ANDREWS%EAR@AMES-IO.ARPA (07/21/86)
In his July 16 missive on Life, Intelligence, and Creativity definitions, Larry makes a statement (highlighted below in upper case) which is quite provocative to a mechanical engineer like myself. > "Creativity" is a particular kind of intelligence. It can be recognized by its > products: ideas, actions, or objects that did not exist before. ... > Obviously, these new things don't appear from nowhere. THERE ARE CONSERVATION > LAWS IN THOUGHT AS WELL AS IN PHYSICS (THOUGH VERY DIFFERENT ONES). Have I missed something somewhere? If there are "thought conservation laws", could someone please provide me with some references? And if nothing has been documented, could someone please fill me in? I understand the concept of conservation of mass and energy (what goes in - what comes out = increase in amount stored), and the "bookkeeping" associated with entropy production, transfer, and storage, but I have never heard of an application of those ideas to human thought. I'm undecided about whether to be excited or depressed. Help! Alison Andrews NASA Ames Research Center andrews%ear@ames-io.arpa