bzs@bu-cs.UUCP (Barry Shein) (11/13/85)
>On the definition of intelligence: > > Intelligence is in a sense a matter of degree. We can show this >by looking at the animal kingdom. We will assume that normal humans are >intelligent. We can then ask: > > Are monkeys intelligent? > Are dogs intelligent? > Are horses intelligent? > Are geese intelligent? > Are chickens intelligent? > >Chickens are generally considered unintelligent, at least by people who >deal with them. So somewhere in that range is the lower bound of intelligent >life. Where is it, and why? Comments? > > John Nagle I remember once reading a comment that went something like "We will solve the problem of natural language long before we build a box which jumps about like a cat" (heavily paraphrased I am sure.) Some of that is the problem of using energy as efficiently as a cat, but a lot has to do with our perceptions about intelligence, or to put it another way, who will be put out of a job first by a computer: a) an accountant b) a cat? Funny how a lot of our notion of intelligence is conveniently tied into our ability to do math and logic. Although we have had some success with industrial robots in repetitive, simple jobs, I can't help but think that a house painter should be in less danger of being replaced by a computer than the middle-manager who probably owns the house being painted (and might be considered to have a job which requires more 'intelligence'.) Even as we move 'up the ladder' we notice that things like strategy and planning seem to be much more achievable goals in AI than working in a machine shop making jigs. Perhaps a different fine question is to look at our concepts of intelligence much the same way Marx looked at 'labor' and 'capital' value, the paradoxes he pointed out in the marketplace may have interesting meanings in terms of our notion of what is intelligence (can we now turn Maslow or Schank 'on his head'?...bad joke, sorry.) How badly do we confuse intelligence with highly paid and/or respected positions in our particular society? -Barry Shein, Boston University