Ask HN: Any thoughts on the following definition of Intelligence?

3 points by automated ↗ HN
Intelligence is that which when combined with a self replicating engine gives rise to Culture. Disagree? Agree? Thoughts?

9 comments

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Cute speculation, but I can't see how it could be tested.
Where there is a quest, there is an experiment..
And what's your definition of 'culture'?
Let's say we go with your definition for now, what would you say?
Reality is the ultimate intelligence[1], it has designed and created you and everything else, and origin of all thoughts and ideas. Therefore intelligence can be measured by how well it models reality. Humans model reality fairly well therefore they are fairly intelligent. I say 'model' because nothing is separate from reality, and so by saying 'a human models reality', we make it clear we understand a human is not actually a reality seperate from the rest of reality - the separation itself is a 'model', an illusion.

[1] If you're religious, you might say reality is like a mirror that reflects the ultimate intelligence of the ultimate essence, a.k.a God, but let's put that aside for the purpose of this discussion.

I am sympathetic to your general approach but not in agreement regarding the completeness of your conceptual framework, and terminology. (To begin with, one can counter that intelligence is an attribute of consciousness, and that 'the Real' is not the same thing as 'the Reality'.)

And as to 'models' and 'intelligence', have you considered that a model implies language (or formalism), and/or computation? Both are known at this point to have inherent limits (undecidability and termination). And as to your footnot [OP.1], further note that every known school of thought in that domain insists on total annihilation of the 'model' as the only means of achieving perfect harmony with "Reality".

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I agree, I know hardly anything about these matters. It's my attempt to guide the OP away from a way of thinking.
Disagree. Any definition that tries to define an abstract concept in terms of other abstract concepts is only for amusement and not useful at all.