Qualia And Quantum Physics

Our consciousness is the inner semantic space where the signals coming from the physical world, both inside and outside the body, are 'processed' by the brain and take the form of feelings, sensations, and meanings, i.e., of qualia. Qualia refer to what 'it feels like' when a sensation or a feeling emerges within our consciousness.

Note that the nature of feelings is completely different from the nature of physical events. A physical event happens in spacetime and is accessible 'from the outside' through our physical senses and instruments. This produces a so-called third-person experience shared by all observers. A feeling is instead a private, first-person experience accessible only 'from the inside' by the owner of consciousness. However, the interiority I am speaking about is not a physical dimension.

Let’s consider, for example, how a rose is recognized by its scent. A rose emits particular molecules with unique three-dimensional structures. They can enter as 'keys' in the 'locks' of some receptor molecules incorporated in the olfactory cell membranes of the nasal epithelium. When this happens, the receptor cells produce macroscopic electrical signals. They constitute the input signals to the neural networks of the olfactory cortex, whose output signals correspond to the name of the identified object: rose.

Even a machine can recognize a rose by its molecular 'emissions', emulating the natural process I have just described. However, this recognition is qualitatively very different from ours: a machine feels nothing, and the name of the recognized object is just another signal or symbol. The artificial nose does not have the conscious experience of the fragrance of the rose. Moreover, the ways in which the machine can respond to the 'rose' signal depend solely on its program. For us, however, the scent of the rose is not a signal, it is a quale, something completely different from the electrical signals generated by the neural networks. It is related to them, of course, but it is not identical, nor can it be produced directly by them since it has a completely different quality from the electrical or mechanical activity that characterizes classical signals. It is a quality that poets have tried in a thousand ways to express, without ever succeeding.

The scent of a rose, just like the taste of cherry jam, the sound of a violin, or the feeling of love is a sensation that makes the one who proves it consciously aware of symbolic data. It is an experience that takes place in our consciousness that can deeply affect us. Rainer Maria Rilke said it best: “There are moments when a rose is more important than a piece of bread.”

The computer, on the other hand, cannot be aware of anything, nor can it consciously reason by association about its experience. Therefore, the comprehension brought by consciousness is not accessible to a computer. And herein lies the fundamental limit, and the danger, of artificial intelligence.

Federico Faggin is an Italian-American physicist, engineer, and entrepreneur best known for leading the design of the first commercial microprocessor, the Intel 4004, at Intel in 1971. Before that, he created silicon-gate technology (SGT) at Fairchild Semiconductor, a key innovation that made modern integrated circuits and microprocessors possible. Faggin later co-founded Zilog, where he led the design of the Z80 microprocessor, and went on to co-found Synaptics, pioneering the development of touchpads and touchscreens. A recipient of numerous awards, including the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, he now heads the Federico and Elvia Faggin Foundation, dedicated to the scientific study of consciousness.

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