An Externalistist Process-Oriented Framework for Artificial Consciousness

Contents

In this paper, we present a view of conscious perception that supposes a processual unity between the activity in the agent and the perceived event in the external world. It is a kind of radical externalism (both vehicle and content) that suggests that the boundary of the agent's conscious mind are much larger than those of its body. We suggest a process-based approach as an explanation of ordinary perception and other variants of phenomenal experience such as illusions, memory, dreams, and mental imagery. This approach provides new insights into the problem of conscious representation in the brain and phenomenal consciousness. It is a form of anti-cranialism different from but related to other kinds of externalism. Eventually, we will sketch the relation between this model and the capability of developing new goals in an agent.