[net.nlang] With Respect To The Definition Of Intelligent

cw (01/14/83)

There has been a recent discussion of whether the definition

	"able to perform some of the functions of a computer"

is appropriate for the word "intelligent".  The comments seem to be
indignant suggestions that the definition is, briefly, all wet.
However, have you never used or heard the term "intelligent controller"?
How about "intelligent disk" or "intelligent interface"?  Here,
and in similar jargon usages, "intelligent" seems to mean
precisely that the intelligent device has taken some of the tasks
of a computer onto itself.

Charles