Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 31/01/2026You need to read this if you want to understand how complexity works in brains. I think this might be a pivot moment. 012
Reposted by Colin HalesEarl K. Miller @earlkmiller.bsky.social · 26/01/2026Because AI does not work like the brain. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/t... #neurosciencenytimes.comAn A.I. Pioneer Warns the Tech ‘Herd’ Is Marching Into a Dead End 0143
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 26/12/202510 years+ since it came out. Kuhn warned me about paradigm shift disorders. We are still in it. www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...worldscientific.comThe Revolutions of Scientific Structure | Series on Machine ConsciousnessCan't sign in? Forgot your password? 000
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 26/12/2025It's 2025 dusk, more than 10 years since my book on the science of consciousness and the making of an artificial scientist. I had a look for it. Yep. There it is. The preamble is free. I read it. Damn. It has withstood time! Go me! www.worldscientific.com/doi/suppl/10...worldscientific.com 000
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 09/11/2025Understanding the brain by modelling C-Elegans at the atomic level up. How about just once, in the entire history of neuroscience, we also look at making an inorganic version of its nervous system that does NOT use a general purpose computer? www.thetransmitter.org/computationa...thetransmitter.orgWhole-brain, bottom-up neuroscience: The time for it is nowApplying new tools to entire brains, starting with C. elegans, offers the opportunity to uncover how molecules work together to generate neural physiology and how neurons work together to generate… 000
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 28/10/2025This is more than just a commercial bubble. Bursting it also bursts a science bubble... The computer cargo cult science paradigm, that has dogged "AI" for 75 years, finally gets a chance to end. 000
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 23/08/2025Saturday morning thought... My prediction is that the real "Bitter Lesson" (www.cs.utexas.edu/~eunsol/cour...) will occur when the 75-year confusing, of "computations of abstract models of properties of nature" (computers), with the actual natural computation of brain signalling physics, ends.cs.utexas.edu 000
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 16/08/2025Having fun in the @braininspired.bsky.social complexity email forum. They are going through the Santa Fe compendium of complexity science historic papers (Vol 1) while wearing a Neuro-AI hat. Journal club zoom videos for each paper. I did Turing 1950. url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/tjRTCk8vpK...url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com 030
Reposted by Colin HalesColin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 28/07/2025My continuing campaign to peek out from behind a decade or two of lab obscurity ... Another podcast interview of yours truly in relation to "the hole in science" called "consciousness", and how we're going with it. Enjoy! url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/kuPsCD1jmr...url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com#1: Consciousness, AGI, and the Hole at the Heart of Science - Dr. Colin Halesimperfect, but improving's podcast debut! 011
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 28/07/2025My continuing campaign to peek out from behind a decade or two of lab obscurity ... Another podcast interview of yours truly in relation to "the hole in science" called "consciousness", and how we're going with it. Enjoy! url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/kuPsCD1jmr...url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com#1: Consciousness, AGI, and the Hole at the Heart of Science - Dr. Colin Halesimperfect, but improving's podcast debut! 011
Reposted by Colin HalesColin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 19/07/2025Based on typical averages, an estimate of the active cell surface area that creates all signalling in the brain (action potential & direct EM field coupling) for a normal adult human brain (astrocytes + neurons) ..... it comes out at roughly 10,000 sq. m. 100m X 100m. It's a 1 Farad-ish capacitor. 011
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 13/07/2025@hossenfelder.bsky.social latest video has 10 science myths. Here's your #11 that you miss every time: 11. That scientific method creates observer independence. It actually creates observation independence. To see this you need the science of consciousness. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35782039/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govElectromagnetism's Bridge Across the Explanatory Gap: How a Neuroscience/Physics Collaboration Delivers Explanation Into All Theories of Consciousness - PubMedA productive, informative three decades of correlates of phenomenal consciousness (P-Consciousness) have delivered valuable knowledge while simultaneously locating us in a unique and unprecedented exp... 010
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 09/07/2025And guess what? Those waves of activity are literally EM field. "What is it like to 'be' that EM field?" Like being conscious! Listen.... diamondmind.buzzsprout.com/2379515/epis...diamondmind.buzzsprout.comDiamond Mind #10: Can computers ever be conscious? - Diamond MindWhat if the most fundamental aspect of your conscious experience isn't found in neural firing at all, but in the electromagnetic fields those neurons produce? This mind-expanding conversation with Dr.... 010
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 07/07/2025@anilseth.bsky.social @garymarcus.bsky.social @irisvanrooij.bsky.social I completely forgot about this 2011 formal disproof of computational functionalism. It predicts AGI will likely never happen with general purpose computers. Sorry about the pay wall! www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1...worldscientific.comON THE STATUS OF COMPUTATIONALISM AS A LAW OF NATURE | International Journal of Machine Consciousness 030
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 25/06/2025If you were building an inorganic artificial cortex with a view to replicating the cited paper's form of oscillatory computation, what would you be building? 1) a general purpose computer 2) inorganic chip with oscillatory behaviour based on the physics that does it in brains. 3) I don't know. 000
Reposted by Colin HalesAnil Seth @anilseth.bsky.social · 12/06/2025Deadline is today! However, if you've missed it (heaven forbid) I am told that submissions that arrive up until *Sunday* will still be forwarded to the editor ... so its not too late! 082
Reposted by Colin HalesEarl K. Miller @earlkmiller.bsky.social · 09/06/2025Ilya Sutskever asks “Why can’t digital computers do the same [as AI]?” The reason is that the brain isn’t digital. Digital AI needs nuclear plants. The brain runs on 20W. Analog computing is vastly more efficient—and the brain constantly generates the raw material: waves. youtu.be/zuZ2zaotrJs?...youtu.beIlya Sutskever, U of T honorary degree recipient, June 6, 2025YouTube video by University of Toronto 3212
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 01/06/202520 cited postulated ToC. 1 "winner" somewhere in that list. 35 years of "correlates-of" science is in its adversarial collaborative end game, a kind of heat-death that reveals the explanatory emptiness of correlates of subjective experience. www.nature.com/articles/d41...nature.comMake science more collegial: why the time for ‘adversarial collaboration’ has comeBringing together proponents of rival theories to test their ideas against each other can advance science — but only if all sides can accept that they might be wrong. 030
Reposted by Colin HalesColin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 25/05/2025I was a guest on Tam Hunt's "Diamond Mind" podcast episode 10. It's on EM Field theories of consciousness. It was fun to do. Editing it down to 1hr must have been a tough job. I think it works. Enjoy! url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/9ZmQCVAGLr...url.au.m.mimecastprotect.comDiamond Mind #10: Can computers ever be conscious?Diamond Mind · Episode 011
Reposted by Colin HalesJaan Aru @jaanaru.bsky.social · 26/05/2025A great thread by Matthew Larkum on our recent paper🧵 He clarifies how we model the experiment with the Turing machine and ends his thread with the hard choice the computational functionalist must face😢 061
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 25/05/2025I was a guest on Tam Hunt's "Diamond Mind" podcast episode 10. It's on EM Field theories of consciousness. It was fun to do. Editing it down to 1hr must have been a tough job. I think it works. Enjoy! url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/9ZmQCVAGLr...url.au.m.mimecastprotect.comDiamond Mind #10: Can computers ever be conscious?Diamond Mind · Episode 011
Reposted by Colin HalesEarl K. Miller @earlkmiller.bsky.social · 22/04/2025New paper! Cognitive independence and interactions between cerebral hemispheres doi.org/10.1016/j.ne... #neurosciencedoi.orgRedirecting 1124
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 14/04/2025There are 3 cargo cults operating in science: 1) The science of AI 2) The science of consciousness 3) Particle physics. Notice that all 3 span the full breadth of the physical sciences. I'm here to say that in the end the solution to all three will be the brain. Here's 3: youtu.be/XqoyTSAF5g0?...youtu.beHow I Became Particle Physicists’ Enemy #1YouTube video by Sabine Hossenfelder 041
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 21/03/2025How natural general intelligence gets to grips with natural physics ... In a way that no generative "AI" will ever understand: www.facebook.com/share/v/1GVZ...facebook.comRedirecting... 000
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 05/02/2025Autonomy getting some attention. Finally. By @tonyzador.bsky.social. But I would elevate it even further: if an agent cannot autonomously acquire new càpability its intelligence is zero. www.thetransmitter.org/neuroai/neur...thetransmitter.orgNeuroAI and the hidden complexity of agencyAs we attempt to build autonomous AI systems, we’re discovering that a capability we take for granted in animals may be more complex than we imagined. 010
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 15/01/2025@johanneskleiner.bsky.social Hi, Please add me to the consciousness starter packs. Happy 2025! Cheers Colin 220
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 29/12/2024Finally someone attempts an estimate of the conditions under which computational functionalism HYPOTHESIS is true. When you have to convert solar systems into compute and still fail, don't we get the latitude to question assumptions? We need the same analysis done from multiple directions. 020
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 29/12/2024Scientists assuming that computational functionalism hypothesis is operating as a law of nature...beware. Not proved! This is an honest assessment of the amount of compute likely to be needed for CF to deliver what it promises. Even if it's 90% wrong it's a CF showstopper. 020
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 20/12/2024Dissociating intelligence from consciousness. Koch/Tononi/et. al./IIT have an empirically unproved hypothesis that a zombie can reach human level AGI. I call BS. Consciousness is obviously nature's solution to the symbol grounding problem. What do you think? arxiv.org/abs/2412.04571arxiv.orgDissociating Artificial Intelligence from Artificial ConsciousnessDevelopments in machine learning and computing power suggest that artificial general intelligence is within reach. This raises the question of artificial consciousness: if a computer were to be functi... 241
Reposted by Colin HalesAnil Seth @anilseth.bsky.social · 10/12/2024What are the prospects for AI that is, or irresistibly appears to be, conscious? Here’s a substantially revised version of my paper “Conscious artificial intelligence and biological naturalism” - many thanks to many folks for super-helpful comments osf.io/preprints/ps...osf.ioOSF 55320
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 07/12/2024Chess, Jeopardy, GO, image classifiers, LLM: The paradox of the AGI goalposts, a rainbow shaped goal forever just out of reach. An uncanny failure boundary exploration motivated by the dangling AGI carrot. Will the ARC prize gold touch the ends of the AGI rainbow? If it doesn't, what would? 000
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 19/11/2024Signs of life here, but try as I might ... No proper conversations can be elicited. It's like being in a park with 500 equidistant dogs barking every now and then, but otherwise en-bubbling each other. 020
Reposted by Colin HalesThomas Andrillon @thomasandrillon.bsky.social · 15/11/2024The Starter Pack is growing. Now 92 people strong! For those who decided to "follow all" earlier, maybe do it again to have the new people! There is still room for more! 🧠🧪 The Brain—is wider than the Sky— For—put them side by side— The one the other will contain With ease—and you—beside— 072
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 09/06/2024Functionally effective ephaptic brain signalling was proved in 2018 by the Durand lab at the population level. Now the Anastassiou lab has nailed its origins at the neuron level. This is a done deal. At last we can reorient EM field to centre stage. This has huge impact. doi.org/10.1016/j.ne... 000
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 01/03/2024EM Field theories of consciousness have taken their proper share of the stage. Our special issue is finally in the bag! www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.... 010
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 17/01/2024It's time for the left-field entry to arise. History tells us the breakthrough right in front of everyone & will cut loose whole islands of wrong-thinking. Earthquakes in hierarchies of relevance, eminence & funding. Thomas Kuhn to the rescue! www.nature.com/articles/d41... 000
Reposted by Colin HalesPessoaBrain @pessoabrain.bsky.social · 11/01/2024Cool short review on the cerebellum, not so simple after all... doi.org/10.1016/j.cu... #neuroscience 35022
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 08/01/2024Our Research Topic "Electromagnetic Field Theories of Consciousness: Opportunities and Obstacles" is amongst the most read/downloaded special issues at Frontiers. It has had 80,000+ views and downloads! Alas, this might be the only community that cares! protect-au.mimecast.com/s/PgYlCXLKNw... 000
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 06/01/2024Thoughts, anyone?; Losing the privacy of thought seems to be a moral minefield. futurism.com/neoscope/sci... 000
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 05/01/2024Deep learning under the magnifying glass. Includes a broad peer commentary. AFAICT, none of it contacts the difference between abstract models of X and an artificial X. The assumed identity sails right through it all, into 2024. www.cambridge.org/core/journal... 000
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 12/10/2023Last night, University of Melbourne. Anil Seth does the first of a series of presentations. Good to see him here! But .... The consciousness problem is expected to "dissolve" under the magnifying glass of cognitive/computational approaches. Is this what it has come to? As good as it gets? Sigh. 010
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 08/10/2023Here's a Disney robot designed to be cartoon-expressive. Its endearing vibe, projected by the viewer, powerfully hooks into the observer. But "what is it like to be" the robot? Nobody can scientifically claim to have an answer to this question. spectrum.ieee.org/disney-robot 010
Colin Hales @colinhales.bsky.social · 07/10/2023My first bsky posting (consciousness community). I operate at the intersection of machine intelligence and the science of consciousness. Keen to see consciousness science results, their discussions & the social milieu directly attached to the science. Bring it! Cheers Colin 030