The quest to understand consciousness, once the purview of philosophers and theologians, is now actively pursued by scientists of many stripes. We examine consciousness from the perspective of theoretical computer science (TCS), a branch of mathematics concerned with understanding the underlying principles of computation and complexity, including the implications and surprising consequences of resource limitations. In the spirit of Alan Turing's simple yet powerful definition of a computer, the Turing Machine (TM), and perspective of computational complexity theory, we formalize a modified version of the Global Workspace Theory (GWT) of consciousness originated by cognitive neuroscientist Bernard Baars and further developed by him, Stanislas Dehaene, Jean-Pierre Changeaux and others. We are not looking for a complex model of the brain nor of cognition, but for a simple computational model of (the admittedly complex concept of) consciousness. We do this by defining the Conscious Turing Machine (CTM), also called a conscious AI, and then we define consciousness and related notions in the CTM. While these are only mathematical (TCS) definitions, we suggest why the CTM has the feeling of consciousness. The TCS perspective provides a simple formal framework to employ tools from computational complexity theory and machine learning to help us understand consciousness and related concepts. Previously we explored high level explanations for the feelings of pain and pleasure in the CTM. Here we consider three examples related to vision (blindsight, inattentional blindness, and change blindness), followed by discussions of dreams, free will, and altered states of consciousness.

中文翻译：

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从理论计算机科学角度看意识理论 2：有意识的图灵机洞察

对意识的探索，曾经是哲学家和神学家的职权范围，现在被许多不同的科学家积极追求。我们从理论计算机科学 (TCS) 的角度研究意识，这是一个数学分支，涉及理解计算和复杂性的基本原理，包括资源限制的含义和令人惊讶的后果。本着艾伦·图灵对计算机简单而强大的定义、图灵机 (TM) 和计算复杂性理论的观点的精神，我们形式化了认知神经科学家伯纳德·巴尔斯 (Bernard Baars) 和由他、Stanislas Dehaene、Jean-Pierre Changeaux 等人进一步发展。我们不是在寻找大脑或认知的复杂模型，而是在寻找（公认的复杂概念）意识的简单计算模型。我们通过定义有意识的图灵机 (CTM)（也称为有意识的 AI）来实现这一点，然后我们在 CTM 中定义意识和相关概念。虽然这些只是数学 (TCS) 定义，但我们建议为什么 CTM 具有意识的感觉。TCS 视角提供了一个简单的形式框架，可以利用计算复杂性理论和机器学习中的工具来帮助我们理解意识和相关概念。之前，我们探索了 CTM 中疼痛和愉悦感的高级解释。这里我们考虑三个与视力相关的例子（盲视、无意盲和变化盲），然后讨论梦，