131. Gideon Yaffe, Brain Injury Survivor

Show Notes:

Gideon Yaffe and his then girlfriend-now wife, Sue Chan, drove across the country after graduation to San Francisco, where they had no jobs or prospects. Gideon had applied to graduate school in philosophy but didn't get in anywhere. They got married and his first job was at a pet store, Gideon worked there for a while, then at a computer magazine.

Studying Philosophy at Stanford

While hanging out in San Francisco, he started reading Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, which he loved and found to be hugely  rewarding. This inspired him to apply to grad school again and this time his application was accepted in a lot of places. He decided to study philosophy at Stanford, where he met Michael Bratman, a professor who worked on philosophy of action and related questions about the nature of action, agency, and intention. Gideon also became interested in the history of philosophy and wrote a dissertation about John Locke and contemporary problems related to the Free Will problem. Gideon went on the job market in academia.  He got some interviews but didn't get a job. The following year, he got a one-year job at UCSD. His wife, Sue, was working in the film industry, so they moved to LA and he commuted down to San Diego.

Tenure at the University of Southern California

He finally secured a tenure track job at the University of Southern California (USC) in 1999 and taught Philosophy of Law classes. He wrote a paper about addiction, which he found interesting due to his knowledge of addicts and interest in freedom and addiction and how addiction would undermine freedom. When a friend of Gideon’s was a victim of a carjacking incident,  he became interested in the legal problem at the center of many carjacking cases that revolves around intention, so he wrote a paper about conditional intention. Gideon explains how carjacking differs from car theft, and the paper questioned whether a conditional intention was enough for the crime when the statute called for unconditional intention. Gideon felt that philosophy of law was important to work on but he needed to know more about the law, so he coerced USC into giving him a year in the law school. Gideon recounts his experience as a law student and how it led to teaching law in law school. 

Collaborating on a Neuroscience and Legal Proceedings Think Tank

The MacArthur Foundation launched the law and neuroscience project, which aimed to bring together various people from philosophy, law, and neuroscience to discuss the relevance of neuroscience to legal proceedings, particularly in criminal law. Gideon was invited to be part of this think tank. During this time, he collaborated with neuroscientists on various problems and experiments related to neuroscience that could be useful to the legal system. This led to a desire to learn more about neuroscience and he pursued a grant to support the project. He spent another year as a neuroscience student at Cal Tech which allowed him to learn a lot about neuroscience. Gideon also started writing a book about attempted crimes. Gideon talks about the importance of understanding the double failure of attempts, and inherent impossible attempts. He highlights the number of cases where individuals seem incapable of committing crimes. Gideon received a job offer from Yale University after being a part of the MacArthur think tank and his book. He decided to take the position and he and his family moved to New Haven. 

Neuroscience, Law, and GenAI Intentions

Gideon talks about the challenges faced by those who attempt to escape the harsh realities of the criminal justice system. His experiences highlight the importance of understanding the factors that contribute to attempted crimes. The conversation turns to Gideon’s  involvement in generative AI and the potential of AI intentions. He is currently working on a project with neuroscientist Uri Maoz, which aims to understand, for example, the difference between self-driving cars and drones in terms of intentions. Another project involves a group funded by billionaire Sergey Brin, who has a daughter with severe autism. The group aims to build AI models of the brain of a person and use the model to see how it responds to various forms of surgery. 

AI, Consciousness, and Intentions Organizing Behavior

Gideon discusses the concept of AI consciousness. Gideon states that a lot depends on how consciousness is defined. One  understanding is that consciousness involves self-representation of certain kinds of thoughts. He suggests that understanding consciousness depends on what one thinks about it. One way of understanding consciousness involves self-representation of certain kinds, such as having a second-order thought about the thought. If that's all that's required for consciousness, then these LLMs can be conscious. Another way of understanding consciousness involves qualia, or ways of feeling, such as experiencing a particular sensation or feeling something. However, he acknowledges that it is difficult to know exactly what it is like to be an LLM or a toaster. He acknowledges that there are some similarities between the two, but acknowledges the challenges in determining their exact roles in AI and neuroscience. Gideon explains that intentions serve to organize behavior in various interesting ways. For example, if an AI has intentions, they can make decisions now so they don't have to think about them later. This is relevant for coordinating behavior with each other, as well as interpersonal organization. The question of whether AIs have intentions is more tractable than the question of whether they are conscious. Intentions play a crucial role in various aspects of law, such as contract interpretation and legal texts. Understanding the intentions of AI and their potential impact on these areas is essential for understanding the future of AI and its applications in various fields.

Updating Law to Address AI Intention

The conversation explores the need to rewrite laws or update them to address the issue of intention in AI. Gideon states that the intention of a person or AI and the textual language, and the interpretation of the text are all areas that need to be explored.  The project Gideon is working on aims to determine the intentions of AI by examining the role their representation plays in guiding their behavior. Gideon suggests that the question is whether inferences can be made about AI's intentions by looking at the role the representations plays from the AI behavior. Gideon talks about a project on criminal activity and neuroscience that he is proud of. 

Leniency and Child Criminality

Gideon goes on to talk about leniency and child criminality. He argues that the reason to give a break to kids who engage in criminal behavior is disenfranchisement, not neural immaturity. He talks about the age of maturity, lack of political participation. Gideon's book about kids was written after completing his studies at Yale. He also discusses his personal life, including being in a car accident which resulted in a severe brain injury and how he is immensely grateful for his recovery. 

Influential Harvard Courses and Professors

Gideon mentions a core class on the Baroque period by Simon Schama, which he found to be the most influential. The course focused on famous European paintings from the Baroque period, which he found to be a source of inspiration. Other influential courses include a seminar with Hilary Putnam, Rational Action with Robert Nozick. 

Timestamps: 

04:50: Philosophy Studies and Academic Challenges 

11:18: Legal Philosophy and Collaborative Research 

22:25: Transition to Yale and Continued Research 

27:22: Philosophical Reflections on AI and Consciousness 

39:36: Personal Reflections and Career Highlights 

49:52: Courses and Professors at Harvard 

52:27: Current Work and Future Directions 

52:41: Personal Life and Family 

Links:

https://law.yale.edu/gideon-yaffe

Featured Non-profit:

The featured non-profit of this episode of The 92 Report is recommended by Michael Johnson who reports:

“Hi. I'm Michael Johnson, class of 1992. The featured nonprofit of this episode of The 92 Report is Son of a Saint. Son of a Saint provides guidance, mentorship and opportunities to young boys in the New Orleans area who did not have a father in the home, usually due to death or incarceration. Founded in 2011 by Sonny Lee, who lost his own father, a defensive back of the saints from a heart attack at the age of 36, Son of a Saint is making a significant impact on the lives of young boys in the New Orleans area. My wife and I have been supporters for many years, as has my firm advantage capital, which recently endowed a scholarship that will cover high school tuition for two boys from the program. Although my circumstances were much different, having lost my own father when I was five years old, I know firsthand how important a male influence can be on a young boy. I luckily had family members and friends who stepped up from me and hope in some small way, my support of Son of a Saint and the work their mentors do can give the boys and their programs similar help. You can learn more about their work at Son of a Saint.org and now here's Will Bachman with this week's episode.”

To learn more about their work, visit: www.sonofasaint.org.