The sensorimotor approach to understanding phenomenal consciousness
J. Kevin O'Regan – 20 Feb 2024
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  • Intro to SMT
  • Core SMT papers
  • Talks
    • Short Talks
    • Long talks
  • SMT Roadmap & Bibliography
  • ERC FEEL (2013-2019)
    • ERC FEEL publications
    • Original ERC FEEL Home Page
      • Research Project
      • I. Philosophy
        • Key References
        • Publications and Communications
        • Events
      • II. Formal sensorimotor theory
        • Key References
        • Publications and Communications
      • III. Color
        • The Dress
        • Key References
        • Publications and Communications
      • IV. Sensory substitution
        • Key References
        • Publications and Communications
      • V. Infant development & Robotics
        • Key References
    • People
      • J. Kevin O’Regan
      • The team
      • Collaborators
      • Events
    • The Sensorimotor Theory
    • Extended Bibliography
    • Key References
    • Workshops
      • From object manipulation to tool use: infants, robots, animals (2013)
      • 2015 ASSC Workshop on Sensorimotor Theory
      • Philosophical workshop on consciousness
      • FEEL philosophical workshop, 31 May 2016
      • Future directions meeting
    • Press

Talks

Short Talks

Long Talks

  • DOWNLOAD MY BOOK!

    J. Kevin O’Regan (2011) “Why red doesn’t sound like a bell”


  • Why AI will be Conscious sooner than you think!

  • Here is the recording of the talk I gave on Feb 15th 2024 at the BhealthyAge Lab at Concordia University in Montreal explaining why, if machines become sufficiently intelligent and are integrated into a social environment they will be conscious just like we are. The reason is that consciousness is not some kind of magical spark generated by special mechanisms in our brain. Consciousness is just a word that describes how intelligent agents interact with the world and with each other. As soon as agents are sufficiently intelligent and have sufficient interactions, they will say of themselves that they are conscious and that they have real feels, and we will agree! This will happen in the next 5-10 years I think!

  • See my talk at TSC 2023

  • You can find here the transcript and slides of my plenary talk at the May 2023 Taormina "Towards a Science of Consciousness"  conference. The talk was based on my 2023 paper in Frontiers in Psychology explaining how sensorimotor theory can make inroads into solving the hard problem of phenomenal consciousness. It claims that experiences have "something it's like" because we  can lose voluntary control over the flow of information, over our bodies, over attention deployment and over motivation.

  • Contact

    Kevin O’Regan

    jkevin.oregan@gmail.com

The sensorimotor approach to understanding phenomenal consciousness
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