How to Study and Understand
Non-Human Consciousness
4-9 May 2024 | Kathmandu, Nepal
How to Study and Understand
Non-Human Consciousness
4-9 May 2024 | Kathmandu, Nepal
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
The first Animal Consciousness Conference, held in Dharamshala on May 1-5, 2023, covered a wide range of issues – from the global Buddhist demarcation of the world into sentient and non-sentient, through a panorama of the phenomena of sentience and consciousness in different biological taxa, discussions of theories of consciousness and its neurobiological mechanisms, to moral and ethical issues and policies in the field of animal consciousness.
This introductory conference highlighted two important issues:
1. The range of phenomena related to the domain of consciousness is noticeably expanding today. In the future, this may lead to a rethinking of many previously known facts of animal behavior as manifestations of conscious processes.
2. At the same time, there is still considerable uncertainty in the empirical research, tests and conclusions about consciousness in different animal species. To a large extent, this is determined by the ambiguity of theoretical ideas about consciousness, its evolutionary and neural foundations, and the lack of a well-founded program for scientific study of consciousness in the animal world.
The second Animal Consciousness Conference aims to take a step towards the development of such a program. Its topic will be "How to Study and Understand Non-Human Consciousness" and its main task is to advance as far as possible in answering the question what approaches, experiments, and tests are needed and possible today for the scientific exploration of non-human consciousness.
The term “non-human consciousness" appears in the title of the conference because the tasks of identifying and studying potential consciousness in different animal species and in artificial systems faces today a set of similar problems and these two areas can fertilize each other. To this end, the conference will bring together not only experts in the field of animal consciousness, but also in the field of artificial intelligence.
The format of the conference will include both talks with proposals on how to study and understand non-human consciousness, and also work in interdisciplinary breakout groups. They will discuss theoretical, behavioral and neuroscientific approaches to the study of consciousness and will report their proposals at the summing-up general sessions. The conference will be considered a success if it produces a noticeable shift in empirical approaches to the study of non-human consciousness.
This introductory conference highlighted two important issues:
1. The range of phenomena related to the domain of consciousness is noticeably expanding today. In the future, this may lead to a rethinking of many previously known facts of animal behavior as manifestations of conscious processes.
2. At the same time, there is still considerable uncertainty in the empirical research, tests and conclusions about consciousness in different animal species. To a large extent, this is determined by the ambiguity of theoretical ideas about consciousness, its evolutionary and neural foundations, and the lack of a well-founded program for scientific study of consciousness in the animal world.
The second Animal Consciousness Conference aims to take a step towards the development of such a program. Its topic will be "How to Study and Understand Non-Human Consciousness" and its main task is to advance as far as possible in answering the question what approaches, experiments, and tests are needed and possible today for the scientific exploration of non-human consciousness.
The term “non-human consciousness" appears in the title of the conference because the tasks of identifying and studying potential consciousness in different animal species and in artificial systems faces today a set of similar problems and these two areas can fertilize each other. To this end, the conference will bring together not only experts in the field of animal consciousness, but also in the field of artificial intelligence.
The format of the conference will include both talks with proposals on how to study and understand non-human consciousness, and also work in interdisciplinary breakout groups. They will discuss theoretical, behavioral and neuroscientific approaches to the study of consciousness and will report their proposals at the summing-up general sessions. The conference will be considered a success if it produces a noticeable shift in empirical approaches to the study of non-human consciousness.
SPEAKERS
- Konstantin AnokhinInstitute for Advanced Brain Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
- Pavel BalabanInstitute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
- Tim BayneSchool of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
- Jonathan BirchDepartment of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, London School of Economics, London, UK
- Heather BrowningDepartment of Philosophy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
- Nicola ClaytonDepartment of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Clara ColombattoDepartment of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK and Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
- Graziano Fiorito
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn,
Naples, Italy
- Martin GiurfaInstitute of Biology Paris Seine, Sorbonne University, Paris, France
- Nicholas HumphreyDarwin College, Cambridge, UK
- Eva JablonkaTel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Masanori KohdaGraduate School of Science, Osaka Metropolitan University, Osaka, Japan
- Matthew LarkumBiology Institute, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Paul MangerSchool of Anatomical Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Jennifer MatherPsychology Department, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Canada
- Bjorn MerkerIndependent Researcher, Kristianstad, Sweden
- Andreas NiederInstitute of Neurobiology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany
- Geshe Tenzin PriyadarshiFounding Director of The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
- Murray ShanahanDepartment of Computing, Imperial College London, London, UK
- Henry ShevlinLeverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Anindya SinhaAnimal Behaviour and Cognition Programme, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India
- Anna SmirnovaDepartment of Higher Nervous Activity, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
- Mark SolmsNeuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
- Thomas SuddendorfSchool of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- Michael TyeDepartment of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA
- Giorgio VallortigaraCenter for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
- Walter VeitDepartment of Philosophy, University of Reading, Reading, UK
SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZER
- Konstantin Anokhin
Lomonosov Moscow State
University, Moscow
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
- Konstantin Anokhin
Lomonosov Moscow State
University, Moscow
- Yulia ZhironkinaDirector, “Cat of the Wind” Foundation for Humane and Responsible Attitude Towards Animals, Moscow
- Natasha InozemtsevaDeputy Director, “Cat of the Wind” Foundation for Humane and Responsible Attitude Towards Animals, Moscow
PROGRAMME
“How to Study and Understand Non-Human Consciousness”
10:00 – 20:00 Arrivals, registration
20:00 – 21:00 Welcome Reception at the Hyatt Regency Hotel
20:00 – 21:00 Welcome Reception at the Hyatt Regency Hotel
SESSION 1
Non-Human Consciousness: Empirical and Philosophical Perspectives
09:00 – 09:15 Opening remarks
09:15 – 10:00 Nicola Clayton
Embodied сognition: Thinking with feathers and tentacles
10:00 – 10:40 Anna Smirnova
Self-awareness and other complex cognitive capacities in corvids
10:40 – 11:20 Thomas Suddendorf
Minds comparing minds
11:20 – 11.40 Coffee break
11:40 – 12:20 Anindya Sinha
Consciousness in the wild: naturalistic observations of the macaque mind
12:20 – 13:00 Pavel Balaban
Phylogenesis of behavioral choice from Placozoa to mammals
13:00 – 13:40 Masanori Kohda
Reconsideration of the premise for the study on animal consciousness
13:40 – 15:00 Lunch
15:00 – 15:40 Tenzin Priyadarshi
Buddhist theory of consciousness
15:40 – 16:20 Henry Shevlin
Three strategies for understanding non-human consciousness: deep sentientism, shallow sentientism, and patiency pluralism
16:20 – 17:00 Tim Bayne
Tests for consciousness
17:00 – 17:20 Coffee break
17:20 – 18:00 Heather Browning
Mapping animal affect
18:00 – 18:40 Walter Veit
What are the adaptive benefits of subjective experience
19:30 – 21:30 Conference Opening Dinner at the Hyatt Regency Hotel
Non-Human Consciousness: Empirical and Philosophical Perspectives
09:00 – 09:15 Opening remarks
09:15 – 10:00 Nicola Clayton
Embodied сognition: Thinking with feathers and tentacles
10:00 – 10:40 Anna Smirnova
Self-awareness and other complex cognitive capacities in corvids
10:40 – 11:20 Thomas Suddendorf
Minds comparing minds
11:20 – 11.40 Coffee break
11:40 – 12:20 Anindya Sinha
Consciousness in the wild: naturalistic observations of the macaque mind
12:20 – 13:00 Pavel Balaban
Phylogenesis of behavioral choice from Placozoa to mammals
13:00 – 13:40 Masanori Kohda
Reconsideration of the premise for the study on animal consciousness
13:40 – 15:00 Lunch
15:00 – 15:40 Tenzin Priyadarshi
Buddhist theory of consciousness
15:40 – 16:20 Henry Shevlin
Three strategies for understanding non-human consciousness: deep sentientism, shallow sentientism, and patiency pluralism
16:20 – 17:00 Tim Bayne
Tests for consciousness
17:00 – 17:20 Coffee break
17:20 – 18:00 Heather Browning
Mapping animal affect
18:00 – 18:40 Walter Veit
What are the adaptive benefits of subjective experience
19:30 – 21:30 Conference Opening Dinner at the Hyatt Regency Hotel
SESSION 2
Non-Human Consciousness: Theory-Driven Perspective
09:30 – 10:15 Nicholas Humphrey
Are animals conscious zombies? How could we know?
10:15 – 11:00 Giorgio Vallortigara
The efference copy mechanism as a basis for the appearance of sentience
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 12:15 Eva Jablonka
Learning and the origins of consciousness: criteria and predictions
12:15 – 13:00 Konstantin Anokhin
Algorithmic origins of subjective experience: predictions for its presence
13:00 – 15:00 Lunch
15:00 – 16:30 Breakout Groups
How to study non-human consciousness: Theory-driven approaches
16:30 – 17:00 Coffee break
17:00 – 18:30 General Session: Group reports, General discussion
How to study non-human consciousness: Theory-driven approaches
19:00 – 20:30 Dinner
Non-Human Consciousness: Theory-Driven Perspective
09:30 – 10:15 Nicholas Humphrey
Are animals conscious zombies? How could we know?
10:15 – 11:00 Giorgio Vallortigara
The efference copy mechanism as a basis for the appearance of sentience
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 12:15 Eva Jablonka
Learning and the origins of consciousness: criteria and predictions
12:15 – 13:00 Konstantin Anokhin
Algorithmic origins of subjective experience: predictions for its presence
13:00 – 15:00 Lunch
15:00 – 16:30 Breakout Groups
How to study non-human consciousness: Theory-driven approaches
16:30 – 17:00 Coffee break
17:00 – 18:30 General Session: Group reports, General discussion
How to study non-human consciousness: Theory-driven approaches
19:00 – 20:30 Dinner
SESSION 3
Non-Human Consciousness: Behavioral Perspective
09:30 – 10:15 Jonathan Birch
Insects as a model system for the study of consciousness
10:15 – 11:00 Martin Giurfa
Exploring levels of cosciousness in insects
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 12:15 Graziano Fiorito
Octopus vulgaris: personality, sentience and 'possibly' consciousness
12:15 – 13:00 Jennifer Mather
Do cephalopods have conscious deception? A research program transferred from behavioural testing of vertebrates.
13:00 – 15:00 Lunch
15:00 – 16:30 Breakout Groups
How to study non-human consciousness: Behavioral approaches
16:30 – 17:00 Coffee break
17:00 – 18:30 General Session: Group reports, General discussion
How to study non-human consciousness: Behavioral approaches
19:00 – 20:30 Dinner
Non-Human Consciousness: Behavioral Perspective
09:30 – 10:15 Jonathan Birch
Insects as a model system for the study of consciousness
10:15 – 11:00 Martin Giurfa
Exploring levels of cosciousness in insects
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 12:15 Graziano Fiorito
Octopus vulgaris: personality, sentience and 'possibly' consciousness
12:15 – 13:00 Jennifer Mather
Do cephalopods have conscious deception? A research program transferred from behavioural testing of vertebrates.
13:00 – 15:00 Lunch
15:00 – 16:30 Breakout Groups
How to study non-human consciousness: Behavioral approaches
16:30 – 17:00 Coffee break
17:00 – 18:30 General Session: Group reports, General discussion
How to study non-human consciousness: Behavioral approaches
19:00 – 20:30 Dinner
10:00 – 19:00 Excursion to Buddhists Monasteries of Pharping and Kathmandu
SESSION 4
Non-Human Consciousness: Neuroscience Perspective
09:30 – 10:15 Bjorn Merker
No consciousness without it: the minimal design requirement for conscious status
10:15 – 11:00 Matthew Larkum
Dendritic integration theory - understanding why anesthesia leads to loss of consciousness
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 12:15 Andreas Nieder
Neuronal correlates for the conscious experience of stimulus presence and absence
12:15 – 13:00 Paul Manger
Comparative neuroanatomical and sleep studies and the neural generators of conscious experiences
13:00 – 15:00 Lunch
15:00 – 16:30 Breakout Groups
How to study non-human consciousness: Neuroscience approaches
16:30 – 17:00 Coffee break
17:00 – 18:30 General Session: Group reports, General discussion
How to study non-human consciousness: Neuroscience approaches
19:30 – 22:00 Conference Closing Dinner at Krishnarpan Nepali Restaurant at the Dwarika's Hotel
Non-Human Consciousness: Neuroscience Perspective
09:30 – 10:15 Bjorn Merker
No consciousness without it: the minimal design requirement for conscious status
10:15 – 11:00 Matthew Larkum
Dendritic integration theory - understanding why anesthesia leads to loss of consciousness
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 12:15 Andreas Nieder
Neuronal correlates for the conscious experience of stimulus presence and absence
12:15 – 13:00 Paul Manger
Comparative neuroanatomical and sleep studies and the neural generators of conscious experiences
13:00 – 15:00 Lunch
15:00 – 16:30 Breakout Groups
How to study non-human consciousness: Neuroscience approaches
16:30 – 17:00 Coffee break
17:00 – 18:30 General Session: Group reports, General discussion
How to study non-human consciousness: Neuroscience approaches
19:30 – 22:00 Conference Closing Dinner at Krishnarpan Nepali Restaurant at the Dwarika's Hotel
SESSION 5
Non-Human Consciousness: AI Perspective
09:30 – 10:15 Michael Tye
How can we tell if a machine is conscious?
10:15 – 11:00 Clara Colombatto
Attributions of consciousness to artificial agent
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 12:15 Mark Solms
Brainstem consciousness and artificial consciousness
12:15 – 13:00 Murray Shanahan
Conscious exotica and artificial intelligence
13:00 – 15:00 Lunch
15:00 – 16:30 General Discussion
How to study non-human consciousness: AI perspective
16:30 – 17:00 Coffee break
17:00 – 18:30 General Session:
Summing up, suggestions, further plans
19:00 – 20:30 Dinner
Non-Human Consciousness: AI Perspective
09:30 – 10:15 Michael Tye
How can we tell if a machine is conscious?
10:15 – 11:00 Clara Colombatto
Attributions of consciousness to artificial agent
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 12:15 Mark Solms
Brainstem consciousness and artificial consciousness
12:15 – 13:00 Murray Shanahan
Conscious exotica and artificial intelligence
13:00 – 15:00 Lunch
15:00 – 16:30 General Discussion
How to study non-human consciousness: AI perspective
16:30 – 17:00 Coffee break
17:00 – 18:30 General Session:
Summing up, suggestions, further plans
19:00 – 20:30 Dinner
Departure
LOCATION
Hyatt Regency Kathmandu Hotel
PO Box 9609, Taragaon, Boudha, Kathmandu, 141001, Nepal
Tel: +977 1 5171234
kathmandu.regency@hyatt.com
Set on 37 acres of landscaped grounds, a five-star Hyatt Regency Kathmandu Hotel is designed in traditional Newari-style architecture. It is located ideally only 4 kilometres away from the international airport and is a gateway to the city’s plethora of ancient attractions and fascinating architecture sites like Boudhanath, Pashupatinath, Basantapur, Thamel, Bhaktapur Durbar Square, Patan Durbar Square and much more.
PO Box 9609, Taragaon, Boudha, Kathmandu, 141001, Nepal
Tel: +977 1 5171234
kathmandu.regency@hyatt.com
Set on 37 acres of landscaped grounds, a five-star Hyatt Regency Kathmandu Hotel is designed in traditional Newari-style architecture. It is located ideally only 4 kilometres away from the international airport and is a gateway to the city’s plethora of ancient attractions and fascinating architecture sites like Boudhanath, Pashupatinath, Basantapur, Thamel, Bhaktapur Durbar Square, Patan Durbar Square and much more.
BUDDHIST MONASTERIES
About 19km south of Kathmandu, Pharping is a thriving Newari town whose ancient Buddhist pilgrimage sites have been taken over by large numbers of Tibetan Buddhists of various traditions. A circuit of its religious sites makes for a compelling day out from Kathmandu.
ACC-2024 participants will be hosted by Azom Wosel Dongag Chokher Ling Monastery (https://azommonastery.org/gallery) which is located in the picturesque sacred mountains of Dollu, near Pharphing on the edge of the Kathmandu Valley. The monastery belongs to Nyigma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The monastery offers spiritual guidance and fostering compassion in the hearts of all sentient beings.
ACC-2024 participants will be hosted by Azom Wosel Dongag Chokher Ling Monastery (https://azommonastery.org/gallery) which is located in the picturesque sacred mountains of Dollu, near Pharphing on the edge of the Kathmandu Valley. The monastery belongs to Nyigma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The monastery offers spiritual guidance and fostering compassion in the hearts of all sentient beings.
CONTACTS
- Mrs. Yulia Zhironkina
Email: yz@anyminds.org
“Cat of the Wind” Foundation for Humane and Responsible Attitude Towards Animals, Moscow
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