Know of any very recent books on cognition, theory of consciousness and CURRENT AI?
Yes, several very recent books (mostly 2024–2025, with some 2026 titles or drafts) directly tackle the intersections of cognition, theory of consciousness, and current AI (especially large language models, neural networks, and questions of machine sentience or intelligence). These draw on neuroscience, philosophy, cognitive science, and AI developments like generative models. Here are some of the most relevant ones I've identified:
Strong Overlaps on Consciousness + AI
AI and Consciousness by Eric Schwitzgebel (draft released ~2025; skeptical philosophical overview). This explores how mainstream theories of consciousness would (or wouldn't) attribute experience to AI systems. It highlights epistemic uncertainty: we may soon build AIs that count as conscious under some theories but not others, leaving us unable to know if they're "blank" or richly experiential.eschwitz.
Artificial Intelligence and Human Consciousness – A Possible Dialogue (released ~early 2025). Focuses on the intersection of AI, neuroscience, and the human mind, probing whether a meaningful dialogue is possible between biological and artificial forms of consciousness.
The Challenge to AI: Consciousness and Ecological Intelligence in the Generative Age (recent, exact year ~2024–2025). Argues that biological consciousness and biochemical brain processes are essential for true intelligence, challenging purely computational AI approaches.
AI Awakening: The Dawn of Conscious Systems by Marcela West (2026-era title). Speculates on the emergence of conscious AI systems in the current era.
Cognition, Intelligence History, and AI
A Brief History of Intelligence by Max Bennett (2024). Blends neuroscience, human evolutionary history, and AI, explaining how brains evolved cognitive abilities and what this means for building (or simulating) intelligence in machines. Frequently praised for its insights into human vs. artificial cognition.
The Emergent Mind: How Neural Networks Are Changing Our Understanding of Intelligence in Humans and Machines by Jay McClelland and colleagues (2025). Explores how advances in neural networks (core to modern AI) illuminate human cognition and vice versa, with Stanford ties.news.
Broader Collections and Proceedings
Human and Artificial Rationalities: Advances in Cognition, Computation, and Consciousness (Springer, 2025 proceedings from the HAR 2024 conference). Covers cognition, computation, and consciousness in both humans and AI, including rational decision-making.link.
AI, Consciousness and The New Humanism: Fundamental Reflections on Minds and Machines (2024, edited volume). Philosophical reflections on minds, machines, causality in AI, and humanism in the age of advanced systems.link.
Related Recent Context (Not Full Books but Highly Relevant)
Anil Seth (neuroscientist focused on consciousness) has been actively discussing whether AI can be conscious, with a 2026 essay and talks emphasizing that consciousness may be more tied to life/biology than computation. Papers and indicators for detecting consciousness in AI (e.g., from 2025 in Trends in Cognitive Sciences) build on theories like global workspace or integrated information, often referencing current frontier models.
noemamag.com
sciencedirect.com
Many "best AI books of 2025" lists focus more on practical/business angles (e.g., Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick, Supremacy by Parmy Olson) or general overviews, but the ones above stand out for deeper ties to cognition and consciousness theory amid today's AI (transformers, scaling, emergent behaviors). ai-supremacy.com
If you're looking for something more technical (e.g., cognitive architectures in AI), philosophical, or neuroscience-heavy, or want recommendations on specific subtopics like integrated information theory vs. global neuronal workspace in the AI context, let me know for more tailored suggestions. These fields evolve quickly with new models, so checking recent reviews or author updates is worthwhile.
Philosophical with neurosci/awareness
Here are some of the strongest very recent books (primarily 2024–2026) that bridge philosophy and neuroscience with a focus on awareness/consciousness (including phenomenal awareness, self-awareness, perception, and related debates). These emphasize the "hard problem," predictive processing, embodied/biological bases of experience, selfhood, and often touch on implications for AI or machine awareness. I've prioritized titles with clear philosophical depth alongside empirical neuroscience.amazon.com
Highly Recommended Recent Titles
A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness by Michael Pollan (2026) Pollan explores consciousness as a journey shaped by neuroscience and philosophy, arguing that AI cannot achieve true personhood or consciousness (it "can do many things—it just can't be a person"). It draws on perception, hallucination, and biological embodiment while challenging computational views. Excellent for awareness as lived, subjective experience.wired.com Neuroscience and the Self: A Philosophical Exploration (2025) by Leonard Wise (with Lorraine Lawrence) This directly decodes how neural processes construct our sense of "I," agency, identity, and consciousness. It bridges brain science with philosophical questions about the self, including reflective exercises on awareness and meaning. Part of a series linking neuroscience to lived human potential.
Consciousness and the AI Revolution: Philosophy, Technology and the Quest for Artificial Consciousness by Murugesan Narayanaswamy (2025). A philosophical and technological deep dive into whether current AI systems could develop awareness/consciousness, grounded in neuroscience and mind-body debates.
The Consciousness Network: How the Brain Creates our Reality by Cyriel Pennartz (2024). Combines cognitive neuroscience, philosophy of mind, and psychology to explain how neural networks generate conscious awareness and our experienced reality. Strong on mechanisms of perception and integration.
Consciousness: The Road to Reductionism by Alan J. McComas (2025). A neuroscientist's philosophical examination of whether consciousness can be fully reduced to brain processes, engaging classic philosophy-of-mind issues with current neuroscience.medlink.com Stronger on Philosophy + Neuroscience Foundations (Still Recent/Relevant)
Being You: A New Science of Consciousness by Anil Seth (2021, but with major 2025–2026 updates/essays). Seth (a leading neuroscientist) uses predictive processing to explain awareness as a "controlled hallucination" generated by the brain. His 2026 essay "The Mythology of Conscious AI" (Berggruen Prize winner) strongly argues that consciousness is tied to biological life, not computation—highly relevant for awareness in humans vs. machines. His 2025 chapters and lectures continue this philosophical-neuroscientific thread.
Consciousness Theories Explained: Philosophy, Neuroscience, Quantum Models, and AI (recent, ~2025). Rigorously compares major theories (e.g., global workspace, integrated information) across philosophy, neuroscience, and their application to awareness and intelligence.
Broader Collections/Proceedings with Philosophical-Neuroscience Focus
Human and Artificial Rationalities or related 2025 Springer volumes (from HAR conferences) — include chapters on cognition, consciousness, and awareness in computational vs. biological systems.
Consciousness in the Age of Intelligent Systems (special issue/articles, 2026) — philosophical frameworks, neural theories, and generative AI's implications for awareness.mdpi.com
Anil Seth remains a central figure here: his work (including recent essays and talks) repeatedly stresses that awareness/consciousness likely requires embodied, living biology rather than pure information processing—pushing back on easy AI consciousness claims while grounding everything in predictive neuroscience and philosophy.noemamag.com
These titles often engage key debates like:
Predictive processing and perception-as-inference (awareness as brain-generated models). The self as constructed vs. illusory.
Whether awareness is substrate-independent (computational) or biologically grounded.
Ethical/philosophical implications for AI sentience.
If you'd like more on specific angles (e.g., predictive mind and awareness, quantum vs. classical neuroscience, self-awareness and disorders of consciousness, or fuller lists from MIT Press/Routledge neuroscience-philosophy catalogs), or recommendations leaning more philosophical (Chalmers/Dennett updates) vs. empirical (Pennartz/Feinberg-style), just specify. Fields move fast—checking author sites or recent reviews for 2026 releases is always useful.
Yes, several very recent books (mostly 2024–2025, with some 2026 titles or drafts) directly tackle the intersections of cognition, theory of consciousness, and current AI (especially large language models, neural networks, and questions of machine sentience or intelligence). These draw on neuroscience, philosophy, cognitive science, and AI developments like generative models. Here are some of the most relevant ones I've identified:
Strong Overlaps on Consciousness + AI
AI and Consciousness by Eric Schwitzgebel (draft released ~2025; skeptical philosophical overview). This explores how mainstream theories of consciousness would (or wouldn't) attribute experience to AI systems. It highlights epistemic uncertainty: we may soon build AIs that count as conscious under some theories but not others, leaving us unable to know if they're "blank" or richly experiential.eschwitz.
Artificial Intelligence and Human Consciousness – A Possible Dialogue (released ~early 2025). Focuses on the intersection of AI, neuroscience, and the human mind, probing whether a meaningful dialogue is possible between biological and artificial forms of consciousness.
The Challenge to AI: Consciousness and Ecological Intelligence in the Generative Age (recent, exact year ~2024–2025). Argues that biological consciousness and biochemical brain processes are essential for true intelligence, challenging purely computational AI approaches.
AI Awakening: The Dawn of Conscious Systems by Marcela West (2026-era title). Speculates on the emergence of conscious AI systems in the current era.
Cognition, Intelligence History, and AI
A Brief History of Intelligence by Max Bennett (2024). Blends neuroscience, human evolutionary history, and AI, explaining how brains evolved cognitive abilities and what this means for building (or simulating) intelligence in machines. Frequently praised for its insights into human vs. artificial cognition.
The Emergent Mind: How Neural Networks Are Changing Our Understanding of Intelligence in Humans and Machines by Jay McClelland and colleagues (2025). Explores how advances in neural networks (core to modern AI) illuminate human cognition and vice versa, with Stanford ties.news.
Broader Collections and Proceedings
Human and Artificial Rationalities: Advances in Cognition, Computation, and Consciousness (Springer, 2025 proceedings from the HAR 2024 conference). Covers cognition, computation, and consciousness in both humans and AI, including rational decision-making.link.
AI, Consciousness and The New Humanism: Fundamental Reflections on Minds and Machines (2024, edited volume). Philosophical reflections on minds, machines, causality in AI, and humanism in the age of advanced systems.link.
Related Recent Context (Not Full Books but Highly Relevant)
Anil Seth (neuroscientist focused on consciousness) has been actively discussing whether AI can be conscious, with a 2026 essay and talks emphasizing that consciousness may be more tied to life/biology than computation. Papers and indicators for detecting consciousness in AI (e.g., from 2025 in Trends in Cognitive Sciences) build on theories like global workspace or integrated information, often referencing current frontier models.
noemamag.com
sciencedirect.com
Many "best AI books of 2025" lists focus more on practical/business angles (e.g., Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick, Supremacy by Parmy Olson) or general overviews, but the ones above stand out for deeper ties to cognition and consciousness theory amid today's AI (transformers, scaling, emergent behaviors). ai-supremacy.com
If you're looking for something more technical (e.g., cognitive architectures in AI), philosophical, or neuroscience-heavy, or want recommendations on specific subtopics like integrated information theory vs. global neuronal workspace in the AI context, let me know for more tailored suggestions. These fields evolve quickly with new models, so checking recent reviews or author updates is worthwhile.
Philosophical with neurosci/awareness
Here are some of the strongest very recent books (primarily 2024–2026) that bridge philosophy and neuroscience with a focus on awareness/consciousness (including phenomenal awareness, self-awareness, perception, and related debates). These emphasize the "hard problem," predictive processing, embodied/biological bases of experience, selfhood, and often touch on implications for AI or machine awareness. I've prioritized titles with clear philosophical depth alongside empirical neuroscience.amazon.com
Highly Recommended Recent Titles
A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness by Michael Pollan (2026) Pollan explores consciousness as a journey shaped by neuroscience and philosophy, arguing that AI cannot achieve true personhood or consciousness (it "can do many things—it just can't be a person"). It draws on perception, hallucination, and biological embodiment while challenging computational views. Excellent for awareness as lived, subjective experience.wired.com Neuroscience and the Self: A Philosophical Exploration (2025) by Leonard Wise (with Lorraine Lawrence) This directly decodes how neural processes construct our sense of "I," agency, identity, and consciousness. It bridges brain science with philosophical questions about the self, including reflective exercises on awareness and meaning. Part of a series linking neuroscience to lived human potential.
Consciousness and the AI Revolution: Philosophy, Technology and the Quest for Artificial Consciousness by Murugesan Narayanaswamy (2025). A philosophical and technological deep dive into whether current AI systems could develop awareness/consciousness, grounded in neuroscience and mind-body debates.
The Consciousness Network: How the Brain Creates our Reality by Cyriel Pennartz (2024). Combines cognitive neuroscience, philosophy of mind, and psychology to explain how neural networks generate conscious awareness and our experienced reality. Strong on mechanisms of perception and integration.
Consciousness: The Road to Reductionism by Alan J. McComas (2025). A neuroscientist's philosophical examination of whether consciousness can be fully reduced to brain processes, engaging classic philosophy-of-mind issues with current neuroscience.medlink.com Stronger on Philosophy + Neuroscience Foundations (Still Recent/Relevant)
Being You: A New Science of Consciousness by Anil Seth (2021, but with major 2025–2026 updates/essays). Seth (a leading neuroscientist) uses predictive processing to explain awareness as a "controlled hallucination" generated by the brain. His 2026 essay "The Mythology of Conscious AI" (Berggruen Prize winner) strongly argues that consciousness is tied to biological life, not computation—highly relevant for awareness in humans vs. machines. His 2025 chapters and lectures continue this philosophical-neuroscientific thread.
Consciousness Theories Explained: Philosophy, Neuroscience, Quantum Models, and AI (recent, ~2025). Rigorously compares major theories (e.g., global workspace, integrated information) across philosophy, neuroscience, and their application to awareness and intelligence.
Broader Collections/Proceedings with Philosophical-Neuroscience Focus
Human and Artificial Rationalities or related 2025 Springer volumes (from HAR conferences) — include chapters on cognition, consciousness, and awareness in computational vs. biological systems.
Consciousness in the Age of Intelligent Systems (special issue/articles, 2026) — philosophical frameworks, neural theories, and generative AI's implications for awareness.mdpi.com
Anil Seth remains a central figure here: his work (including recent essays and talks) repeatedly stresses that awareness/consciousness likely requires embodied, living biology rather than pure information processing—pushing back on easy AI consciousness claims while grounding everything in predictive neuroscience and philosophy.noemamag.com
These titles often engage key debates like:
Predictive processing and perception-as-inference (awareness as brain-generated models). The self as constructed vs. illusory.
Whether awareness is substrate-independent (computational) or biologically grounded.
Ethical/philosophical implications for AI sentience.
If you'd like more on specific angles (e.g., predictive mind and awareness, quantum vs. classical neuroscience, self-awareness and disorders of consciousness, or fuller lists from MIT Press/Routledge neuroscience-philosophy catalogs), or recommendations leaning more philosophical (Chalmers/Dennett updates) vs. empirical (Pennartz/Feinberg-style), just specify. Fields move fast—checking author sites or recent reviews for 2026 releases is always useful.
No comments:
Post a Comment