Virtual bodies for our virtual minds

Last summer, we had a blog post. Why should you load your mind into a supercomputer? However, despite such a fascinating prospect of rejecting earthly fetters and freeing ourselves from everything carnal, the human mind, his consciousness, is forever connected with the sensation of the body. Therefore, scientists of the future, who will find a way to load a person's mind into a computer, will have to solve the problem of creating a virtual body for him.



Loading the mind into a supercomputer opens up exciting prospects: you can live forever, and the possibilities for learning and learning will expand so much that it is difficult to imagine. But on the way to this idyll, in addition to obvious technical difficulties, there is another one related to our very nature. More precisely, this problem lies at the junction of physiology and psychology: for the proper functioning of our consciousness requires a sense of our own body. Even in the virtual world. And if we ever come to the loading of minds into supercomputers, then we will have to attend to and emulate virtual bodies.



We are not only our consciousness and life experience. Being material beings belonging to the material world, we orient ourselves in it and explore it through our consciousness. And the body is an indispensable mediator in this process. Our mind needs a sense of body, no matter what - organic, mechanical or virtual.

')

The last option is just the most interesting. Indeed, in the case of loading into a supercomputer, the body for consciousness disappears, and we are talking only about body emulation. Here they will also ask from the audience: “What will consciousness turn into when converting to zeros and ones?”. This, at this stage, is a purely philosophical topic, which can be discussed endlessly. After all, we still do not know what constitutes the “original” of consciousness in our head, but at the same time we are fantasizing about moving it into a computer ...



Returning to the virtual body: it is obvious that for the digitized consciousness it must perform the same function as for the organic one - to provide feedback when interacting with the outside world. That is to say, virtual. It would seem, everything is simple, just copy the functions of the body and translate them into formulas and algorithms. But this task is not as simple as it seems at first glance.

Emulation of embodied knowledge

The term " embodied knowledge " just describes the inseparable relationship between our mind and body. In our case, it is logical to talk about virtual embodied knowledge.



The fact that our mind needs a body was written by Alan Turing:

It can be argued that the best solution would be to create a machine with the most perfect sense organs possible, and then teach it to understand and speak English. This process can be built on the model of ordinary children's learning. It will be possible to show on items and name them, etc.

Turing talked about robots, but his words can be projected onto the task of body virtualization. In the work of Rodney Brooks was expressed a similar point of view, according to which robots will be the more effective, the less they will independently plan, process and comprehend the information. That is, artificial intelligence will be more effective when it is based on learning, on an upward principle , and not on pre-established complex algorithms and representations.



All these statements become clearer if we draw an analogy with ourselves: the process of cognition takes place in the brain, not in the body, it serves only to transfer information necessary for subjective perception. The theory of embodied cognition is based on the idea that the motor system (body) influences the process of cognition along with sensory perception, as well as chemical and microbiological factors.



Recently, an attempt was made to create a cognitive architecture for robots and virtual embodied cognition - OpenCog . The authors of the project are trying to give artificial intelligence a mechanism for sensing the body and the environment, but their work is closely related to the problems of general brain emulation.

The role of sensations

In the study of embodied knowledge, one of the key assumptions is that corporeality, the feeling of one’s body, is a necessary condition for the existence of our intellect. That is, our virtual bodies will have to be able to “physically” interact with the virtual environment, providing the digitized consciousness with the same types of information as organic: visual, olfactory, auditory, tactile and gustatory. Accordingly, the virtual world will have to contain all this information in order for virtual people to get it through their digital bodies.



Imagine that you have lost your sense of touch. That is, you touch the object and do not feel its surface, shape, temperature, humidity, hardness and weight. If you think about it, then a huge share of the picture of the surrounding space created in our mind is lost. It turns out similar to computer games, which cause a significant response only when the players themselves actively use their imagination and think out all the other sensory information in addition to visual and auditory.



Thus, for the existence of human consciousness in the depths of the computer will have to create an unusually detailed world. At least, to radically increase the level of detail, at least “around” each virtual body, in order to save computing resources.







If animal consciousness (and why not) comes to a computer, it will be necessary to emulate the corresponding sensitivity of their sensory systems. For example, for dogs, their subtlest sense of smell is vital, and insufficiently accurate emulation in the virtual world can lead to the suffering of a digitized canine mind. And if you underestimate a few feelings? Or give the body, but deprive the virtual world? This can already be attributed to a sophisticated torture, which is very clearly described in the “zero” series of the third season of the fantastic series “The Black Mirror”.







And it would be okay to unscrew the settings of the “power” of smell, where more is more important - how to find out what exactly the dog feels? Who said that the sausage for her smells exactly the same as for us?



In the virtual world, the ability to move will be no less important for us than the fact of sensation of the body. When we look at something, we not only turn our head or body, but also constantly do quick micromotations with our eyes . And all these nuances are extremely important for the correct functioning of consciousness, since this physiological model is embedded in our species. So it's not enough just to project an image of the environment into the digital brain.



Our physicality has a profound effect on our emotional state and how we interact with the world. There is also the so-called “somatic marker hypothesis” called hypothesis , according to which there is a deep mechanism for controlling and changing our behavior and decisions made under the influence of emotions. That is, the body is used by the brain as an intermediary to express our feelings. As an example, the feeling of "butterflies in the stomach." Its cause is activity in the sympathetic nervous system , which results in weak vibrations of the abdominal muscles.



Our posture and facial expressions also serve to express emotions and sensations. At the same time, the opposite is true: posture and facial expression can affect our emotional state. This is called the “facial feedback hypothesis) hypothesis. This is well described in one of the lectures in the framework of the Ted Talks project.



This effect has been known for quite some time. In 1988, a study was conducted in which the subjects were asked to smile while holding a pencil between their teeth. The smile was much wider, and the subjects noted an improvement in their own mood. When they were asked to frown and hold the pencil with their lips, the reaction to some funny stimuli was much less positive. Also, according to studies , after injections of Botox, temporarily paralyzing the mimic muscles, the ability to empathize in people decreases. And in young people it may even negatively affect emotional development.



And do not forget the laughter, which, as it has long been known, is a physiological manifestation and has a positive effect on our health and mood. Moreover, they found out that even laughing gas supposedly relieves depression .







As you can see, a full body emulation should provide the possibility of mimic feedback, and many other physiological aspects that affect the state of our consciousness.

Chemical aspect

Brain work is based on the circulation of electrical impulses and chemicals. It also interacts with the body through chemistry, which has a strong effect on our subjective perception. In particular, norepinephrine , serotonin and dopamine affect our mood. It is possible that it is not necessary to fully emulate all biochemical processes, but you probably cannot do without some.



Such components as the composition of the atmosphere we breathe and the food consumed cannot be ignored. For example, glucose affects our ability to memorize. By the way, an increase in glucose production is triggered by a surge of adrenaline, which occurs in stressful, critical situations. Compare your thinking and memorizing abilities in situations where you are vigorous (there is an optimal amount of glucose in the blood and little carbon dioxide in the air (“not stuffy”)), and when you feel tired ( adenosine production is reduced).



Obviously, everything that we eat and drink affects us. At the same time, many substances directly affect the functioning of our brain and, consequently, our consciousness. Perhaps we will come to the emulation of the effects of alcohol on the digitized consciousness, creating virtual analogs of GABA receptors responsible for the "relaxation" of the central nervous system. It is on these receptors that alcohol acts in the real world, including barbiturates and benzodiazepines .



We should not forget about the role of hormones in the formation of our mood. Hunger and sexual attraction are caused by ghrelin . And leptin can suppress the feeling of hunger, thereby returning a good mood. It is likely that the influence of virtual chemistry on the digital body / consciousness can be emulated without the use of large resources, since the speed of these processes is measured in seconds and minutes.



Scientists suggest that our intestinal microflora also affects the central nervous system. Probably through neural, endocrine and immune systems. It is possible that the microflora plays a role in the manifestation of anxiety, pain and good mood, affects the ability to learn. And last year, scientists conducted a relationship between microflora and depression. Scientists and programmers of the future will obviously have a hard time, our digestive tract contains about 10 ¹⁴ microorganisms . Ready task from the field of big data. It remains only to find out what bacteria are affected.

Low resolution body

Of course, the task of digitizing consciousness is immeasurably more difficult than emulating a sufficiently high-quality virtual body. Probably, it will be possible to work out the body with much less detail. After all, there are many organs and systems that do not affect our brain or emotional state. Of course, until they start to fail. But this already relates to the sphere of life support in a more general sense. For example, we will not need to emulate the work of the spleen or the growth of nails. So the lion's share of computing resources will be spent on the work of consciousness.



We can assume such a development as the emulation of bodies adapted for existence in virtual reality. For example, in the digital world the speed of movement of the limbs will not be limited. Or in general it will be possible to instantly move through the artificial universe. But consciousness has become accustomed to the limitations of the physical body, it is not at all prepared for the unexpected God Mode On. Who knows, all of a sudden, for the psychological adjustment of digital people, they will have to provide them with wings, or an extra pair of hands. Even if the virtual body corresponds to the present, then surely the digital mind will have to learn to interact in new physical conditions.