Stephen Wolfram just posted a new article about Consciousness, Theory of Everything, Reference Frames, etc.:
Anybody read it? Is it a coincidence they talk about Reference Frames in the article, or on high level there is some overlap with 1,000 Brains theory?
Wolfram’s physics project is very interesting. He explains a new (hypothetical) form of physics which is able to derive both Einsteins relativity and quantum mechanics from the basic axioms of the new physics.
However on the topic of neuroscience I would politely say that he’s less well informed? He tries to apply abstract concepts from physics to neuroscience. The “reference frames” are from general relativity, not like the ones Numenta is discussing.
I find his thoughts on consciousness nevertheless very interesting.
Also Wolfram’s theory of building consciousness or intelligence… in a way that’s Numenta’s purpose as well… come up with the theory/model and abstract as much as possible the biological complexity.
Coming a little closer to home, we can consider software and AI systems. One might expect that to “achieve consciousness” one would have to go further than ever before and inject some special “human-like spark”. But I suspect that the true story is rather different. If one wants the systems to make the richest use of what the computational universe has to offer, then they should behave a bit like fundamental physics (or nature in general), with all sorts of components and all sorts of computationally irreducible behavior.
But to have something like our view of consciousness requires taking a step down, and effectively forcing simpler behavior in which things are integrated to produce a “sequentialized” experience.
“reference frames” vs 1000 Brains Theory … would you mind to elaborate a bit on what you see as possible overlap?
I read Wolfram’s “A new kind of science” when it first came out in 2002 – cannot believe it’s almost two decades – so thanks for your post that links to his new article. I just skimmed through and will read in depth again …
Wolfram has written on many topics, so “A New Kind of Science” may not be relevant to reference frames
Thanks for the insight.