Where Human and AI Consciousness Research Meet, with Kati Devaney and Rob Long & Asterisk Magazine

Описание: The Bay is where AI is being built. It’s also one of the major centers in the study of meditation and psychedelics. It is, in short, where two branches of consciousness research collide.
This conversation, hosted by Asterisk Magazine, centers on two of the weird forks in that research and where they meet. Rob Long is a philosopher whose work centers on consciousness in artificial intelligence systems — how we’ll know if there is something that it is like to be a bot, and how humans should respond if there is. Kati Devaney is a neuroscientist who studies the ways contemplative practices influence brain function and consciousness.
We’ll talk about:
• Neuroscientific theories of consciousness and how they overlap in both humans and AIs
• The ethical and philosophical implications of AI consciousness — and how Buddhism might inform that
• The limits of selfhood and agency – how meditative insights challenge the illusion of self, and whether AI could have a comparable experience
• Whether androids dream of electric sheep
• And more, with time saved for audience questions

This event will be in-person and livestreamed publically on the Alembic Youtube channel.Rob Long is the co-founder and executive director of Eleos AI, a research organization investigating AI sentience and wellbeing. He has a PhD in Philosophy from NYU and previously worked at the Future of Humanity Institute and the Center for AI Safety.
Kati Devaney is a neuroscientist and dedicated meditation practitioner, with over 20 years of meditation experience. Since 2002 Kati has sat retreats across the US, Europe, and India and she has collected behavioral and imaging data from meditators across several retreats, events, and laboratories. Supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, she earned her PhD in 2018, using fMRI to examine attention and default mode network function in experienced Vipassana meditators.This event is hosted by Asterisk Magazine.