory. With only
five years to go it is probably too late for a fourth to emerge in this
century, but we are seeing, in embryonic stage, the first scientific revolution
of the 21st century: studies in consciousness. The claims for chaos theory
are that, unlike for the preceding two revolutions, it relates to the
more immediately tangible world of our experience. Studies in consciousness
relates in turn to an intangible but infinitely more intimate world: our
being. The discoveries by Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler that showed
the Earth to revolve around the Sun have become a metaphor for the growing
realisation that Man was not at the centre of the Universe, but an insignificant
by-product of the forces of nature. One can characterise the universe
that grew from this classical physics as anthropo-eccentric, that
is a universe in which man is no longer at the centre, in contrast to
the previous anthropo-centric universe. The more recent discoveries
of chaos theory show a less ordered universe, with room for 'emergent'
properties, however rocks, weather, organisms, society, the economy: these
become non-linear systems with unpredictable developments, but they are
still deterministic. The individual is a system of organs
and cells, the result of a gene pool system, embedded within social
and economic systems. The individual is still alienated. Until
quantum theory. Quantum theory completes the cycle of scientific revolution
and renders the universe anthropo-centric once more.
1. Chaos Theory and Quantum Mechanics
Chaos theory involves the study of phenomena whose developments are
highly sensitive to small fluctuations in starting conditions James Gleick
gives a popular introduction in Chaos [2]. Non-linear systems are, in principle,
deterministic (or computable) meaning that the same starting conditions
will give the same end conditions, and, if we have computers powerful
enough, we can predict the outcome. In practice, because of the extreme
sensitivity to the starting conditions, it may be very difficult to predict
the outcome, but this is merely a problem of computing power. Non-linear
systems, however, are classical systems, and hence, despite the relative
richness of the universe they describe and the fruitful consideration
of emergent properties, they remain part of the anthropo-eccentric
universe defined above. Quantum theory grew out of a seemingly innocent
debate over whether light consisted of waves or particles, but, in the
last century, it became clear that light behaved as a wave under some
experimental conditions and as a particle under other experimental conditions.
This simple fact was obstinately unresolveable and its unwanted (by classical
science) implications were twofold: firstly that the observer's behaviour
could not be removed from the experiment thus challenging traditional
notions of 'objectivity' and secondly that science was going to have to
live with the unthinkable: paradox. Quantum theory as we now know it gives
a terminology for the wave/particle paradox, but does not remove the paradox,
or the problems of quantum indeterminacy and quantum holism. The quantum
physicist Erwin Schrödinger invented a 'thought experiment' that
demonstrated both of these aspects, usually referred to as the Schrödinger's
Cat Paradox.
One view of quantum theory, prompted by Niels Bohr, is that the precise
mathematical formulations of quantum theory are successful as a model
for prediction, but the wider implications can be ignored. A middle ground,
perhaps, was the stance now called the Copenhagen interpretation, which
admits that quantum theory is a theory of observations, rather than a
theory of objective independent realities. The more radical position is
that quantum theory places the human act of observation as essential for
the existence of the universe. Some use quantum theory to argue the existence
of God, however, we are not arguing here that quantum theory gives us
back a theocentric universe, but an anthropo-centric one.
2. Consciousness: an overview of current theories and debates
The study of consciousness has only recently become a respectable
academic pursuit, as shown by the number of recent books on the subject
and the establishment of the International Journal of Consciousness
Studies [3]. A good introduction to the debates around consciousness
is to be found in Daniel Dennett's Consciousness Explained [4]. His emphasis throughout is on perception,
though oddly, he avoids attempting a solution of the 'qualia' problem
(how are we to account for the redness of red for example). The problems
with Descartes' view of consciousness is in the mind-body split or dualism
that it is based on: the dualistic view is not consistent with classical
physics, because for any perception to impinge on the mind there must
be a chain of energy transformations that reach from the material world
to the non-material (upward causation), and another chain from the mind
to the body (downward causation). Descartes proposed a location in the
brain where perceptions come together for the mind to view them as a whole;
this is done by a homunculus. This Cartesian theatre then presents us
with the problems of a reasonable description of the homunculus, and the
danger of infinite regress: has the homunculus got a homunculus within
it?
While Dennett's emphasis on perception is to some extent reductionistic,
it is the work of Francis Crick that takes this to an extreme. His recent
book The Astonishing Hypothesis [5]
claims that all aspects of human experience, including consciousness,
are to be understood in terms of neuronal activity. This leads him to
discuss the neural correlates of perception, and to postulate that
one day we shall discover the neural correlate of consciousness itself.
One could characterise the view of reductionists on consciousness as being
epi-phenomenal, i.e. it is a side-effect. The view of chaos theorists
could be described as emergent-phenomenal, i.e. that consciousness arises
from complex systems as a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
We have seen earlier that quantum theory presents a radically different
view of the universe than classical mechanics, and it is no surprise to
find that many thinkers on consciousness have sought to relate consciousness
to quantum theory. There is a growing sense that quantum indeterminacy
may allow a window in the deterministic universe for free will (downward
causation), and that quantum wholeness is directly related to the binding
problem of perception (upward causation). One of the chief protagonists
of a quantum mechanical view of consciousness is Roger Penrose, a mathematician
at Oxford, interested in the extent to which computers can prove mathematical
theorems. Building on the work of Gödel, who demonstrated the unprovability
of a certain class of theorem, Penrose has argued that computers are therefore
unable to 'think' about a certain class of entities that the human mind
can. From this Penrose extrapolates a proposition that mind is essentially
non-computable, at least by our current technology. Penrose devotes much
of Shadows of the Mind [6] to an explanation of quantum theory and argues that quantum
effects must translate into the 'classical' world of chemicals and neurons
in the brainl. He is supported in his approach by neurologists and biologists
in their discovery of 'microtubules', structures within the neurons that
could be the seat of quantum coherence effects.
Dana Zohar's books, The Quantum Self [7]
and The Quantum Society [8]
explore quantum theory firstly as a range of metaphors, but also as evidence
for the holistic nature of the universe and the self. Her views derive
partly from quantum theory itself, and partly from interpretations leaning
to the mystical such as that of Bohm, [9] and that of Fritjof Capra [10]
and Gary Zukav [11]. However, her interpretations are
more accessible than Bohm's, less populist and mystical than Capra's and
Zukav's, and less radically paranormal than Jahn's [12], which gives her work an appropriate
stature to complement Penrose's mathematical approach.
3. Creativity: the link with consciousness
The philosopher Mary Warnock has had a life-long interest in the imagination,
stating that its cultivation should be the chief goal of education [13]. For Warnock, imagination is the key to perception and
all our values, as well as the driving principle behind creativity. In
Imagination [14] she charts the developments of our understanding of this
faculty, from Descartes through Kant and Hume and Schelling to Sartre
and Wittgenstein. For Hume imagination is linked to the everyday ability
to receive an interrupted and chaotic sequence of sensory impressions
and derive from this a belief in the continuous existence of objects.
Kant called this faculty the transcendental imagination (because it is
universal, and possibly related to Plato's essences) to distinguish it
from an empirical imagination, the fiction-making power which varies from
person to person. Warnock's work has been to seek out the common ground
in the different forms of imagination, in particular the creative sense
and the world-ordering sense. Margaret Boden is another philosopher with
an interest in imagination, but in the narrower sense of creativity. Her
work, based in computational psychology, involves an investigation of
creativity via attempt to simulate it with computers. Her book The
Creative Mind [15] covers
many aspects of research into creativity, especially those debates around
Artificial Intelligence. For Danah Zohar the main question in the creative
act is the selection of one outcome from all the possible outcomes, a
process that she links with the collapse of the wave function, which in
turn is the function of consciousness. One could see this as a special
case of a quantum interpretation of the creative world-ordering imagination
of Kant and Hume. From both the Hume/Kant tradition expounded by Warnock
and the emerging quantum consciousness position of Zohar et al. we can
assert that consciousness is at the heart of creativity. There are however
two competing claims to an explanation of creativity that are going to
have to compete for dominance: chaos theory or quantum consciousness.
4. Automated Electronic Art
Since the 1950s artists and scientists have been experimenting with
electronic devices in the production of imagery the visual arts. These
developments are well documented in books such as Franke's Computer
Graphics - Computer Art [16],
and Cynthia Goodman's Digital Visions [17]. The author looks at the use of programming for artists and
animators in a recent article in Leonardo [18].
Evolutionary electronic art is a branch of algorithmic art that uses the
concepts of Darwinian evolution to generate family trees of images or
forms that are then selected by the artist for further breeding. Karl
Simms [19] and William Latham
[20] are two computer artists who have
been working in this field, and who have been extensively commented on
by Margaret Boden. The problems of selection have been avoided in the
work of Harold Cohen, originally a successful modern painter, who set
out to incorporate his own rules of composition into an artificial intelligence
program called AARON. In evolutionary art the selection mechanism becomes
paramount: Latham's and Simms' work fails to automate this as a parallel
to the natural survival function. For other forms of automated art, such
as Cohen's, there must be algorithms at the outset that control design,
composition and aesthetics. The field of algorithmic aesthetics has its
origins outside of the electronic arts. Franke [21]
gives a good introduction to the German thinkers in this area, including
Wilhelm Fuchs and Max Bense. Stiny and Gips suggest a computer-based method
for evaluating aesthetics in specialised domains [22].
We are now approaching the point where we can ask what would be a totally
artificial art? Clearly it would involve computers and the simulation
of both a creative and a critical function. Cohen's work is based on his
ability to formalise his own compositional rules; what is lacking is the
spontaneous generation of work beyond his own formulations. In the evolutionary
art of Latham and Simms we have the potential for an infinite creativity,
as images and forms mutate from generation to generation, but we lack
the automated aesthetics to select from them.
5. Artificial Consciousness and the Electronic Arts
Artificial Life or a-life for short, while not originating as an art-form,
has been explored as such by computer artists such as Steve Bell [23] and Clifford Pickover [24].
By abstracting from the physical world simple rules and constraints governing
entities that live, breed, consume energy, fight for resources, and die,
biologists have programmed a-life systems that have given them valuable
insights into living systems. Steven Levy [25] gives a good overview of the emergence of a-life, including
its applications and philosophical implications. A-life theory is firmly
located in the debates around chaos and non-linear systems: the attributes
we normally associate with 'life' are seen as emergent phenomenon. There
has been little attempt to endow a-life entities with artificial creativity,
perhaps because of an intuition that the parallels between evolution and
creativity are rather weak, and to date there has been only one serious
attempt to create an artificially conscious entity this is the goal of
Igor Aleksander at Imperial College, where he has created an articifial
neural net (ANN) called Magnus, designed to be conscious in the sense
of being able to tell us what it is like to be Magnus [26].
Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann and Daniel Thalmann, in their quest for synthetic
actors have picked up on the work of Aleksander in the hope that it will
provide a missing element in their simulations: autonomy. In the Thalmanns'
book Artificial Life and Virtual Reality [27] Aleksander contributes an article called "Artificial
Consciousness?" [28] in which he sets out his emergent-phenomenon position on
consciousness.
The development of autonomous programmes is a recent development in software
generation, described in another article in Artificial Life and Virtual
Reality [29]. A further article in the same book gives an account
of how algorithms for autonomy are developing from work in artificial
intelligence [30]. The Thallmans
believe that for computer simulations to generate truly artificial art,
the will have to incorporate some aspects of consciousness; creativity,
intelligence, will, and autonomy. It may be that other aspects such as
identity, perception and awareness will also be essential, if the artificial
art is to have any status against human art, leading us to the position
that we require not just artificial life, but artificial beings at least
as complex as humans. This plunges us into the chaos versus quantum debate:
is mere complexity sufficient for artificial art to come forth as an emergent
property, or is a quantum dimension required?
7. Conclusions
The attempt to hand over part of the creative act to machinery has
a long tradition going back to musical compositions based on the throwing
of nails [31]. Algorithmic art on digital computers represents a substantial
move in this direction, while progress in AI, a-life, and artificial autonomy
bring together more of the components of a truly artificial art. In the
context of chaos theory, no radically new developments are required to
reach this goal: only a certain level of complexity. However, in the context
of quantum theory and proponents of quantum consciousness as the ultimate
creative principle in the universe, artificial consciousness is, at present,
the missing ingredient. Some of the best thinkers of our time believe
that this is non-computable, but if it were (perhaps with technology not
yet dreamed of) quantum mechanics would not just have restored to us an
anthropo-centric universe, but also a cyber-centric one.
References
[1] Gleick, J. Chaos: Making
a New Science, London: Abacus, 1994, p.6
[2] Gleick, J. Chaos: Making
a New Science, London: Abacus, 1994.
[3] Journal of Consciousness
Studies - controversies in the sciences and humanities, Thorverton
UK: Imprint Academic
[4] Dennet, Daniel C., Consciousness
Explained, Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 1991
[5] Crick, Francis, The Astonishing
Hypothesis - The Scientific Search for the Soul, Simon and Schuster,
1994
[6] Penrose, Roger, Shadows
of the Mind - A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness, Oxford
University Press, 1994
[7] Gleick, J. Chaos: Making
a New Science, London: Abacus, 1994.
[8] Zohar, Danah and Ian Marshall,
The Quantum Society, London: Bloomsbury, 1993
[9] Bohm, D. Wholeness and
the Implicate Order, London: Ark Paperbacks (Routledge), 1980
[10] Capra, Fritjof, The
Tao of Physics, London: Flamingo, 1992 (3rd edition)
[11] Zukav, Gary The Dancing
Wu Li Masters London: Fontana, 1979
[12] Jahn, R.G. and Dunne, B.J.,
Margins of Reality - The Role of Consciousness in the Physical World,
San Diego, New York London: Harcourt Brace and co. 1988
[13] Warnock, Mary, Imagination,
London: Faber, 1980, p.9
[14] Warnock, Mary, Imagination,
London: Faber, 1980.
[15] Boden, Margaret, The
Creative Mind, London: Abacus, 1990
[16] Franke, H. W. Computer
Graphics - Computer Art, London: Phaidon, 1971.
[17] Goodman, C. Digital
Visions, Abrams, New York, 1988.
[18] King, M.R., "Programmed
Graphics in Computer Art and Animation", in Leonardo, 28,
No. 2, pp. 113 - 121, 1995.
[19] Sims, Karl, "Artificial
Evolution for Computer Graphics" in Computer Graphics Vol
25, No 4, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, 1991, pp. 319
- 328.
[20] Todd, S. and Latham, W.
Evolutionary Art and Computers, Academic Press, 1992
[21] Franke, H. W. Computer
Graphics - Computer Art, London: Phaidon, 1971, pp. 106 - 118
[22] Stiny and Gips, Algorithmic
Aesthetics - Computer Models for Criticism and Design in the Arts,
Berkely, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1978
[23] Bell, Stephen, "Creative
Participatory Behaviour in a Programmed World", in Leonardo
Vol. 28, No. 3, 1995, pp 171-176
[24] Pickover, C.A., Computers,
Pattern, Chaos, and Beauty, Stroud: Sutton, 1990.
[25] Levy, S., Artificial
Life - The Quest for a New Creation, London: Jonathon Cape, 1992
[26] Patel, Kam "Matter
over mind for mighty Magnus", Times Higher Education Supplement,
6th March 1994
[27] Magnenat Thalmann, Nadia
and Thalmann, Daniel, Artificial Life and Virtual Reality, John
Wiley and Sons, 1994.
[28] ibid, pp. 73 - 81
[29] ibid, pp. 84 - 95
[30] ibid, pp. 97 - 114
[31] Lansdown, John, 'Artificial
creativity: An algorithmic approach to art', in Beardon, Colin (Ed.) Digital
Creativity, University of Brighton, 1995, pp. 31-35.
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