Abstract

This report introduces the activities of eight one-week workshops that were held during the summer of 2017 on the topic “Technology and Consciousness.” Participants in the series of workshops approached the subject from many different perspectives, with the overall goal of exploring the possibility of machine consciousness, and assessing its potential implications. The body of this initial paper summarizes the overview topics and basic introductory themes that were discussed during the early part of the workshop series. Follow-on papers will address the key focus areas that were examined in depth during the course of the full series.