Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is the explicit understanding that one exists. It is the by-product of complex perceptions and arises through self-identification of oneself. In the repeated form it is related to Self-Consciousness. Furthermore, it includes the concept that one exists as an individual, separate from other individuals, with private thoughts.

Can organizations become self-aware?

Corporations, companies and organizations can become aware of themselves and their image among other organizations and the public. A corporation can be attributed with the full BDI (Belief-Desire-Intention) spectrum of activities, it can (see [1]):

• believe that its profit margin will soon increase
• believe that a certain company is one of its main competitors
• intend to release a new product this January
• intend to adopt a new sales strategy
• want to change its corporate image

If an organization is treated as an disembodied agent without physical body, then only those abstract mental states are used to explain the behavior which do not involve a body (no pleasure, pain, feelings or consciousness). Although corporations and organizations can be aware of their own image, people do not think that corporations might be capable of self-consciousness.

In principle any organization or society of agents can develop a form of collective consciousness if it is complex enough.

Can computers become self-aware?

In a limited sense computers are already self-aware of their sub-systems. They know how much memory they have left, they are aware of what's happening on the keybooard, they are aware of what's on the monitor. They are also conscious of some items and information, for instance icons and files, while others can be considered as "unconscious":

• conscious items = information in memory/on desktop
• unconscious items = information not in memory/on desktop

Yet even if there is an icon of the computer on the desktop, the computer as a whole is not self-aware. There is no perception of a self possible, because there is no perception. A computer is not embedded in a perceive-reason-action cycle. Similarly, the internet can not become self-aware, because it does not perceive anything, and it does not have a self.

There is no reason why an autonomous software agent should not be able to become self-aware to a certain degree - wether it is an autonomous software agent or hardware robot. They have a self embedded in an environment, and they perceive their environment. Yet full self-awareness is probably not possible without an understanding of language.

Steps towards self-awareness

Awareness of oneself as an individual requires awareness of other individuals and individual personalities in general. The perception, representation and identification of individuals is possible by an understanding of language. Therefore full self-awareness is probably not possible without an full understanding of language - except the humans, no animal has developed full self-awareness or self-consciousness.

The first steps towards self-awareness is a rudimentary distinction between self and non-self. The second step is a coarse understanding of language and a crude perception of individuals in general. A robot usually cannot recognize or perceive itself, if it is not able to understand language.

In animals, information about the system itself is so important that it is usually processed and controlled by an own system, the limbic system and the autonomic nervous system, or in other words, largely by emotions. "Information about the system itself" is processed by the limbic system, and "information about other things" by the cerebral cortex.

If robots are able to understand things through language, then the point where they start to distinguish "information about the system itself" and "information about other things" is the point where self-awareness begins. To know the self means to know where the self ends, and where the rest of the world begins.

Links

• SciAm article: Can a Robot, an Insect or God Be Aware?

• Wikipedia Entry for Self-Awareness

• NYTimes article: Can Robots Become Conscious?