Michael Johnson: “We SHOULD Make AI Conscious”

Michael Edward Johnson is a co-founder of the Qualia Research Institute and an independent researcher in the fields of consciousness, neuroscience and philosophy. Michael is, in my view, one of the most under appreciated thinkers around, so it brings me great pleasure to present this survey of his ideas to you all.We talk about mathematical theories of consciousness (dual-aspect monism), the symmetry theory of valence, panpsychism and super organism consciousness, vasocomputation, Buddhism, moral realism through valence realism, AI consciousness and AI alignment.If you found this podcast valuable, consider becoming a patron. My patrons help keep this show sustainable and ensure I can keep bringing you the most interesting thinkers in the highest quality possible.0:00 — Highlights0:51 — Intro2:30 — Are the big labs incentivized to play down consciousness?7:09 — What is consciousness?10:03 — Dual-aspect monism18:14 — Symmetry theory of valence24:00 — Wait so panpsychism?30:18 — The binding problem34:08 — Is a corporation conscious?42:51 — Vasocomputation, embodied bayesian priors, and trauma49:50 — The self50:57 — Why do latches stay closed?54:29 — Cancer55:27 — “The hand of the mind is the vascular system”56:52 — Vasocomp. and predictive processing59:04 — Tanha1:02:50 — The multiple paths to Vasocomp.1:04:46 — What is Enlightenment?1:10:54 — How to open latches1:18:00 — Empirical validation?1:18:57 — Moral realism grounding in valence1:32:38 — Objections to valence utilitarianism1:40:32 — Is AI conscious?1:49:58 — Is AI consciousness good for alignment?1:57:38 — Michael’s longterm visionReferencesQualia Research Institute: https://qri.org/Michael’s book Principia Qualia: https://opentheory.net/PrincipiaQualia.pdfIntegrated Information Theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_information_theorySymmetry Theory of Valence: https://opentheory.net/2021/07/a-primer-on-the-symmetry-theory-of-valence/Noether’s Theorem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noether’s_theoremRomeo Stevens’ X: https://x.com/RomeoStevens76Nick Cammarata’s X: https://x.com/nickcammarataMichael (plus3happiness)’s X: https://x.com/Plus3HappinessThe Feeling of Value: Moral Realism Grounded in Phenomenal Consciousness: https://amzn.to/4qQTo88Reasons and Persons: https://amzn.to/4haQUhyMichael’s SocialsMichael’s Blog: https://opentheory.net/Michael Johnson’s X: https://x.com/johnsonmxeA beautiful overview of Michael’s core ideas: https://hyperspace.opentheory.net/My Socials:X: http://x.com/cxgonzalez/Substack: https://substack.com/@cxgonzalezInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/c.x.gonzalez/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cxgonzalezSpotify: Apple Podcasts: Get full access to Seeing Clearly at cxgonzalez.substack.com/subscribe