Consciousness is notoriously hard to define with objective terms. An objective definition of consciousness is critically needed so that we might accurately understand how consciousness and resultant choice behaviour may arise in biological or artificial systems. Many theories have integrated neurobiological and psychological research to explain how consciousness might arise, but few, if any, outline what is fundamentally required to generate consciousness. To identify such requirements, I examine current theories of consciousness and corresponding scientific research to generate a new definition of consciousness from first principles. Critically, consciousness is the apparatus that provides the ability to make decisions, but it is not defined by the decision itself. As such, a definition of consciousness does not require choice behaviour or an explicit awareness of temporality despite both being well-characterised outcomes of conscious thought. Rather, requirements for consciousness include: at least some capability for perception, a memory for the storage of such perceptual information which in turn provides a framework for an imagination with which a sense of self can be capable of making decisions based on possible and desired futures. Thought experiments and observable neurological phenomena demonstrate that these components are fundamentally required of consciousness, whereby the loss of any one component removes the capability for conscious thought. Identifying these requirements provides a new definition for consciousness by which we can objectively determine consciousness in any conceivable agent, such as non-human animals and artificially intelligent systems. Introduction The study of consciousness requires the integration of many fields of research including but not limited to neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, physics and artificial general intelligence (AGI). Definitions of consciousness remain disconnected from the fundamental principles required to generate it. For example, common mistakes include conflating "awareness" with consciousness, likely due to the way the phrase "to be conscious of something" is synonymous with an awareness of that "something". As Crick and Koch wrote in their paper titled "Towards a neurobiological theory of consciousness," they deliberately avoid defining consciousness by explaining that "it is better to avoid a precise definition of consciousness because of the dangers of premature definition." After more than three decades, it is past time we generate a precise definition of consciousness and its requirements that are free of subjective biases.

ChatGPT seems to have blindsided us all. In less than a year it has proved that it can make writers redundant, which is one of the reasons why the Writers Guild of America recently went on strike, and why a group of novelists, including Jonathan Franzen, Jodi Picoult and George RR Martin, are pursuing a lawsuit against OpenAI, the company that owns the chatbot. Imitation that appears to be original writing. From my experiments, it's obvious that ChatGPT's current level of literary sophistication is weak – it is cliche-prone and generally unconvincing – but who knows how it will develop? Writers like stretching our imaginations, coming up with ideas, working out storylines and plots, creating believable characters, overcoming creative challenges and working on a full-length piece of work over an extended period of time. Most of us write our books ourselves and while we are influenced by other writers, we're not a chatbot that has been trained on hundreds of thousands of novels for the sole purpose of mimicking human creativity. Imagine a future where those who are most adept at getting AI to write creatively will dominate, while we writers who spend a lifetime devoted to our craft are sidelined. OK, this is a worst‑case scenario, but we have to consider it, because ChatGPT and the other Large Language Models (LLMs) out there have been programmed to imagine a future that threatens many creative professions. ChatGPT is already responding to the questions I ask it in seconds, quite reliably. It is an impressive beast, but one that needs to be tamed.

Consciousness And Light Are Explored. The Inter Mind Bridges The Gap Between The Physical Mind And The Conscious Mind.

Consciousness And Light Are Explored. The Inter Mind Bridges The Gap Between The Physical Mind And The Conscious Mind.

Consciousness And Light Are Explored. The Inter Mind Bridges The Gap Between The Physical Mind And The Conscious Mind.

Consciousness And Light Are Explored. The Inter Mind Bridges The Gap Between The Physical Mind And The Conscious Mind.

Consciousness And Light Are Explored. The Inter Mind Bridges The Gap Between The Physical Mind And The Conscious Mind.

Consciousness And Light Are Explored. The Inter Mind Bridges The Gap Between The Physical Mind And The Conscious Mind.

Consciousness And Light Are Explored. The Inter Mind Bridges The Gap Between The Physical Mind And The Conscious Mind.

Consciousness And Light Are Explored. The Inter Mind Bridges The Gap Between The Physical Mind And The Conscious Mind.