What Exactly IS Intelligence? (The nature of a \'Creator\')

by romansh , Thursday, August 19, 2010, 18:22 (5209 days ago) @ David Turell

An amoeba has automatisms, instinctual behavior somehow coded in its genome. They do communicate with each other to a degree, chemically. It is difficult to compare inorganic and organic. Crystals multiply but they are not alive. I don't think we can push instincts to the point of calling an amoeba intelligent. My poodle, yes. He knows that I am going out if I put on my hat, and that means crate time for him. Intelligence, and a degree of consciousness. I think intelligence implies a degree of consciousness.-Does not an amoeba seek goals follow chemical gradients? So are you saying neither a brick nor an amoeba have intelligence? Likely you would argue a pre-zygote is not intelligent either, but it has the ability to manipulate,to interact with the mother's body and the wherewithall to create the most complex machine that we know of. You might argue this is purely instinct and and not intelligence. So my question where in the chain from conception to death does a being become intelligent? -
> dhw I see you've raised a similar point in your response to Matt. You compare a brick and an amoeba, and ask which is more intelligent. Following the definition I've offered, I don't see any way round our subjective perceptions here: what degree of consciousness do you personally attribute to a brick or to an amoeba? If we follow your definition,I'm afraid I'll have to agree with Matt that it allows for some silly formulations (e.g. that a brick has a degree of intelligence). As regards the amoeba, does your definition allow for any distinction between intelligence and instinct?-By silly do you mean counter intuitive? Some might argue a broader definition of intelligence is not helpful. I would respectfully disagree. I suspect we are discussing the quality of intelligence or perhaps an intelligence that is made in man's image. -Like I meant to say before, the concept of intelligence is deeply embedded in our concepts of consciousness, life and free will. By some definitions we can't be intelligent unless we have consciousness. Is this an assumption or is it simply part of a definition?-I'd like to nail down a definition of intelligence before we even tackle a "universal intelligence".-I suppose I'm angling for a position where everything has an intelligence, but somethings have a much better quality of intelligence, at least by our lights.-Need a better term than "better quality", but I think you get my drift.