Welcome to the future: Consciousness and Intelligence in humans and machines

This program has been developed for Year 12 Philosophy students and explores the philosophy and ethics of consciousness and intelligence in humans and machines. This program features expert researchers from the University of Melbourne and Monash University from three distinctive disciplines: philosophy, cognitive neuroscience and machines science.

9.00am Overview of philosophical perspectives

• • Dualism or materialism
• • Consciousness as an inner fantasy
• • Artificial intelligence and consciousness (Turing test)
• • Free will and the brain

10.00am Demos and discussions (Session 1)
Students will split into 3 groups and attend three different stations with demos 20min each (5min group organising).

• Station 1: Bionics
• Station 2: Free will
• Station 3: Visual consciousness

10.35am Morning tea

10.50am Demos and discussions (Session 2 & 3) 2x 20min each group swaps.

• Station 1: Bionics
• Station 2: Free will
• Station 3: Visual consciousness

11.30am The ethical and legal issues of consciousness in technology

• Measuring consciousness
• Free will and responsibility
• Group discussion

12.00pm Prep for debate

• Moderator to provide overview of debate question
• Students to split into teams
• Students choose three team members to take part in the debate
• Students prep debate points

12.30pm Lunch

1.10pm Debate
Possible topics:

• Are driverless cars safe?
• How do we know if patients are conscious in the absence of reportability?
• What would it take to make a conscious detection machine?
• Should we ban or regulate attempts to build conscious machines?

2.00 - 2.30pm Conclusion

Please register on behalf of your students and state your school name.