Joscha Bach - Why Your Thoughts Aren't Yours.

Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST)

Dr. Joscha Bach discusses advanced AI, consciousness, and cognitive modeling. He presents consciousness as a virtual property emerging from self-organizing software patterns, challenging panpsychism and materialism. Bach introduces "Cyberanima," reinterpreting animism through information processing, viewing spirits as self-organizing software agents.

He addresses limitations of current large language models and advocates for smaller, more efficient AI models capable of reasoning from first principles. Bach describes his work with Liquid AI on novel neural network architectures for improved expressiveness and efficiency.

The interview covers AI's societal implications, including regulation challenges and impact on innovation. Bach argues for balancing oversight with technological progress, warning against overly restrictive regulations.

Throughout, Bach frames consciousness, intelligence, and agency as emergent properties of complex information processing systems, proposing a computational framework for cognitive phenomena and reality.

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TOC

[00:00:00] 1.1 Consciousness and Intelligence in AI Development

[00:07:44] 1.2 Agency, Intelligence, and Their Relationship to Physical Reality

[00:13:36] 1.3 Virtual Patterns and Causal Structures in Consciousness

[00:25:49] 1.4 Reinterpreting Concepts of God and Animism in Information Processing Terms

[00:32:50] 1.5 Animism and Evolution as Competition Between Software Agents

2. Self-Organizing Systems and Cognitive Models in AI

[00:37:59] 2.1 Consciousness as self-organizing software

[00:45:49] 2.2 Critique of panpsychism and alternative views on consciousness

[00:50:48] 2.3 Emergence of consciousness in complex systems

[00:52:50] 2.4 Neuronal motivation and the origins of consciousness

[00:56:47] 2.5 Coherence and Self-Organization in AI Systems

3. Advanced AI Architectures and Cognitive Processes

[00:57:50] 3.1 Second-Order Software and Complex Mental Processes

[01:01:05] 3.2 Collective Agency and Shared Values in AI

[01:05:40] 3.3 Limitations of Current AI Agents and LLMs

[01:06:40] 3.4 Liquid AI and Novel Neural Network Architectures

[01:10:06] 3.5 AI Model Efficiency and Future Directions

[01:19:00] 3.6 LLM Limitations and Internal State Representation

4. AI Regulation and Societal Impact

[01:31:23] 4.1 AI Regulation and Societal Impact

[01:49:50] 4.2 Open-Source AI and Industry Challenges

Refs in shownotes and MP3 metadata

Shownotes:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/g28dosz19bzcfs5imrvbu/JoschaInterview.pdf?rlkey=s3y18jy192ktz6ogd7qtvry3d&st=10z7q7w9&dl=0