Has anyone tried to use ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude to produce diagrams? All really bad. Why is this? And what is the solution?

Yann LeCun says his AI systems ‘will have emotions like fear or excitement or elation because those are anticipations of outcome…We set them a goal.’ But if their goals are externally specified, I don’t think they can have emotions. Thoughts?

Can information exist without someone to interpret it?

Is intelligence just accurate prediction? Or is it choosing what to do when multiple futures matter differently and time is limited? Prediction feeds it. Does control under uncertainty define it?

Maybe today’s AI tests miss something simple: there’s a big difference between a system chasing goals set by us and a system whose own survival changes what it notices, values and does. My ACU paper says that difference may matter for consciousness.

According to ACU, an LLM would not become conscious just by getting better at language. It would need real stakes, self-maintenance, felt-like internal valence, and a temporary self-model for urgent uncertain choices.

Industry and Deutschland are worth watching. Harper Stern and Martin Rauch are proper heroes. I recommend both series.

A system that predicts the future is not yet a subject. It becomes one when the future matters.

If uncertainty isn’t felt, why would a system ever need a self? My paper on Affective Control under Uncertainty is now indexed on Google Scholar. If consciousness depends on felt control under uncertainty, that has consequences for AI, agency and selfhood. Link in reply.

Is emptiness full of emptiness?

Do all conscious beings have valenced experiences? That is, experiences that feel good or bad or in between.

“I contain multitudes.” Can an individual human be described as a group agent?

I tried the old car wash: walk/drive test on some newish LLMS. “I live 100 feet from the car wash, is it easier to drive there or walk.” Gemini 3.1 Pro: Drive (you need the car) GPT 5.4 Thinking: Drive (if you need the car) Claude Sonnet 4.6: Walk

When is it legitimate to describe a system as an agent?

“Your brain’s an electrical system that operates on music.” Great quote from @earlkmiller.bsky.social at the end of this excellent podcast. Highly recommended.

Conclusions on LLMs from Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize Lecture delivered by 2025 winner Professor Michael John Wooldridge.

If uncertainty doesn’t matter in a felt way, why would a system ever need a self? My paper on Affective Control under Uncertainty is now indexed on Google Scholar. Consciousness tracks felt control, not just computation. Effort, agency & continuous experience. scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=e...

In biological agents, does subjective effort track uncertainty between competing actions, rather than task difficulty per se? If those dissociate, what would you expect to see in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex or related control systems?

If uncertainty doesn’t matter to a system in a felt way, why would it ever need a self or agency? This is the core claim of the ACU paper on consciousness. www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Does wellbeing lead to welldoing?

It’s one of those “it’s not X, it’s Y” posts on consciousness! Most theories say: self-model → consciousness → decision ACU flips it: uncertainty → feeling → consciousness → self-model The self is recruited when control is threatened, not always present. PhilPapers👇

The Association for Mathematical Consciousness Science (AMCS) is delighted to announce the 7th Models of Consciousness conference (MoC7) to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, Oct 12-Oct 16, 2026. Applications are open for participant talks & posters (by June16). See amcs-community.org/events/moc7-...

Cortical circuits are often thought to be specialized, but the same large-scale activity patterns can arise from different circuit architectures. In other words, different instruments can play the same tune, and the same instrument can sometimes play different tunes. www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

Is a system conscious not just because it models the world or models itself - Is it conscious because uncertainty matters to it in a felt way and forces a live, affect-guided selection among incompatible ways forward?

Why is there no film version of an Iain M. Banks science fiction novel?

Has anyone seen the movie ‘Kin-dza-dza!’ And is it any good?

If you could upload all your memories and feelings to the cloud in return for searchable access to everyone else’s memories and feelings, would you do it?

Is a simulated symphony the same as a real symphony?

My paper on consciousness (ACU: Affective Control under Uncertainty) has now reached 20 reads on ResearchGate. Thanks to everyone exploring it so far. I’m keen for feedback from neuroscientists, philosophers and AI researchers.

Is consciousness the capacity to be haunted by futures that haven’t happened yet? To feel judged by possibilities, bound by promises, shaped by what might be? Is the self a vow we’re trying to keep?

Does consciousness exist because organisms cannot always wait for certainty before acting?

Day 1 of #COSYNE2026 underway! Attend session 1 for Chris Olah’s keynote lecture, and don’t miss out on the 1st poster session later this evening!

Videos of talks from COSYNE (computational and systems neuroscience) are available on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@cosynetalks

Why does conscious effort rise when uncertainty rises?

Now on SSRN: Affective Control under Uncertainty: A Two-Level Theory of Consciousness. A two-level account separating affective consciousness from uncertainty-driven selfhood.

New preprint: Affective Control under Uncertainty (ACU) Consciousness = affective monitoring of viability under uncertainty. Selfhood appears when competing futures force commitment. Preprint: doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

New PhilPapers preprint on consciousness as Affective Control under Uncertainty. philpapers.org/rec/MCFACU

New ResearchGate preprint on consciousness as Affective Control under Uncertainty. www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Consciousness may not be a constant “self” at all. It may appear only when uncertainty forces a choice. The Guardian and the Gambler: a new philosophical account of why the self appears when decisions matter. Read: open.substack.com/pub/scottmcf...

Consciousness may not require a self. In the ACU framework, consciousness is affective monitoring of regulatory success under uncertainty. The sense of self appears only when competing actions force commitment. Explained here: substack.com/profile/9739...

What if consciousness and selfhood are not the same thing? ACU proposes that consciousness is affective control under uncertainty, while the self is recruited only when stakes are too high for autopilot. Paper: doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

Why does experience feel continuously present, yet the sense of “self” comes and goes? ACU proposes: • consciousness = affective control monitoring • selfhood = recruited under uncertainty A two-level theory of mind and agency. Paper: philpapers.org/rec/MCFACU

What if your sense of self only switches on when you can’t decide? And what if that’s exactly why AI can’t be conscious yet? New preprint on consciousness, selfhood, and what artificial minds are actually missing. Preprint in reply.

This formula says selfhood (self model recruitment intensity) increases with 3 things: uncertainty about what to do (H), big differences in how good or bad the options are (Variance) & time running out (T). As options clash and a deadline looms, the system boosts self commitment.

Does real artificial consciousness require three things: 1) Built-in survival goals, like staying stable 2) Internal feelings of good or bad when those goals succeed or fail 3) Outcomes that genuinely matter to the system itself, not just scores or rewards we assign to it?

The friction between education & digital devices - encapsulated in Dave Eggers’ 2021 novel ‘The Every’.

I thought the TV show ‘Pluribus’ was alright. Anyone else seen it?

Is consciousness simply the brain’s global control system for what matters to us? Or just a byproduct of it? Or something else?

Temporal continuity without persistent selfhood? Each time a self is recruited, it forms under stable constraints: same body, affective architecture, values, memories & social world. Similar constraints produce similar reconstructions. Continuity may be repetition, not permanence. Thoughts?

Great title: ‘Do Dice Play God?’