Cover Image
QR Code

In the machine.

A physicist at the Danish Technical University in Lyngby, Rodney Cotterill, who believes that he has discovered the quintessence of consciousness, has applied for a patent covering a circuit design for conscious computers and is examining possible applications with a number of companies. Cotterill...

Full description

Published in:Economist Vol. 339; pp. 88 - 90
Format: Article
Published: Economist Newspaper Limited 12/17/1988
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=507485213&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ssf
    uiTerm: 507485213
    longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson)
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        00130613
        ECO
      jtl: Economist
      issn: 00130613
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: 12/17/1988
      vid: 339
      pid: 161
      pub: Economist Newspaper Limited
    artinfo:
      ui: 507485213
      ppf: 88
      ppct: 2
      formats:
      tig:
        atl: In the machine.
      aug:
      su: Conscious automata
      sug:
        subj: Conscious automata
      ab: A physicist at the Danish Technical University in Lyngby, Rodney Cotterill, who believes that he has discovered the quintessence of consciousness, has applied for a patent covering a circuit design for conscious computers and is examining possible applications with a number of companies. Cotterill is intrigued by how artificial neural networks, which are vast arrays of interconnected electronic processors, might mimic the real networks of nerve cells in the brain. Many neural-network enthusiasts hope that consciousness will emerge automatically if their machines become sufficiently complex, but Cotterill contends that something fundamental that is linked to the particular way in which brains communicate with muscles is still missing in such machines. It is his opinion that the efference copy that warns the brain's sensory-receptor areas about what muscles are about to do is the crucial ingredient of consciousness.
      pubtype: Periodical
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: N
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N