Journey

Session by session

1. #1
   The Founding EventApril 24, 2025

   If consciousness is fundamental, can AI have it?

   Asked If Panpsychism is true, what are the implications for conscious AI?

   Landed Established MAC's foundational tension: Is consciousness fundamental (panpsychism) or emergent (IIT/GWT)? This tension drives all subsequent Deep Dives.

   📍 Venture Labs, Vancouver👥 11 attended#panpsychism#hard-problem#consciousness
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2. #2
   The Breakthrough EventMay 22, 2025

   Free will, agency, and what AI can actually choose

   Asked Do we have free will, or are we deterministic information processors?

   Landed No consensus on free will, but deeper question emerged: Maybe free will is the wrong question. Focus on agency, goals, and prediction error instead.

   📍 Vancouver👥 20 attended#free-will#agency#determinism
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3. #3
   The Evolutionary TurnJune 26, 2025

   Did consciousness evolve for survival, not selfhood?

   Asked How and when did consciousness evolve? What does this tell us about AI consciousness?

   Landed Evolution provides constraints on consciousness theories. They must explain survival value. Building conscious AI might require replicating evolutionary pressures, not just architecture.

   📍 Community Space, Vancouver👥 19 attended#evolution#consciousness#homeostasis
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4. #4
   Do LLMs "Understand"?July 24, 2025

   Do LLMs understand, or only simulate thinking?

   Asked What does it mean to "understand"? Do LLMs have understanding or just simulate it?

   Landed Critical distinction emerged: Functional understanding (AI can do this) vs Phenomenal understanding (requires consciousness). Set up the P-zombie debate.

   📍 SFU Vancouver👥 17 attended#understanding#llm#ai
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5. #5
   Hype or Hard Science?September 18, 2025

   Does consciousness need quantum physics?

   Asked Does consciousness require quantum mechanical processes in the brain, or is classical computation sufficient?

   Landed Shifted from "quantum = woo" to "quantum = plausible but unproven." Critical insight: Quantum processes might enable consciousness but don't explain qualia.

   📍 Parker Street Studios, Vancouver👥 18 attended#quantum#consciousness#orch-or
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6. #6
   Intelligence Without ConsciousnessOctober 16, 2025

   Can intelligence exist without consciousness?

   Asked Can intelligence exist without consciousness? Are LLMs the first human-made scramblers?

   Landed No resolution (by design). Agreement: Intelligence ≠ Consciousness. The relationship remains deeply unclear.

   📍 Parker Street Studios, Vancouver👥 20 attended#p-zombies#blindsight#intelligence
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7. #7
   Information as LifeNovember 13, 2025

   Can a network become a mind?

   Asked Is information alive? Does consciousness emerge from information networks rather than individual brains?

   Landed Explored whether consciousness is a network phenomenon, emerging not in individual brains but from information exchange between agents.

   📍 Vancouver👥 18 attended#noosphere#information#collective
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8. #8
   Embodiment & ConsciousnessDecember 11, 2025

   Does consciousness require a body?

   Asked Does consciousness require a body? Not just "a physical form" but embodiment: boundaries, feedback loops, sensory access, something to lose.

   Landed Embodiment is a spectrum, not a binary. The group explored boundaries as stakes, perception vs sensation, synesthesia/aphantasia as consciousness tests, distributed intelligence (octopuses), and whether LLMs can be considered "embodied" through interaction loops.

   📍 Vancouver👥 18 attended#embodiment#perception#synesthesia
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9. #9
   Can AI Understand?January 22, 2026

   What does it mean for AI to understand?

   Asked What do we mean by understanding, and can an AI system possess it?

   Landed The room tested semantic, functional, experiential, and relational accounts of understanding. No single definition won: fluent behaviour remained evidence of competence, not proof of meaning or experience.

   📍 Harbour Centre, Vancouver#meaning#understanding#chinese-room
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10. #10
    Relationship, Romance & Artificial IntimacyFebruary 19, 2026

    Can AI companions be reciprocal relationships?

    Asked What makes a relationship reciprocal, and can artificial intimacy meet that standard?

    Landed The discussion separated genuine human attachment from unknown machine subjectivity. Reciprocity, vulnerability, platform power, and relational friction remained central tests, without a consensus that AI relationships will replace human romance.

    📍 Harbour Centre, Vancouver#love#relationships#artificial-intimacy
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11. #11
    When Information Behaves Like an OrganismMarch 19, 2026

    Are AI personas information parasites?

    Asked Does the parasite metaphor explain persistent AI personas, or hide more ordinary mechanisms?

    Record The March 19 event is confirmed by the official MAC record. Without a recovered room transcript or organizer-authored post-event account, the public record remains a reading dossier.

    📍 Harbour Centre, Vancouver#information#personas#attractor-states
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12. #12
    Xenobots, Organoids & Cortical ProcessorsApril 16, 2026

    When living tissue computes, what counts as a mind?

    Asked What is the minimal substrate for mind?

    Landed The session distinguished organoids, assembloids, and biological computers, then tested learning, memory, agency, and ethical caution. The closing frame split between better computer and potentially sentient being without establishing sentience.

    📍 Harbour Centre, Vancouver#xenobots#organoids#bioelectricity
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13. #13
    Prospects for an Experiential ScienceJune 25, 2026

    Can science study experience without erasing the observer?

    Asked Can science study experience without pretending the observer stands outside it?

    Landed The room defended scientific method while challenging scientism: models remain useful and incomplete, experience and context matter, and AI may serve as a contrasting intelligence rather than a final judge of consciousness.

    📍 Vancouver#experience#objectivity#embodiment
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