Scientists offer tools to test brain organoids used in biocomputing for consciousness.
Neuroscientists from two leading universities researching ethical and philosophical frameworks for biocomputing have proposed a list of tests that can be used to determine whether brain organoids are firing randomly or actually 'thinking'.
"Currently, the possibility [of conscious organoids] seems very unlikely to us given their tiny size, primitive features and complete disconnection from both the body and the environment. However, as more complex ensembles emerge, it will be important to find objective arguments for or against their ability to achieve conscious computations," suggests their new article in the peer-reviewed journal Neuron.
In a review of research on conscious vs. unconscious states (awake vs. coma, subliminal vs. supraliminal images, etc.), the researchers said that signs of consciousness in medical practice provide clues to methodologies that can be applied to lab-grown organoids, including things like trace conditioning, associative learning, predictive responses to different responses, and different responses.
A "concrete approach" that relies on a number of different markers will allow "evidence to accumulate without requiring commitment to a particular theory of consciousness," they said.
Computational biology.
Biocomputing researchers have reported an array of strange, unexpected or frightening behaviors from the stem cell-based organoids they are already working with, from spikes in neural activity from nearby stimuli (despite the lack of sensory organs), to signs of cellular memory and timing, 'spontaneous' synchronization of synapse stress patterns and cellular recognition.
In 2019, researchers found that the cortical organoids they were growing produced electrical oscillations similar to the brain waves of premature infants.