Title
The Conversion Hypothesis: A Physical Approach to Qualia
Abstract
Through the advent of modern neurotechnology like brain-computer interfaces (abbr. BCIs) the data-based analysis of brain activity reaches new levels of precision, data fidelity, and accuracy both in brain imaging and scanning contexts. While these technological advances allow us to obtain ever-increasing volumes of data from the brain, the issue of interpreting this data remains. Correlation doesn´t equal causation; hence any observed brain activity might merely correlate temporarily with the subject´s experience of qualia instead of causing the very experience of qualia. Thus, the mysteries of qualia remain, and the incomprehensibly complex question of human experience continues: How – if at all – can our consciousness be explained? Possibly even more intriguing: Will the subjectivity of the first-person perspective eventually become accessible through technology, hence objectifying the subjective? Or is the sphere of qualia sealed and inherently protected from any kind of outward analysis?
About Johannes
Dr. phil. Johannes Lierfeld is a German author, screenwriter, and AI ethics researcher. He studied media studies, German studies, and phonetics in Marburg and Cologne, earning his doctorate in 2015 from the University of Cologne with a dissertation on terrorism, media, and cinema in the post-9/11 era.
He began his career as a screenwriter, contributing to SOKO Köln and developing series concepts for ProSieben and Sat.1. In 2009, he co-wrote the award-winning science fiction thriller 2012. Since 2014, he has focused on AI and ethics, publishing seven non-fiction books on the subject. His first novel, MEDICA (2017), was co-written with AI developer Scott Cote, followed by the non-fiction Artificial Superintelligence: Utopias, Dystopias, Disruptions (2018).
Lierfeld is currently pursuing a second doctorate at LMU Munich on the Conversion Hypothesis and brain-computer interfaces. He also works as a lecturer, speaker, and AI strategy consultant, including for Rotary International.