Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!isi.edu!smoliar From: smoliar@isi.edu (Stephen Smoliar) Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy Subject: Re: AI - the real problem Message-ID: <17086@venera.isi.edu> Date: 11 Mar 91 00:50:17 GMT References: <1991Feb28.193218.21879@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> <1991Feb28.204538.21350@mp.cs.niu.edu> <1991Mar1.000125.20427@news.larc.nasa.gov> <1991Mar1.145213.1423@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> Reply-To: smoliar@venera.isi.edu (Stephen Smoliar) Organization: Information Sciences Institute, Univ. of So. California Lines: 37 In article <1991Mar1.145213.1423@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> dailey@buster.cps.msu.edu (Chris Dailey) writes: > > Higher intelligence is the ability to recognize patterns in the > environment [in order] to make generalizations and predictions > about future events. > >So if we desire to improve this definition, let us consider a plant >that always points towards the sun to get the maximum amount of light. >Can we [and do we want to] say that the plant is displaying >intelligence? There is a form of pattern recognition there, right? >But is it making predictions or just responding to its environment? >And if it is just responding to its environment, should that be a part >of the definition of higher intelligence? Or maybe it is part of a >definition of lower intelligence, which should possibly be included in >a definition of higher intelligence? > All these questions may stem from the assumption that pattern recognition, generalization, and prediction are each SINGLE skills which an agent either has or lacks. One of the things which interests me the most about Edelman's THE REMEMBERED PRESENT is that he tries to approach the problem of what the brain does in terms of different levels of capacity for what he calls "categorical perception," a piece of terminology which tends to incorporate what Chris probably has in mind for pattern recognition, generalization, and prediction. Thus, the heliotropic response of a plant (such as a heliotrope) may be regarded as a very limited capacity for perceptual categorization. The sensory hairs on a Venus fly-trap endow it with a somewhat greater capacity through its ability to (generally) distinguish food from debris. When we move into the animal kingdom, we find a variety of means by which different organisms can be distinguished by the sophistication of their respective capacities for categorical perception; and Edelman's book is essentially an outline of all the features which constitute human capacity in this respect. -- USPS: Stephen Smoliar 5000 Centinela Avenue #129 Los Angeles, California 90066 Internet: smoliar@venera.isi.edu