Consciousness
Scientists say defining consciousness is increasingly urgent as AI and neurotechnology advance
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Researchers behind a new review in Frontiers in Science argue that rapid progress in artificial intelligence and brain technologies is outpacing scientific understanding of consciousness, raising the risk of ethical and legal mistakes. They say developing evidence-based tests for detecting awareness—whether in patients, animals or emerging artificial and lab-grown systems—could reshape medicine, welfare debates and technology governance.
A review article by Borjan Milinkovic and Jaan Aru argues that treating the mind as software running on interchangeable hardware is a poor fit for how brains actually compute. The authors propose “biological computationalism,” a framework that ties cognition and (potentially) consciousness to computation that is hybrid, multi-scale, and shaped by energy constraints.
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Scientists have outlined three evolutionary stages of consciousness, from basic alarm responses to self-awareness, suggesting it is an ancient trait shared widely across species. New research highlights that birds exhibit forms of sensory perception and self-consciousness similar to mammals, challenging previous assumptions about its origins. This framework, known as the ALARM theory, emphasizes survival and social functions.