UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO - STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
The Department of Computer Science & Engineering

CSE 719: Seminar: COMPUTATIONAL THEORIES OF CONSCIOUSNESS Fall 2009

SYLLABUS

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

PREREQUISITES:

STAFF:

Professor:
Dr. William J. Rapaport, 214 Bell Hall; phone: 645-4736 rapaport@buffalo.edu
Office Hours: Mondays, 1:30–2:30 P.M.; Tuesdays, 11:00–11:50 A.M.; and by appointment.

CLASS MEETINGS:

TEXTS:

1. Anderson, John R. (2007), How Can the Human Mind Occur in the Physical Universe? (New York: Oxford University Press); isbn=9780195324259

2. Blackmore, Susan (2005), Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press); isbn=978-0-19-280585-0
   • Amazon.com Look Inside

3. McDermott, Drew V. (2001), Mind and Mechanism (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press); isbn=978-0-262-13392-0

4. O'Shea, Michael (2005), The Brain: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press); isbn=978-0-19-285392-9
   • Amazon.com Look Inside

The primary readings will almost all be online.

IMPORTANT DATES & TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:

Note: I am continuing to update the topics and readings to reflect both what we actually did and when we did it, as well as a more accurate prediction about what we will be doing and when we will be doing it.

MONTH	DATE	TOPIC	READINGS
Sep	4	General Introduction; Mind-Body Problem (discussion of Descartes, What is the mind?)	Descartes What is the mind? For next time: Leibniz Lem 1967 O'Shea 2005, esp. Ch.3 Blackmore 2005 or Baars 1988, Ch.1 or Flanagan & Güzeldere 1997 or Van Gulick 2009
	11	Consciousness: Basic Issues (discussion of Leibniz, et al.)	For next time: (readings will always be for the next time) Crick & Koch (all 4 papers) Edelman 2003
	18	Cognitive-Neuroscientific Theories (discussion of Crick, Koch, Edelman)	Baars 1988 (Ch. 2) Dehaene & Naccache 2001 Dennett & Kinsbourne 1992
	25	Psychological Theories (discussion of Baars, Dehaene); Philosophical Theories (discussion of Dennett)	Nagel 1974 Jackson 1982 or Jackson 1986 Block 1995 Chalmers 1997
Oct	2	Philosophical Theories (cont'd): (discussion of Dennett, cont'd; discussion of Nagel, Jackson, Block, Chalmers )	Rosenthal 1986
	9	Philosophical theories (cont'd): (discussion of Chalmers, cont'd; discussion of Rosenthal)	Putnam 1964 Weyrauch 1995 Steels 1995 Perlis 1997
	16	Towards a Computational Theory (discussion of Putnam, Weyrauch, Steels, Perlis)	McDermott 2001, 2007 Franklin 2003 Baars & Franklin 2009 Franklin et al. 2009
	23	Anderson's report on McDermott 2001; & discussion of McDermott 2007 Implemented Computational Theories: discussion of Baars & Franklin	Holland 2003 Miscellaneous Readings on Computational Consciousness
	30	Implemented theories (cont'd): Boomer's report on Holland 2003 Prentice's report on Miscellaneous Readings	Dautenhahn 2005 Torrance et al. 2007 Chella & Manzotti 2007a
Nov	6	Implemented theories (cont'd): Chang's report on Dautenhan 2005 Mauzy's report on Torrance et al. 2007 Ramnauth's report on Chella & Manzotti 2007a (part 1)	Shapiro & Bona 2009 Chella & Manzotti 2007b
	13	Implemented theories (cont'd): Shapiro: SNePS/GLAIR Ramnauth's report on Chella & Manzotti 2007a (part 2) Gezella's report on Chella & Manzotti 2007b (part 1)	Buttazzo & Manzotti 2008 Boltuc 2008 Int'l. J. Machine Consciousness 1(2009)
	20	Implemented theories (cont'd): Gezella's report on Chella & Manzotti 2007b (part 2) Jensen's report on Buttazzo & Manzotti 2008 Ray's report on Boltuc 2008	Moor 1988 Anderson & Lebiere 2003 Anderson 2007: 243–247 Floridi 2005
	27	No Class: Thanksgiving
Dec	7	Implemented theories (cont'd): Zeng's report on IJMC 1(2009) Tests of Consciousness: Moor, Anderson, Floridi	final readings
	11	link: Summary & Review
(Monday)	14	Term papers due

READING:

1. This is a graduate seminar. I will assume that you are all mature enough to read all assigned readings as well as at least some of the other readings that might be relevant.

2. Reading Journal:

   To help you keep track of your reading and the ideas you have while reading, you might find it useful to keep a "Reading Journal": For each item you read, copy interesting quotes (or at least full references to them) and—most importantly—include your comments on them and on the issues raised in each item you read. (For suggestions on how to do this, see the "Keep a Notebook" section of my "How to Study" guide on the Web.) An alternative is to write a 1-paragraph commentary on each reading: some insight or idea that struck you from the reading, an extension or application of the ideas, a question that the reading inspired (perhaps informed by some further reading on your part), or any other commentary inspired by the reading. The commentaries should not be summaries of the reading.(*)

HOW TO READ and HOW TO STUDY:

• For advice on how to read writings in any academic discipline, see "How to Read (a Computer Science Text)".
  • Here's the short version: After reading each sentence and before reading the next, ask yourself "Why?". If you can't answer that question, then ask for help.

• For general advice on how to study for any course, see my web page, "How to Study".

ATTENDANCE, ASSIGNMENTS, LISTSERV:

1. You will be expected to:
   1. attend all meetings of the seminar (attendance will be taken),
   2. participate in class discussions,
   3. do at least one oral presentation (see below),
   4. write a term paper (see below).

2. Any important announcements will be made in lecture. Therefore, be sure to get a classmate's phone number or email address (for instance, 1 or 2 people sitting next to you in class, whoever they are!) so that you will not miss announcements in the unlikely event that you miss a class.

   Announcements may also be posted to the course website or the email Listserv.

3. Email Listserv:

   You will automatically be placed on an email list (a "Listserv") for the course. If you do not normally read email at the email address that UB has as your official address, please either do so for this course, or else have your mail forwarded. I will use this list as my main means of communicating with you out of class. And you can use it to communicate with the rest of us.

   You may send questions and comments that are of general interest to the entire class using the Listserv: Just send them to:

   cse719-fa09-list@listserv.buffalo.edu

   You can also send email just to me, at:

   rapaport@buffalo.edu

   In any case, be sure to fill in the subject line, beginning with "CSE719" so that my mailer doesn't think it's spam.

   If you send email just to me that I deem to be of general interest, I will feel free to remail it to the email list along with my reply unless you explicitly tell me that you want to remain anonymous, in which case I may choose to remail it to the email list preserving your anonymity.

   The emails will be archived at the listserv website, and I will also archive them at http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/719/EMAIL/.

   For more information, read the Listserv Information webpage.

4. ORAL PRESENTATION(S)

   You will be expected to make at least one oral presentation covering material that we will all read, but that you will lead the discussion on. Here are some options:

   1. One of the anthologies on the bibliography.
   2. One researchers multiple papers in several anthologies (e.g., Aleksander's papers)
   3. McDermott 2001

   We will make explicit assignments in class; other options will have to be approved by me in advance.

5. TERM PAPER

   The term paper will normally be a written version of your oral presentation. Any deviation from this will have to be approved by me in advance.

   All term papers should be about 10–15 pages (preferably closer to 10), double-spaced (i.e., approximately 2500–4000 words), and printed on only one side of the page.

   All reports must follow the writing guidelines in the document "How to Write", which also contains helpful hints on American English punctuation and usage.

   The term paper is due no later than Monday, December 14 (which is the first day of final exams).

6. Students should notify Prof. Rapaport within the first two weeks of class if they have a disability which would make it difficult to carry out course work as outlined (requiring note-takers, readers, extended test time, etc.).

GRADING:

Incompletes:

For more information on Incomplete policies, see the Graduate School web page, "Incomplete Grades".

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:

For some hints on how to avoid plagiarism when writing essays for courses, see my website "Plagiarism".

CLASSROOM DISRUPTIONS:

(*) The idea and wording for such reading-commentaries are borrowed from the assignments for Stuart M. Shieber's course "Can Machines Think". [Back to text]