Astera Neuro

Astera Neuro is the neuroscience program of Astera Institute, working to understand how the brain produces conscious experience and to engineer it.

[Astera Neuro @AsteraNeuro]

Just graduated and want to work on conscious world models using cutting-edge neurotechnology? You do not have to wait for a PhD.

SHIFT is our paid postbac research fellowship. $75K, full benefits, close mentorship, onsite in the East Bay.

Applications close January 15. https://t.co/LBmOTizfg3

[Astera Neuro @AsteraNeuro]

How does the brain give rise to conscious experience? That is the question we are building Astera Neuro to answer. Come see what we are working on, who we are, and how to join us. https://t.co/GWEjSx4FSK

[Doris Tsao @doristsao]

How does matter become bright inside? I am deeply excited to share our vision @AsteraNeuro for understanding and engineering consciousness.

We believe that perception and thought are constructed from fundamental building blocks, and that by understanding these blocks and how the brain combines them, we can explain the whole mystery of consciousness.

Writing this vision statement helped me think more clearly about questions that have long bothered me: Why did consciousness evolve? What are we actually conscious of? What is the self? How do different parts of the brain work together? How can we tell whether an AI is conscious? What scientific path can lead to real answers?

Part 1 presents a new theory. I propose that conscious experience arises from a coherent internal model of the world and the self built from 'persistent symbols.' I describe the neural representations and dynamics through which the brain could implement such symbols.

Part 2 lays out a roadmap to systematically discover the basic building blocks of perception, cognition, and the self-model, and to build the neural read/write technologies and org culture we need to get there.

Part 3 presents a dream: What will become possible once we acquire the ability to read and write experience--to truly engineer consciousness?

If you are a systems neuroscientist who feels something fundamental is missing from our field, I share this feeling. Understanding the phenomenon that compelled many of us to become neuroscientists in the first place should be a central organizing goal of our field. This vision statement lays out a research program to reach this goal.

If you read the vision statement and recognize that this is the mission you have been longing for, please get in touch, wherever in life you are right now.

I made this stone soup for you.

https://t.co/z8CRrEESce