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From: crs@lanl.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.ai
Subject: Re: Minsky's definition of AI
Message-ID: <33103@lanl.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 10-Nov-85 04:52:30 EST
Article-I.D.: lanl.33103
Posted: Sun Nov 10 04:52:30 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 14-Nov-85 02:50:00 EST
References: <824@wdl1.UUCP>
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Lines: 48

> On the definition of intelligence:
> 
>      Intelligence is in a sense a matter of degree.  We can show this
> by looking at the animal kingdom.  We will assume that normal humans are 
> intelligent.  We can then ask:
> 
> 	Are monkeys intelligent?
> 	Are dogs intelligent?
> 	Are horses intelligent?
> 	Are geese intelligent?
> 	Are chickens intelligent?
> 
> Chickens are generally considered unintelligent, at least by people who
> deal with them.  So somewhere in that range is the lower bound of intelligent
> life.  Where is it, and why?  Comments?

But are chickens *totally* unintelligent?

I seem to recall reading of chickens being trained to perform simple
tasks.

*Is* there a lower bound on intelligence?

Or it "intelligence" a continuum?  I. e. humans, apes ... chickens ...

At first thought, the question seemed trivial, merely nit-picking.
But is it?  I can envision two views of this "lower bound:"

1.  Let's say, for the sake of our model of intelligence, that there
is a lower bound, beneath which we will consider entities too
unintelligent to be considered for the purposes in which we are
interested.

2.  There *is* a lower bound beneath which entities *are* unintelligent.

I think the latter is limiting and that it may be well to avoid mind
set of this type.  The former is simply the scope limitation that is
used in the construction of all but the simplest models.

My question is, do we want to allow our selves to think, or even to
subconciously feel, that there really is such a lower bound or do we
want to keep firmly in mind that we are working with a *model?*
-- 
All opinions are mine alone...

Charlie Sorsby
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