larry@VLSI.JPL.NASA.GOV (05/03/88)
-- It seems to me to be silly to (say) things like "when a computer
-- passes the Turing test it will be intelligent." Intelligence is
-- not...binary.... -jeff sherrard
I agree. All too often I see people treat questions as if each had a
single binary answer. This is worse than idiocy -- it's sub-idiocy,
demoting oneself to the intelligence of a flip-flop. Intelligence has many
dimensions, and most seem to be either continuous or have many quantum
steps. IQ tests (crude though they are) typically include a half to a
dozen factors, including spatial and verbal reasoning. Some psychologists
have sought to add creativity, social ability, and other qualities.
(This isn't to say that all dimensions of a field are linear or curvilinear.
Clearly some metrics have transition points, or "catastrophes," where a
small change in one dimension is accompanied by a tremendous change in a
companion dimension. I suspect consciousness is like this; at some point
in the evolution of life it suddenly appeared -- though I suspect it was at
a much earlier point than most people are willing to credit.)
Larry @ JPL-VLSI