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bee_rider 3 days ago

The post I was responding to had

> On the contrary, we have one working example of general intelligence (humans)

I think some animals probably have what most people would informally call general intelligence, but maybe there’s some technical definition that makes me wrong.

mitthrowaway2 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

Their point is not in any way weakened if you read "one working example" as "at least one working example".

bee_rider 3 days ago | parent [-]

Oh, good point, I hadn’t noticed the alternative reading. That makes sense, then.

dsubburam 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I do not know how "general intelligence" is defined, but there are a set of features we humans have that other animals mostly don't, as per the philosopher Roger Scruton[1], that I am reproducing from memory (errors mine):

1. Animals have desires, but do not make choices

We can choose to do what we do not desire, and choose not to do what we desire. For animals, one does not need to make this distinction to explain their behavior (Occam's razor)--they simply do what they desire.

2. Animals "live in a world of perception" (Schopenhauer)

They only engage with things as they are. They do not reminisce about the past, plan for the future, or fantasize about the impossible. They do not ask "what if?" or "why?". They lack imagination.

3. Animals do not have the higher emotions that require a conceptual repertoire

such as regret, gratitude, shame, pride, guilt, etc.

4. Animals do not form complex relationships with others

Because it requires the higher emotions like gratitude and resentment, and concepts such as rights and responsibilities.

5. Animals do not get art or music

We can pay disinterested attention to a work of art (or nature) for its own sake, taking pleasure from the exercise of our rational faculties thereof.

6. Animals do not laugh

I do not know if the science/philosophy of laughter is settled, but it appears to me to be some kind of phenomenon that depends on civil society.

7. Animals lack language

in the full sense of being able to engage in reason-giving dialogue with others, justifying your actions and explaining your intentions.

Scruton believed that all of the above arise together.

I know this is perhaps a little OT, but I seldom if ever see these issues mentioned in discussions about AGI. Maybe less applicable to super-intelligence, but certainly applicable to the "artificial human" part of the equation.

[1] Philosophy: Principles and Problems. Roger Scruton

jibal 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

If some animals also have general intelligence then we have more than one example, so this simply isn't relevant.