1. How do you define intelligence? Is it possible for there to be truly intelligent machines?
2. What is consciousness? What does it mean to be a conscious being?
3 comments:
Anonymous
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1. How do you define intelligence?
According to dictionary.com, intelligence can be defined as: the capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc. Although it is a rather general definition, it shows how hard it is to define intelligence. Depending on what part you are looking, intelligence can vary. For example, a person with strong math skills might not be verbally as strong. That is why we might look at the theory of multiple intelligences, proposed by Howard Gardner, which reflects eight different aspects of intelligence. I believe that this is a more accurate way to define and determine a person’s intelligence.
I think you should not look at intelligence as one whole, but look at the different parts involved which create the overall intelligence. Intelligence does not only reflect a person’s strenghts in the academic field, but also in being able to understand, respond to and interpret other human beings, surroundings, and form logical and comprehensive thoughts, spoken or otherwise. For me, intelligence does not relate to an I.Q. If a certain person is very strong in one subject, but is not able to speak to people in a normal way, to me he or she is not intelligent. Therefore, I do not believe the Stanford-Binet test gives an accurate estimation of someone’s intelligence.
Is it possible for there to be truly intelligent machines?
To some extent it is possible, yes. Machines are able, through sensors, to react to their environments and stimili that come their way. This makes them able to interact with people, learn how to behave and see the consequences of their actions. Although I would not describe it as mental activities, the stimili that they receive do form the basis of a machine’s intelligence and ability to react and respond to the environment.
However, I think that what makes humans truly intelligence is something what a machine lacks. One could consider human senses similar to a machine’s sensors. But as we look at the so-called sixth sense, intuition; machines are not able to form an intuitive thought or action. Intuition is crucial to know how to act or react to any given situation. Because a machine lacks this capability, it will never be completely truly intelligent. However it is very intelligent already, and is still improving and advancing. But I believe there is only one truly intelligent creature on this planet, and that is human beings.
2. What is consciousness? What does it mean to be a conscious being?
According to dictionary.com, consciousness can be defined as an ‘Awareness of one's own existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings, etc’. Human beings are conscious whenever they are awake during the day from the moment they awake in the morning. Opposed to this is unconsciousness. When a person goes to sleep at night or dies or is in a coma etc, we would regard him/her as unconscious as they are not aware of their surroundings or existence.
Consciousness entails subjectivity. As a person experiences consciousness within himself/herself, it will be different for everybody else. The way we experience pain, thoughts and feelings are all independent from other human beings and it is in our consciousness that we experience these things.
To me consciousness means being able to think for yourself and know that you are real, thinking, breathing, etc. Being aware of yourself and your surroundings is crucial to being conscious.
When we look at robots, it is hard to call them conscious, seeing as they are still incapable to form intuitive reactions to their environment, which shows that they are not aware of their surroundings. With technology today creators are not able to build conscious robots. One might argue that robots are inorganic (by definition), and consciousness can exist only in an organic brain. This means that (at least for now) it is impossible to have conscious robots. However, in the future creators might be able to create or replicate organic material and therefore create a conscious robot. In theory, creating an organic, i.e. conscious robot is already possible today; only the science and knowledge about our own organic material lacks. But then the question remains, even if a robot has organic materials to make it function, will it be aware, i.e. conscious?
1. How do you define intelligence? Is it possible for there to be truly intelligent machines?
According to Social Darwinism, the initial nineteenth century meaning referred to a specific theory of class stratification within industrial societies, and particularly to the idea that there was a permanently poor underclass consisting of genetically inferior people who had precipitated down into their inevitable fate. The societal structure allowed people to recognize the intelligence of a person by their social class. This is reflection that as people have more chance to education and learning sources, the smarter the people get.
This approach applies to the current society also as people are generally smarter when they are provided education and know more. However, the ways of learning and the types of information that people perceive are different with various cultures and societies, so the definition of intelligence is harder to clarify.
The world, as a result of globalization, is an interactive place where many languages and ideas are exchanged. And to comprehend and utilize language abilities is an important ability to have, in order to be intelligent and survive in life.
Therefore part of the intelligence is type of thinking ability that people need in order to live up to the societal standards, and is implementable anywhere in the world when interacting and co-existing with humans or living organisms, nature and non-living objects.
If one type of intelligence, for example a logical intelligence studied by the Stanford-Binet test, is an efficient tool to fully assess the potential of the mind of people from all over the world, then the person may be viewed as intelligent or not intelligent without hesitation. This links to the case of Stanford psychologist Lewis M. Terman who created the IQ test and a former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yevv of Singapore, who tried to institute a eugenics program of rewarding well-educated women for higher birth rates and other philosophers. They believed that intelligence must be depictable as a single number, capable of ranking people in linear order, genetically based, and effectively immutable.
However, as previously discussed, to interact with living animals of different species and humans (in other words, living organisms that have some sort of intelligence), it is not only the logical thinking that is predominantly used, it is the learned or innate skills that is needed for the human to adapt to new situations, learn from mistakes, learn from others’ mistakes.
The Multiple Intelligence Theory formed by Howard observes eight types of intelligence that humans need to achieve, and each type of intelligence is viewed as equal.
This implies that person who loves music is musically intelligent, but may not be logically intelligent as much, but that person will still be intelligent. If robots were designed intelligent in music category (they could hear the sounds, receive the wavelengths, count the rhythm, and dance to the music), but they won’t be interpersonally or nature intelligent.
The artificial intelligence allows computers to put integrated knowledge that was written by the programmers to be read by the robot’s “brain”. But the technology is yet, that the computer assesses the information, analyzes its importance, and attaches emotion to it so they can react accordingly like humans do. When computers are not able to perceive what was given directly to them and learn and adapt to that change in environment, then the robot is not intelligent, as it is not going to be able to survive on its own.
To reach the capacity of a normal human being aged to 7 or more, the artificial intelligence has to have several aspects, voice recognition, logistical analyzing tools, video camera, search tool. These are already being invented by researchers and scientists, therefore in the future (not so in near future) there will be a robot that will be intelligent in one or more fields of intelligence, and viewed as intelligent.
Whether the AI intelligence will be full, it is for people to decide, but if the levels of human intelligence are based on reasoning, past experiences, and emotive response, the AI would be able to achieve at least two of the methods of intelligence.
Humans developed machines, therefore it is mostly agreed that humans should be the ones that are more intelligent. If there are such controversies about truly intelligent human being, then maybe the AI and machines will also hold controversial beliefs if someday it reaches the level of multiple types of intelligence defined MI theory.
Reference: Beatty B. The Bell Curve Mismeasure by any Measure, para. 5. Retrieved on November 27, 2008 from Plucker, J. A. (Ed.). (2003). Human intelligence: Historical influences, current controversies, teaching resources at http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/bellcurve.shtml
2. What is consciousness? What does it mean to be a conscious being?
Consciousness is state of mind where a brain is engaged in an activity where several parts of the brain work to come to a solution to the problem that the person is concentrated at. To be conscious is to be awake physically, but also to be asleep and dreaming.
Though its hard to define human mind which is a complex and controversial topic of discussion, consciousness do have some visible features that are listed hereafter: a sense of time, capacity to imagine and visualize and predict, an ability to generalize a small part of an object into a larger object or collection of objects and lastly but most importantly, a sense of self.
These features help to identify human beings as conscious beings and animals as non-conscious.
Reference: McGuigan, B. (n.a), What is the Definition of Consciousness?Wisegeek website. Retrieved on December 1, 2008 from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-definition-of-consciousness.htm
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3 comments:
1. How do you define intelligence?
According to dictionary.com, intelligence can be defined as: the capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc. Although it is a rather general definition, it shows how hard it is to define intelligence. Depending on what part you are looking, intelligence can vary. For example, a person with strong math skills might not be verbally as strong. That is why we might look at the theory of multiple intelligences, proposed by Howard Gardner, which reflects eight different aspects of intelligence.
I believe that this is a more accurate way to define and determine a person’s intelligence.
I think you should not look at intelligence as one whole, but look at the different parts involved which create the overall intelligence. Intelligence does not only reflect a person’s strenghts in the academic field, but also in being able to understand, respond to and interpret other human beings, surroundings, and form logical and comprehensive thoughts, spoken or otherwise. For me, intelligence does not relate to an I.Q. If a certain person is very strong in one subject, but is not able to speak to people in a normal way, to me he or she is not intelligent. Therefore, I do not believe the Stanford-Binet test gives an accurate estimation of someone’s intelligence.
Is it possible for there to be truly intelligent machines?
To some extent it is possible, yes. Machines are able, through sensors, to react to their environments and stimili that come their way. This makes them able to interact with people, learn how to behave and see the consequences of their actions. Although I would not describe it as mental activities, the stimili that they receive do form the basis of a machine’s intelligence and ability to react and respond to the environment.
However, I think that
what makes humans truly intelligence is something what a machine lacks. One could consider human senses similar to a machine’s sensors. But as we look at the so-called sixth sense, intuition; machines are not able to form an intuitive thought or action. Intuition is crucial to know how to act or react to any given situation. Because a machine lacks this capability, it will never be completely truly intelligent. However it is very intelligent already, and is still improving and advancing. But I believe there is only one truly intelligent creature on this planet, and that is human beings.
2. What is consciousness? What does it mean to be a conscious being?
According to dictionary.com, consciousness can be defined as an ‘Awareness of one's own existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings, etc’. Human beings are conscious whenever they are awake during the day from the moment they awake in the morning. Opposed to this is unconsciousness. When a person goes to sleep at night or dies or is in a coma etc, we would regard him/her as unconscious as they are not aware of their surroundings or existence.
Consciousness entails subjectivity. As a person experiences consciousness within himself/herself, it will be different for everybody else. The way we experience pain, thoughts and feelings are all independent from other human beings and it is in our consciousness that we experience these things.
To me consciousness means being able to think for yourself and know that you are real, thinking, breathing, etc. Being aware of yourself and your surroundings is crucial to being conscious.
When we look at robots, it is hard to call them conscious, seeing as they are still incapable to form intuitive reactions to their environment, which shows that they are not aware of their surroundings. With technology today creators are not able to build conscious robots. One might argue that robots are inorganic (by definition), and consciousness can exist only in an organic brain. This means that (at least for now) it is impossible to have conscious robots. However, in the future creators might be able to create or replicate organic material and therefore create a conscious robot. In theory, creating an organic, i.e. conscious robot is already possible today; only the science and knowledge about our own organic material lacks. But then the question remains, even if a robot has organic materials to make it function, will it be aware, i.e. conscious?
1. How do you define intelligence? Is it possible for there to be truly intelligent machines?
According to Social Darwinism, the initial nineteenth century meaning referred to a specific theory of class stratification within industrial societies, and particularly to the idea that there was a permanently poor underclass consisting of genetically inferior people who had precipitated down into their inevitable fate. The societal structure allowed people to recognize the intelligence of a person by their social class. This is reflection that as people have more chance to education and learning sources, the smarter the people get.
This approach applies to the current society also as people are generally smarter when they are provided education and know more. However, the ways of learning and the types of information that people perceive are different with various cultures and societies, so the definition of intelligence is harder to clarify.
The world, as a result of globalization, is an interactive place where many languages and ideas are exchanged. And to comprehend and utilize language abilities is an important ability to have, in order to be intelligent and survive in life.
Therefore part of the intelligence is type of thinking ability that people need in order to live up to the societal standards, and is implementable anywhere in the world when interacting and co-existing with humans or living organisms, nature and non-living objects.
If one type of intelligence, for example a logical intelligence studied by the Stanford-Binet test, is an efficient tool to fully assess the potential of the mind of people from all over the world, then the person may be viewed as intelligent or not intelligent without hesitation. This links to the case of Stanford psychologist Lewis M. Terman who created the IQ test and a former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yevv of Singapore, who tried to institute a eugenics program of rewarding well-educated women for higher birth rates and other philosophers. They believed that intelligence must be depictable as a single number, capable of ranking people in linear order, genetically based, and effectively immutable.
However, as previously discussed, to interact with living animals of different species and humans (in other words, living organisms that have some sort of intelligence), it is not only the logical thinking that is predominantly used, it is the learned or innate skills that is needed for the human to adapt to new situations, learn from mistakes, learn from others’ mistakes.
The Multiple Intelligence Theory formed by Howard observes eight types of intelligence that humans need to achieve, and each type of intelligence is viewed as equal.
This implies that person who loves music is musically intelligent, but may not be logically intelligent as much, but that person will still be intelligent.
If robots were designed intelligent in music category (they could hear the sounds, receive the wavelengths, count the rhythm, and dance to the music), but they won’t be interpersonally or nature intelligent.
The artificial intelligence allows computers to put integrated knowledge that was written by the programmers to be read by the robot’s “brain”. But the technology is yet, that the computer assesses the information, analyzes its importance, and attaches emotion to it so they can react accordingly like humans do. When computers are not able to perceive what was given directly to them and learn and adapt to that change in environment, then the robot is not intelligent, as it is not going to be able to survive on its own.
To reach the capacity of a normal human being aged to 7 or more, the artificial intelligence has to have several aspects, voice recognition, logistical analyzing tools, video camera, search tool. These are already being invented by researchers and scientists, therefore in the future (not so in near future) there will be a robot that will be intelligent in one or more fields of intelligence, and viewed as intelligent.
Whether the AI intelligence will be full, it is for people to decide, but if the levels of human intelligence are based on reasoning, past experiences, and emotive response, the AI would be able to achieve at least two of the methods of intelligence.
Humans developed machines, therefore it is mostly agreed that humans should be the ones that are more intelligent. If there are such controversies about truly intelligent human being, then maybe the AI and machines will also hold controversial beliefs if someday it reaches the level of multiple types of intelligence defined MI theory.
Reference:
Beatty B. The Bell Curve Mismeasure by any Measure, para. 5. Retrieved on November 27, 2008 from Plucker, J. A. (Ed.). (2003). Human intelligence: Historical influences, current controversies, teaching resources at http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/bellcurve.shtml
2. What is consciousness? What does it mean to be a conscious being?
Consciousness is state of mind where a brain is engaged in an activity where several parts of the brain work to come to a solution to the problem that the person is concentrated at. To be conscious is to be awake physically, but also to be asleep and dreaming.
Though its hard to define human mind which is a complex and controversial topic of discussion, consciousness do have some visible features that are listed hereafter: a sense of time, capacity to imagine and visualize and predict, an ability to generalize a small part of an object into a larger object or collection of objects and lastly but most importantly, a sense of self.
These features help to identify human beings as conscious beings and animals as non-conscious.
Reference:
McGuigan, B. (n.a), What is the Definition of Consciousness?Wisegeek website. Retrieved on December 1, 2008 from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-definition-of-consciousness.htm
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