A unique and fascinating scientific detective story that traces the origins as well as the complex mechanisms of human self-consciousness.

The study of self-consciousness helps humans understand themselves and restores their identities. But self-consciousness has been a mystery since the beginning of history, and this mystery cannot be resolved by conventional natural science. In Self-Consciousness, author Masakazu Shoji takes the mystery out of self-consciousness by proposing the idea that the human brain and body are a biological machine. A former VLSI microprocessor designer and semiconductor physicist, Shoji was guided by the ideas of ancient sages to create a conceptual design of a human machine brain model. He explains how it works, how it senses itself and the outside world, and how the machine creates the sense of existence of the subject SELF to itself, just as a living human brain does. A follow-up to Shojis previous book, Neuron Circuits, Electronic Circuits, and Self-Consciousness, this new volume examines self-consciousness from three unconventional viewpoints to present a complex theory of the mind and how self-consciousness develops.

This book focuses on the research and development in the field of self-aware robots. Its theme is artificial consciousness, a field that covers both artificial intelligence and robotics, and includes philosophy, psychology, the study of biological evolution, physiology, and medicine, especially brain neuroscience and neuropsychiatry. Building on the first edition, Creation of a Conscious Robot: Mirror Image Cognition and Self-Awareness, this new edition discusses artificial neural networks and functions of human consciousness. It proposes a structure for a neural network with consciousness functions, explains the construction of a conscious system, and discusses the results of progressive research in designing and developing small robots with conscious systems capable of recognizing their own images in mirrors. Emphasizing the contributions of conscious robots to society and their potential future impact, the book also describes the robots that know the unknown, Pavlovian robots, and the development of a consciousness model possessing the well-known multiple personality disorder.

The two volume set LNCS 5506 and LNCS 5507 constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Neural Information Processing, ICONIP 2008, held in Auckland, New Zealand, in November 2008. The 260 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous ordinary paper submissions and 15 special organized sessions. 116 papers are published in the first volume and 112 in the second volume. The contributions deal with topics in the areas of data mining methods for cybersecurity, computational models and their applications to machine learning and pattern recognition, lifelong incremental learning for intelligent systems, application of intelligent methods in ecological informatics, pattern recognition from real-world information by svm and other sophisticated techniques, dynamics of neural networks, recent advances in brain-inspired technologies for robotics, neural information processing in cooperative multi-robot systems.

Present-day computers lack well-defined functions to accept various kinds of sensual information such as vision, hearing, and smelling (binding problem). Computers also lack any well-defined mechanisms to coordinate various behaviors in the presence of an object (conscious mechanism). This book serves as a breakthrough that opens a new world. Using

An objective, dynamic and physically justified concept of information is elaborated starting from Shannon's concept of entropy and applied to information technology, artificial intelligence (consciousness) and thermodynamics. The justification of an information conservation theorem acquires practical significance in information technology, especially as it moves into the quantum realm (photonics/quantum computing). The unconditional dynamics of information and its objectivity are critically examined and are the foundations of the considerations. We live in the information age, but the concept of information is still not defined objectively and physically. This book defines a dynamic concept of information that results in a conservation of information principle. Just as the principle of conservation of energy is essential to understanding energy, the principle of conservation of information leads to a deeper understanding of information. Information is strongly related to entropy, always in motion, cannot disappear, and is independent of subjects.

The Electrical Fields of Consciousness: Brain Waves and Dreaming examines neuro-electrophysiology from its origins in the electrical fields of primitive organisms to its roles in the electrophysiologically defined states of human consciousness. This volume presents and cogently organizes the wide spectrum of information available as to how and why bioelectrical fields are used to define and function in supporting both life and consciousness. Integrating electrophysiology in a comprehensible manner into neuroanatomical, electromagnetic, and global platform theories of neuroconsciousness, this book brings together the wide spectrum of available data-based evidence regarding the physiology and functions of bioelectric fields and their relationship to consciousness.Chapters examine the origin and potential function of bioelectrical fields and EEG associations with conscious states, as well as the relationship between electrical fields and consciousness. Incorporating the basic science, clinical correlates, and functional potential of CNS bioelectrical fields, this book is a must-read for all working in the field of CNS electrophysiology or neuroconsciousness. - Addresses our current understandings of the origin and potential functions of bioelectricity - Integrates electrophysiology into current theories of neuroconsciousness, presenting within an historic research and clinical context - Explores the origin, nature, bioenergetics, and potential genetic effects of synchronous physiologic electrical fields and their use as markers for life and death - Addresses the definition and assessment of consciousness in human and non-human systems and reviews electrophysiological markers of wake and sleep consciousness states - Discusses electrophysiologic drug and disease correlates as well as modern forms of electrical therapy