THE AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS LABORATORY

The Autonomous Systems Laboratory

Universidad PolitEcnica de Madrid

Principles for Consciousness in
integrated cognitive control
Published in Neural Networks Vol. 20, Issue 9, Nov. 2007

Ricardo Sanz, Ignacio Lopez,
Manuel Rodrlguez and Carlos Hernandez

ASLab A-2007-011 v 1.0 Final

September 2007

Abstract

in this article we will argue that given certain conditions for the evolution of bi-
ological controllers, these will necessarily evolve in the direction of incorporating
consciousness capabilities. We will also see what are the necessary mechanics for
the provision of these capabilities and extrapolate this vision to the world of artifi-
cial systems postulating seven design principles for conscious systems. This article
was published in the journal Neural Networks special issue on brain and conscious-
ness (Sanz et al., 2007).

1 A Bit of Context

in this our excursion into the scientific worlds of awareness so germane to the
world ofhumanities¹, we observe with surprise that there is still a widely extended
perception of consciousness as epiphenomenon, which, while mainly rooted in philo-
sophical analyses, is also apparently supported by real, tangible experiments in
well controlled conditions (see for example Libet et al. (1982); Varela (1971); Pockett
(2004); Dennet (1991)). Hence, we may wonder why engineers should be interested
in such a phenomenon that is not yet not only full understood but, somehow, even
fully accepted.

¹Humanities in Snow’s sense Snow (1969).

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