<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0mm;text-align:justify;font-size:10.5pt;font-family:游明朝,serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Hi Everyone,</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><br style="text-align:start">
<br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Master’s and PhD positions available in
computational/experimental</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">neuroscience on</span> a project entitled,</span><br>
<br style="text-align:start"><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">"Unraveling the Neural Mechanism of Consciousness
via Development and</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Testing of Machine Consciousness"</span><br>
<br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">at Tokyo University, School of Engineering, Dept.
of Systems Innovation.</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">For further details, please contact Associate
Prof. </span><span class="gmail-il"><span style="text-align:start">Masataka</span></span><span style="text-align:start"> </span><span class="gmail-il"><span style="text-align:start">Watanabe</span></span><span style="text-align:start"> (</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="mailto:watanabe@sys.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp" target="_blank" style="text-align:start;color:blue"><span class="gmail-il"><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;text-decoration-line:none">watanabe</span></span><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">@sys.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">).</span></span><span lang="EN-US"><br style="text-align:start">
<br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Starting date: 2023 October/2024 April</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0mm;text-align:justify;font-size:10.5pt;font-family:游明朝,serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Supervisor: </span><span class="gmail-il"><span style="text-align:start">Masataka</span></span><span style="text-align:start"> </span><span class="gmail-il"><span style="text-align:start">Watanabe</span></span><span style="text-align:start"> (MW), Associate Professor at University of </span></span><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Tokyo, School of Engineering</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0mm;text-align:justify;font-size:10.5pt;font-family:游明朝,serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Keywords:Consciousness, Subjective Experience, Artificial Consciousness, </span></span><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Brain Machine Interface, Spiking Neural Networks</span></span><br style="text-align:start"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0mm;text-align:justify;font-size:10.5pt;font-family:游明朝,serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start"><br></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0mm;text-align:justify;font-size:10.5pt;font-family:游明朝,serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Related Links:</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">A book from MW</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">From Biological to Artificial Consciousness
(Springer) 2022</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-91138-6" target="_blank" style="text-align:start;color:blue"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-91138-6</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><br style="text-align:start">
<br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">TEDx U-Tokyo Talk by MW</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2wb1p0sN7k" target="_blank" style="text-align:start;color:blue"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2wb1p0sN7k</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><br style="text-align:start">
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<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Details on admission</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://www.sys.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/admissions/regularadmission/?lang=en" target="_blank" style="text-align:start;color:blue"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">https://www.sys.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/admissions/regularadmission/?lang=en</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Foreign students who have obtained their bachelors
degree outside of</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Japan would qualify for Special Admission with
benefits.</span><br>
<br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Tentative Laboratory Web Page</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://sites.google.com/view/watanaberesearchlab/home" target="_blank" style="text-align:start;color:blue"><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">https://sites.google.com/view/watanaberesearchlab/home</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US"><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">(official:</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://www.sys.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/memberpage/3366/?lang=en" target="_blank" style="text-align:start;color:blue"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">https://www.sys.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/memberpage/3366/?lang=en</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start"> )</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><br style="text-align:start"><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">The aim of the project is to</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">1) Research and Development of Machine
Consciousness</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Develop a large-scale spiking neural network as a
candidate system of</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">machine consciousness. Utilize discrete synaptic
connections obtained from</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">invasive connectome projects as initial weights.
As a working hypothesis,</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">determine a system architecture (e.g. generative
model) and train the</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">network according to the loss functions defined by
it. Validate the final</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">product using objective measures such as network
function (e.g. visual</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">recognition) and network dynamics (e.g. similarity
to noisy neural dynamics</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">observed in mammal brains).</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">2) Developing a Test for Machine Consciousness:
integration of biological</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">and mechanical brain hemispheres</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Since it is impossible to test machine
consciousness through external</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">observation or investigation of internal
mechanisms using objective</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">measures, only one method remains: making use of
subjectivity. We need to </span></span><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">connect our own brains to the machine and see for ourselves whether</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">consciousness resides within. By making use of the
?master-master?</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">configuration of visual consciousness in our two
biological hemispheres, we </span></span><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">replace one of our hemispheres with a mechanical
hemisphere. If we</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">subjectively experience the machine visual field,
we must conclude that a</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">stream of visual consciousness has genuinely
emerged in the mechanical</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">hemisphere.</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">3) Developing a Radically New Type of
Brain-Machine Interface that Reads</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">and Writes from Nerve Bundle Sections:</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">The key to the approach is a totally new type of
BMI that enables reading</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">and writing information with unprecedented
precision. The best part of the</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">brain to tap into is the three neural fibres that
connect the two cortical</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">hemispheres, namely, the corpus callosum, the
anterior commissure, and the </span></span><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">posterior commissure. I proposes dissecting the
three neural fibres and</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">inserting a CMOS based, double-sided
two-dimensional electrode array.</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Importantly, it would be coated with biological
tissue to provide a target</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">for the dissected axons to regenerate onto and
firmly attach to the</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">interface surface.</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">The objective is to read from and write into all
of the axons required to</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">integrate the two potentially independent streams
of consciousness.</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Importantly, due to the critical problems
suggested by Histed, Bonin and</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">Reid (Neuron, 2009), regarding writing information
with conventional</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">electrodes placed in the grey matter, the proposed
brain?machine interface</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">is likely the only plausible method for the brain
to sufficiently</span></span><br style="text-align:start">
<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="text-align:start">communicate with artificial devices.</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"></span></p></div>