Simulated consciousness, synthetic consciousness, etc. is a theme of a number of works in

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

. The theme is one step beyond the concept of the "

brain in a vat In philosophy, the brain in a vat (BIV) is a scenario used in a variety of thought experiments intended to draw out certain features of human conceptions of knowledge, reality, truth, mind, consciousness, and meaning. It is a modern incarna ...

"/" simulated reality" in that not only the perceived reality but the

brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a ve ...

and its

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

are simulations themselves.

Stanislaw Lem Stanislav and variants may refer to: People *Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Stanislaus County, Cali ...

's professor Corcoran (met by

Ijon Tichy Ijon Tichy (Polish pronunciation: ) is a fictional character who appears in several works of the Polish science fiction writer Stanisław Lem: initially in '' The Star Diaries'', later in '' The Futurological Congress'', '' Peace on Earth'', '' Obse ...

during his interstellar travels, first published by Lem in 1961) simulated conscious agents (personoids) to actually test the viability of the " simulation hypothesis" of the reality, i.e., the idea of

solipsism Solipsism (; ) is the philosophical idea that only one's mind is sure to exist. As an epistemological position, solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one's own mind is unsure; the external world and other minds cannot be known a ...

. In the 1954 story ''

The Tunnel under the World "The Tunnel under the World" is a science fiction short story by American writer Frederik Pohl. It was first published in 1955 in ''Galaxy'' magazine. It has often been anthologized, most notably in '' The Golden Age of Science Fiction'', edited ...

'' by Frederik Pohl, a whole city was simulated in order to run tests of the efficiency of advertising campaigns, and the plot evolves from the point when one "simulacrum" suddenly notices that every day is June 15. Pohl's idea was elaborated in '' Simulacron-3'' (1964) by Daniel F. Galouye (alternative title: ''Counterfeit World''), which tells the story of a virtual city developed as a computer simulation for market research purposes. In this city the simulated inhabitants possess consciousness; all but one of the inhabitants are unaware of the true nature of their world. Furthermore, various novels by

Greg Egan Greg Egan (born 20 August 1961) is an Australian science fiction writer and amateur mathematician, best known for his works of hard science fiction. Egan has won multiple awards including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Hugo Award, ...

such as '' Permutation City'' (1994), '' Diaspora'' (1997) and ''

Schild's Ladder In the theory of general relativity, and differential geometry more generally, Schild's ladder is a first-order method for ''approximating'' parallel transport of a vector along a curve using only affinely parametrized geodesics. The method ...

'' (2002) explore the concept of simulated consciousness.

References

{{Science fiction Science fiction themes Artificial intelligence Consciousness studies

See also

References