Mindplexes, Non-Ordinary Consciousness, and Artificial General Intelligence

The accelerating development of artificial intelligence raises fundamental questions about what constitutes a mind, particularly given the prospect of a 'global brain'. Drawing on philosophy of mind and accounts of non-ordinary consciousness, the authors discuss the concept of a 'mindplex'—a collective entity composed of humans and AIs that each possess their own 'theatre of consciousness' while also forming a unified global brain. They argue that insights from non-ordinary consciousness can inform the functional architecture of such mindplexes, and propose that implementing AI on distributed ledger technology like blockchain would support this evolution. The work suggests these considerations can help align mindplex construction with ethical and value-alignment goals.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The accelerating pace of development in artificial intelligence invokes fundamental questions regarding what constitutes a mind. Considering that AI has sprung from the cognitive enterprise of humanity and that there is the likely prospect of constructing some form of 'global brain', examining such questions may help to refine the conversation around AI and understand what might constitute a global brain. We draw on recent work in philosophy of mind and cognition—viewing mind as being representational and/or enactive in nature and function—, and hone in on insights that practices and accounts of non-ordinary consciousness (NOC) lend to this discussion. We discuss the concept of a "mindplex", which is comprised of individual constituents (humans and/or AI's) and an encompassing collective global brain that both concurrently possess cohesive 'theatres of consciousness'. We posit that these theatres of an AGI global brain have correspondences with key aspects of the inherent nature of consciousness and reality (as understood outside the AI context) as gleaned through NOC. We propose that these considerations are poised to strongly contribute to the construction of mindplexes by reflecting in their functional architecture the nature of mind and engineering mindplexes in tandem with ethical and value-alignment considerations. Furthermore, we propose the adoption and implementation of AI on distributed ledger technology (DLT), such as blockchain, which would provide support for the evolution of a global brain mindplex.