"Tell me what's wrong, tell me what's right,
tell me how you want me to do it tonight!"
- Plain White T's
I've often contemplated the big questions in life. I don't usually come close to the answers, but that's not really the point. Human behaviour is usually the focus of my internal discussion.
Today, as I was on the tram home, I was contemplating intelligence and knowledge, and what they really are. The reason I was doing so, was because someone in my course was discussing artificial intelligence. I am currently studying Robotic & Mechatronic Engineering and this is something I’ve contemplated for many years. I find myself asking, “How can I make a computer intelligent?” The answer is both really simple, yet extremely complex. I was wondering this, until I was struck with the question “What is intelligence?”
Firstly, a definition of knowledge must be determined. When I think of the word ‘knowledge,’ connotations of all the facts and data that one can remember comes to mind. General knowledge masters are able to remember more than others, due to the internal process of storing that data. Using our senses, we take information from the world, interpret it and store it, but only if it is first determined important enough. The people we see winning quiz shows are able to remember more information, as they have subconsciously forged a path for that information to remain in the mind. Consider this: They do not see more, hear more, touch more, smell more or taste more. They do not experience any sensory situations that you or I do not. So how is it that they ‘remember’ more? Perhaps they don’t.
However, to define these people as intelligent would be a mistake. Do not misinterpret this though; there are many people who do retain a lot of knowledge that are, in fact, intelligent. Intelligence, as far as I’m concerned, is determined by what one does with that knowledge. They are able to choose the correct option, at two different pathways. The first occurs when one encounters the new information. The question asked is this: Is this information important? 99.9999999% of the time, the information is disregarded as unimportant, and is not stored in memory. The mind makes assumptions about our environment, after which, this process is quickened (the old saying, ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,’ has something to do with this. The assumptions made about out world are so defined, that changing them takes a lot more effort.) The second stage to intelligence is correctly identifying what is to be done with this information when it has been appropriately stored. To decide yes or no. To decide red or blue. To go forward, back, left or right. The output for any given input.
In humans, the hard part is this part. The distinction between important and unimportant information is easy. In robotic systems nothing can state to it what is important, and what is not. Even systems which are capable of ‘learning,’ are at best, given hints to do so. Utilising the information in the most appropriate way is the easy part for a computer. If the data says 1, go left, 2, go forward, etc, (okay, it’s a little more complex in practice, but you get my point.)
So, with MY theory of intelligence, I can only see two ways of creating an ‘intelligent’ robot. One requires infinite memory, which is of course, impossible. The other requires good programming, allowing robotic systems the ability to decide what information is important, and what is not, which is a terribly difficult (but not impossible.) In terms of the literal sense that I have defined, I guess I am somewhat intelligent. Nevertheless, there’s still a incredible amount of progress that needs to be undertook.
The world is throwing so much important information at me so quickly. I’ve hardly the time or the ability to process it, let alone react accordingly. Perhaps this slowing down of the process, near eradication of reaction is a good thing. I’m accumulating knowledge. I’m watching and waiting. I’ve known for such a long time that patience is a virtue. Those things I’m learning and observing, one day they’ll be relevant. I might not be completely leading my most desirous life i.e. I still want a lot of what I see to be mine, attributes of people’s characters to be seen in me, skill that others have to flow from me and the deep friendships that some have to be the way others think of me. Intelligence or not, I am slowly building a battery of information, of which the battle has not yet been declared for.
4 comments:
I think my head just exploded...
Regards from Spain!!!
I agree that it isn't what you know but what you know you do with that knowledge that counts. But. Is someone who remembers 100 things and uses that knowledge "intelligently" 50/100 times more intelligent than someone who remembers 10 of those same 100 things and chooses the right option 8/10 times? Hasn't the person who remembers the entire hundred 50% correct while the person who remembered ten is 8% correct. Of course, the first person had made 50 bad decisions whereas the second person has made 2, but if every one remembers as much as possible then, debates and argues each decision taken, won't the collective intelligence negate the poor decisions? Learn and argue people! I would claim that I remember more than 0.000001% of my sensory experiences, especially as more and more of my life consigned to staring at this computer screen. The brain certainly loses a "conrete", recallable memory of a vast amount of sesnsory experiences when you are running around outside and interacting with people and nature, as those "inputs" are too complex for the brain to easily store and recall as a simple memory. But sitting here in the same position in my bed every night,staring at this screen, significantly reduces the amount of complicated input, and for my brain at least (because I arrogantly think I'm clever), a very large proportion of text that my eyes "input" into my brain is easily recallable. You more read the more you know, in terms of facts. The more you socialise, the more you know about people. I think the key to being a mad cunt and succeeding in life both selfishly and altruisticly is finding the right balance and interaction between those two forms of knowlegde. Essay, I'm procrastinating. Cool blog man.
The more you read the more you know*
Argh.
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