Mind, AI & Consciousness: MAC Lab #002
Engineering LLM Consciousness
Part philosophical Deepdive, part build session and part living research lab.
Presented by Mind, AI & Consciousness, a BC + AI Ecosystem Association community
MAC Lab 002 continues with the new MAC format alongside the Deepdives. Same community, same two hour in person container, same seriousness about mind, AI, and consciousness. The difference is intent. This one is built to make something, not only to discuss it.
This a design exercise to engineer an LLM with consciousness (of some sort). This will develop a framework for LLM consciousness, an architecture, and key components.
The goal is to better under what it will take to implement consciousness - of some sort - within the LLM framework.
Our Focus
What distinguishes human cognition from AI
How we define and understand consciousness
Philosophical frameworks for understanding the human mind in relation to AI
Questions about AI consciousness and its implications
Who Should Join
You should already be a member of the MAC chat group. If you are not, you may request invitation from mac@noocore.com
Format
We hold focused 2-hour "deep dive" discussions as well as 2-hour "lab" development events that combine structure with organic exploration.
Members are expected to prepare through advance readings, exploration, and actively participate.
About Mind, AI & Consciousness
Mind, AI & Consciousness (MAC) is a reading-and-discussion group born from organic conversations in the Vancouver AI community.
We use what's happening in AI as a lens on an older question: what consciousness actually is, and what if anything separates a human mind from a machine that acts like one.
Each month we pick a hard text and go deep. Panpsychism, free will, Integrated Information Theory, quantum theories of mind, embodiment, the limits of science itself... serious questions, taken seriously, with no requirement that anyone agree.
About BC + AI
BC + AI is the province-wide layer: a community-driven, nonprofit industry association built to create public-interest infrastructure for AI in British Columbia.
Not a corporate lobby. Not a think tank. A commons where meetups turn into working groups, prototypes turn into shared tools, and community values turn into governance.
Vancouver AI was just the start. The ecosystem keeps growing across BC: Surrey, Victoria, Kelowna, and beyond, each node bringing its own culture, needs, and experiments.
Join or support: bc-ai.ca/membership
Plug Into The Bigger Organism
Other upcoming events in the community live at luma.com/vancouver-ai.