It sounds like a sci-fi plot, but for Hod Lipson, the mechanical engineer in charge of the Creative Machines Lab at Columbia University, creating a robot with consciousness is a real goal.
Lipson has his own definition of consciousness: the ability to “imagine yourself in the future.” In order for a robot to achieve this, Lipson is working on building adaptable machines, with generalized intelligence that can learn to evolve by machine–learned natural selection. This means the machine must have the ability to not only learn and correct itself responsively, but also to imagine how it might be better and evolve to suit that vision.
The problem, however, is that the concept of consciousness itself is difficult to define. Philosophically, it is a vague and debatable concept, while scientifically, efforts to identify consciousness with specific brain functions have been unsuccessful. In addition, there are a number of ethical questions that arise with the concept of machine consciousness, particularly related to machine labor.
“This topic was taboo,” Lipson said. “We were almost forbidden from talking about it — ‘Don’t talk about the c-word; you won’t get tenure’ — so in the beginning I had to disguise it, like it was something else.”
In spite of the many challenges, Lipson is undeterred. He believes that conscious robots can be used to help reduce poverty, improve healthcare, and help create a more sustainable environment. He has also pointed out that robots are already being used in many industries, and that they are only going to become more and more prevalent.
“This is not just another research question that we’re working on — this is the question. This is bigger than curing cancer,” the researcher told The New York Times. “If we can create a machine that will have consciousness on par with a human, this will eclipse everything else we’ve done. That machine itself can cure cancer.”