Synopsis
The link between emergent properties and changes in organization is what author Gary A. Lucas calls the organization effect. This concept has important implications for the design of cognitive systems. If changes in organization introduce new properties, then it follows that once we discover the structures that generate key properties in biological minds we can recreate those properties in another form.
Building on Antonio Damasio's description of consciousness as the feeling of what happens, Lucas relies on findings in neuroscience to explain why such feelings emerge in human minds and how similar feelings can be implemented in a robotic agent. He then reverse engineers the mechanisms of the human brain that give rise to intelligence, a sense of self, and a sense of social belongingness to show how those properties can also be implemented in a robotic mind. The result is an account of a conscious, reasoning, socially aware agent that provides novel perspectives on the mechanisms of our own mind.
From the Inside Flap
In Emergence, Mind, and Consciousness, author Gary A. Lucas does something that many consider impossible: he bridges the gap between a bottom-up description of brain mechanisms and the top-down emergence of mental processes. The result is a comprehensive yet readily understandable explanation of how consciousness emerges.
Lucas, however, strives to do more. He seeks to design an artificial agent with all the essential properties of the human mind--consciousness, declarative memory, a sense of self, reasoning skills, language, and social identity. His account is mechanistic, and yet, as the bio-inspired networks are linked to emergent mental properties, we come to understand that we can truly construct a conscious agent. We have a model for how to build one.
If you're interested in the emergent properties of mind, consciousness, cognition, self-awareness, social belongingness, or the possibility of constructing a robotic agent with such properties, then this is essential reading. It is conscious mind explained on a level that even a robot will understand it.
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