On Wed, Nov 26, 2014 meekerdb <[email protected]> wrote: > I don't think human consciousness is a spandrel >
If consciousness does not effect intelligent behavior and if Darwin's Theory is correct then there is no alternative, consciousness is a spandrel. And if consciousness does effect intelligent behavior then the Turing Test works for both consciousness and intelligence. So either way if a fan of Darwin and a fan of logic runs across a computer that passes the Turing Test he MUST conclude that the machine is at least as conscious as his fellow human beings are. > there may be different ways of being intelligent > Almost certainly. Given that intelligence is the most complex thing in the known universe it would be very surprising indeed if it could be described by just one number, you need 2 for even something as simple as the wind. > > I think human consciousness and intelligence are both closely linked to > language. > I think so too. I am quite certain of it. > Language is an evolutionarily useful adaptation of social animals. > And even if those social animals were put in a non-social situation, marooned all alone on a desert island for example, they could not think properly and efficiently without language. And even a lone brain the size of Jupiter could not think properly unless it had a language to communicate abstract ideas between distant parts of its vast brain. > But I see no reason that no-social animals cannot be intelligent (e.g. > ocotopi are solitary by are the most intlligent non-vertebrates). > All animals have some degree of intelligence and the octopus has more than most, but they are nowhere near smart enough to make radio telescopes, and lets face it that's what people usually mean when they talk about "intelligent beings". I think the thing that separates humans from other animals is that about 100,000 years ago we developed a system that can encode even very abstract ideas into a few simple sounds; this not only enabled collective learning but also enormously magnified the power of individual thought. John K Clark -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
