CONSCIOUSNESS

138 3. Cognitive Sciences and Psychology
training error as well as the number of weak classifiers used. The optimization is carried out
by employing quantum annealing minimizing an Ising energy. We report results from Quantum
Monte Carlo simulations as well as hardware experiments using a quantum processor
manufactured by D-Wave. The accuracy of the resulting classifier compares favorably with
those obtained by classical algorithms. The mechanism proposed here is in not intended to
faithfully model learning in the nervous system. But our demonstration that quantum annealing
can be employed to advantage for learning tasks may provide motivation for experimentalists
to take a closer look; in particular in light of recent findings that quantum processes
are implicated in essential biological functions as well as our emerging understanding under
which conditions quantum resources required for computational speedups can withstand the
decohering influences of an environment. C13
189 A Definition of Consciousness as Energy Carrying Information Flowing Through
Control Loops in a Hierarchy Constituting the Self Paul Storey
(T3M, Citrus Heights, CA)
This paper is a continuation of a definition of consciousness based upon physical dimensions,
in engineering units. Over billions of years, energy interacting with matter became controlled
by information, culminating in self-reproducing systems called life. Through natural
selection over another billion years, these self-sustaining systems of information controlled
energy evolved increasingly complex sensors, signal processors and actuators, all governed
by control loops which enabled maintenance of key parameters essential for survival. The
processing centers became brains and evolved to include memories, cause effect associations,
executive mechanisms to decide and coordinate all activities, and action generation mechanisms
to control actuators affecting the self and the external world around the self, all happening
in a time frame quick enough to enable the entity to act and survive in its environment. Our
ancestor?s evolved advanced signal processing including simulations which utilized models
to predict future events, abstractions to succinctly represent complex phenomena, evaluation
mechanisms to compare alternative predictions, followed by generation of more complex sequences
of actions to attain more distant and valuable goals, all to sustain the self. Over tens
of millions of years, driven by success of more sophisticated systems incorporating world
models of greater variety, resolution, robustness, adaptability, which provided increased accuracy
of prediction mechanisms, brains evolved into minds. Information controlled energy with
the purpose of sustaining the self, flowing in real time, through networks which allow higher
degrees of abstraction at each level, constitute our perceptions, our experiences, our emotions,
our thoughts, our goals, our beings, our consciousness. A hierarchical control, as per James
Albus of NIST, 1980, is used in the description of consciousness. Control theory is used to
mathematically describe feedback systems from simple thermostats, to regulatory systems
which maintain homeostasis in simple organisms, to systems essential for an insect or a robot
to walk, orient, balance, coordinate, track, navigate and behave, to the most complex mental
processes in the human mind. Due to the complexities of control theory and its remoteness
to other disciplines, its applicability and relevance to consciousness is just being understood
in the consciousness community, pioneered by Sanz 2005. State variables involved in control
loops regulate position, velocity, acceleration, trajectory, posture and levels of abstraction
such as fear, anger and goals, purpose and intent. Input processing loops can determine size,
shape, color, smell, taste, feelings of danger, excitement, etc. Output processing loops generate
actions with increasing spatial and temporal resolution toward the bottom of the hierarchy.
Metrics of integration and complexity are added as per Edelman/Tononi 2000. In summary,
a description from physical, engineering, information theory, control theory, evolution, robotics,
AI, model based reasoning, neural nets and neuroscience perspectives provides great
insights into the physical basis and the essence of consciousness, all in quantifiable units.
An acronym called SPARKLES has been coined which contains the engineering units which
describe consciousness. Throughout the paper, the latest updates to the work are presented in
figures, charts, graphs and tables which demonstrate the concepts in greater resolution and
understandability. P3