Human and Non-Human Consciousness: Do They Share Common Characteristics?
Evangelos Koumparoudi
Rudn Journal of Philosophy December 15, 2023 DOI: 10.22363/2313-2302-2023-27-4-888-900 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that evidence supports commonalities between human and animal consciousness at the levels of neurophysiology, emotion, and metacognition, while contending that human consciousness is more complex than animals' or AI's and cannot be captured by cybernetic and computational models because of its malleability, reconsolidation, neural plasticity, varied conceptions of emotion, and mental pathologies. |
Abstract
This study examines the possible common characteristics between human and non-human consciousness. It mainly addresses animal consciousness and, to a certain extent, intelligent AI. It provides an overview of the main theories regarding consciousness, more specifically those of neuroscience and cognitive science, and also their materialistic base at a neuroanatomical and neurophysiological level, emphasizing the role the prefrontal cortex plays, both in humans and animals. Then, it considers particular aspects of consciousness, such as emotion, and presents the three broad traditions considering human emotions, which are emotions as feelings, evaluations, and judgments, as well as studies on animal emotions. Then, it continues with the proposed models of metacognition and memory to deepen the analysis regarding common characteristics of human and non-human consciousness. It also touches on the platform theory, which may bridge human, animal, and AI consciousness, although this theory is under consideration. It ends with references to animals’ social behavior, their interactions with humans, their possible ontogenic proximity as expressed in biolinguistics, and the findings of computational ethology, which help to establish models of mental human disorders. The study concludes that findings support proximities between humans and animals, consciousness at the level of neurophysiology, and emotion and metacognition. Contrary to animals and AI, human consciousness is more complicated and far from cybernetic and computational models since it is linked with various kinds of malleability, reconsolidation, neural plasticity, different conceptions of emotions, and certain mental pathologies.