Solms vs Humphrey: Two Leading Minds on Machine Consciousness to Debate Live Nov 3
cccalum · x · 2026-10-22
To celebrate the publication of "Perspectives on Machine Consciousness", neuroscientist Mark Solms and theoretical psychologist Nick Humphrey will hold a 45-minute live online debate on Nov 3: "Can we make AIs sentient – and should we?"
Both put feeling above thinking, but diverge on mechanism. Solms argues consciousness is rooted in brainstem-generated feeling and is building artificial agents driven by homeostatic needs based on Karl Friston's free energy principle. Humphrey holds phenomenal consciousness is a cortical function, restricted to social animals with a developed sense of self.
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