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From: larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman)
Newsgroups: net.ai
Subject: Re: Re: intelligence for humans
Message-ID: <606@kitty.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 27-Nov-85 17:44:08 EST
Article-I.D.: kitty.606
Posted: Wed Nov 27 17:44:08 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 30-Nov-85 07:02:58 EST
References: <33103@lanl.ARPA> <289@quest.UUCP> <2555@sunybcs.UUCP>
Organization: Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, NY
Lines: 27

> > It is interesting that many people seem to define "intelligence"
> > as "what human beings do".  Many times I have heard arguements
> > that basically come down to:  "X isn't a human being, therefore
> > it isn't intelligent."
> 
> Well, there are two approaches to defining intelligence.
> 1)	As a trait that helps you survive.  But people do a lot
> 	of stupid things and get killed in ways that animals don't,
> 	so ...
> 
> 2)	As a human trait.  This is much nicer.  Now when viruses
> 	pass info to one another, it isn't intelligence--it's only
> 	a disease conspiracy.

	What's wrong with the `dictionary' definition of intelligence,
which I have always found to be most universally suited, and which eliminates
any allusion to anthropomorphism?

	"Intelligence is the capacity to apprehend facts [meaning actively
seek] and propositions and their relations and to reason about them"

===  Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, New York        ===
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