[agi] Architecture 101 - Units of Intelligence

[Stanley Nilsen]

A few thoughts... If an intelligent device is to be planned and built according to a modular architecture, it would be appropriate to determine what the “storage” of the intelligence looks like. What will the device contain that makes it intelligent? Are these “blocks” of intelligence measurable? Can this intelligence be wired into the unit easily? Part of the reason for looking at this essence of intelligence is to better see what needs to surround the intelligence to have a complete system. In my thinking (over the past few years,) I've come to favor a way of looking at intelligence that can easily lead to a fairly complete “generally” intelligent device. Intelligence Stuff The stuff that goes into intelligence is knowledge, but knowledge alone isn't enough. For knowledge to contribute to intelligence, it has to be in a “package” consisting of several pieces of knowledge, and physical accessories, which all relate to one another in a specific way. To refer to this package, I call it “opportunity.” People have a common understanding of opportunity, and it fits nicely into the conversation about intelligence. Consider that an opportunity is related to a benefit, and one's situation. This implies that we can “choose” an opportunity when it is likely to bring benefit. The idea being that we make a good “choice” given the situation – doing the intelligent thing. You may object to giving opportunity a “high status” because awareness of an opportunity doesn't give us that opportunity. And I would be the first to agree. But, I would say that one only has real opportunity when he can execute a recipe that will bring benefit. In other words, you only have opportunity if you have the whole package, and the opportunity package (the unit of intelligence) includes being able to take action that causes changes (benefits) in the real world. This taking action is what makes intelligence much more than intellectual exercise. In the view from 50,000 feet, the mature intelligent device has hundreds of opportunity to choose from in a given moment. It's overall “score” on the intelligence scale is determined by both it's quantity of opportunity and the quality of each opportunity. Cloning intelligence would mean giving the less mature unit opportunities that it can add to it's store of opportunity. There is much more that can be said about architecture centered around opportunity. I would be happy to engage in a discussion if anyone is interested. Stan Artificial General Intelligence List / AGI / see discussions + participants + delivery options Permalink