"Self-maintenance and the evidence for artificial sentience" by Mads J. Hansen and Christoffer Lundbak Olesen

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Citation

Hansen, Mads J. and Olesen, Christoffer Lundbak (2026) Self-maintenance and the evidence for artificial sentience. Animal Sentience 38(11)

Author Website

https://www.bristol.ac.uk/people/person/Mads-Hansen-8c6c5201-9831-43b9-990a-8e535b0beee2/

https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/persons/clo%40cc.au.dk/

Thread

Jonathan Birch, Précis of The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI

Abstract

Birch aims to remain neutral about whether life is necessary for sentience. We argue that life can be given a role while maintaining neutrality. Markers of sentience have been identified in living systems, where some contribute to the system's self-maintenance. When such a marker is reproduced in an artificial system that is not self-maintaining it is not clear that it is as reliable as in living systems.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biography

Mads J. Hansen, postdoctoral researcher, University of Bristol, funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. His research is on philosophy of mind and biology, with a focus on the role of constraints in accounting for consciousness and teleology . Website

Christoffer Lundbak Olesen, PhD fellow, Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University. His research on computational modelling of cognition comcerns the development of representational structure and delusions. Website