Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!geac!aeshq!harry
From: harry@aeshq.UUCP (Harry Pulley)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Proof of Existence...
Keywords: intelligence
Message-ID: <772@aeshq.UUCP>
Date: 21 Sep 90 13:45:38 GMT
Organization: AES Headquarters, Environment Canada, Toronto, Canada
Lines: 24

Computo, ergo sum?

[I cannot recall who originally quoted this...and I don't mean Descartes...]

I think that there is a missing component in the definition of an intelligent system.  This may 
even be a concept which will separate humans from cats, etc.

I believe that an intelligent system must be able to 'think'.  I do not feel that thinking is a
process which is entirely covered by reasoning.  To think is not to know.  A computer knows what
the answer to a mathmatical function is.  It knows what the outcome of a predictable system will
be.  But to think, a system must be able to examine a situation and say "I think that this 
outcome will occur, but I am not sure."        

Humans can observe an event, not knowing all factors which are involved, and make a decision  
regarding the outcome of the event.  The important point here, is that the decision may be wrong.

An intelligent system must be able to take all things it knows, and be able for formulate 
something which is new.  It must be able to examine a problem, try all known solutions, and 
then think of a new solution if it exhausts all proven methods, unsuccessfully. 

I think that this, more than anything, will be a major obstacle on the road to creating a truly
intelligent system.

HCPIV