Imagine being tasked with designing a device that can locate, identify, and describe all objects in its environment, measure distances, and navigate seamlessly while avoiding obstacles. Now, for extra credit—make it capable of conscious experience like a human!

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Sounds like science fiction? Well, nature has already solved this through the human sensory system. Our eyes, ears, skin, nose, and tongue act as biological sensors, feeding data into a supercomputer—the brain—which deciphers, processes, and reacts in real time.


Yet, despite decades of research, AI and computer science are far from replicating this feat. In the 1950s, scientists believed they could build machines with human-like perception within a decade. Fast forward to today, and while AI can beat world chess champions and Jeopardy! experts, it still struggles with basic perception tasks that humans do effortlessly.

This raises profound questions:
🔹 How do we sense and interact with our environment so seamlessly?
🔹 Why is human perception so challenging to replicate in machines?
🔹 What makes consciousness an unsolved mystery?

Understanding perception is key to advancing AI, robotics, neuroscience, and even mental health research. The more we decode how the brain processes sensory data, the closer we get to unlocking human-like intelligence in machines.

💡 What are your thoughts on AI and human perception? Will machines ever truly “see” and “experience” the world as we do?



Reading:
Goldstein, E. B., & Brockmole, J. (2016). Sensation and Perception (10th ed.). Cengage Learning. ISBN: 978-1305580299.