Robot Demonstrates Self-Awareness

[nemorathwald]

The researchers who constructed a robot with "mirror image cognition" are evidently looking at their project from the point of view of asking whether the robot is doing what it is we do. Or at least, what very simple animals do, such as insects. "Consciousness." "Self-awareness." I think the attempt to make that comparison only leads to dissapointment, because there is a tendency to define intelligence as whatever it is artificial intelligence researchers haven't accomplished yet. Instead, look at it as doing something new and useful that robots haven't done before. According to Discovery Channel News:

"A new robot can recognize the difference between a mirror image of itself and another robot that looks just like it.
...
Humans learn behavior during cognition and conversely learn to think while behaving, said Takeno.

To mimic this dynamic, a robot needs a common area in its neural network that is able to process information on both cognition and behavior.
...
Imitation, said Takeno, is an act that requires both seeing a behavior in another and instantly transferring it to oneself and is the best evidence of consciousness."

Comments

[rachelann1977.livejournal.com]

This is good progress, but in my mind, there are two important goals here, and I think at some point, the research/development in this area will have to diverge to accomplish both.

On the one hand, there is the desire to use computers to model human behavior, which in itself could be useful for humans, at least in the field of psychology, if nothing else.

On the other hand, I agree with you that we should be developing a cognitive model that works for computers/robots, and in that respect, there is no reason why it should be like human cognition, and probably several good reasons why it should not be like human cognition.

But I'm not doing the research. I have neither money, nor influence, and so I can only hope that something useful gets done by those who do have those things.

[natashasikorsky.livejournal.com]

Programming that makes a robot "aware" that imitation it sees is too fast and too accurate to be another robot is, at best, a simulation of one aspect of self-awareness. Simulate a bunch of aspects and you have the appearance of self-awareness, but IMO self-awareness responds on-the-fly to unanticipated circumstances that programming isn't anywhere near re-creating, and may never re-create. I think self-awareness is a function higher and more general than the handling of multiple, independent aspects of self. In fact, I believe recognizing yourself in the mirror is the product of self-awareness (plus intelligence, or programming), not an aspect of self-awareness. That is, in accomplishing this task this robot is self-aware to the same degree that a decongestant is a cure for the cold.

On the other hand, some people think self-awareness is over-rated.