(1) Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, MA;(2) Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
Abstract:
In this paper we provide an account of the structural underpinnings of self-awareness. We offer both an abstract, logical
account – by way of suggestions for how to build a genuinely self-referring artificial agent – and a biological account, via
a discussion of the role of somatoception in supporting and structuring self-awareness more generally. Central to the account
is a discussion of the necessary motivational properties of self-representing mental tokens, in light of which we offer a
novel definition of self-representation. We also discuss the role of such tokens in organizing self-specifying information,
which leads to a naturalized restatement of the guarantee that introspective awareness is immune to error due to mis-identification
of the subject.