On Tue, Jul 9, 2024 at 12:16 PM Jason Resch <[email protected]> wrote:
> You can't make lemonade without lemons, and lemons can't make lemonade >> without you. >> > > And this highlights the distinction between a prerequisite and a cause. > I don't see how. Lemons are a cause of lemonade and so are you. Lemons are a prerequisite for a lemonade and so are you. > *> I define intelligence by something capable of intelligent action.* >>> >> >> Intelligent action is what drove evolution to amplify intelligence, but >> if Stephen Hawking's voice generator had broken down for one hour I would >> still say I have reason to believe that he remained intelligent during >> that hour. >> > > *> Sure, but that is just a delayed action. Would he still be intelligent > if he never was able to speak again (even with the help of a machine)?* > Yes, although we would never know it. Maybe rocks are brilliant but shy and don't like to show off so they played dumb. But I doubt it. > * > He wouldn't be according to evolution.* > *True, but natural selection has its opinion about what is intelligent and I have mine. * >> But you can't have perceptions without intelligence, sight and sound >> would just be meaningless gibberish. >> > > > *How do you define intelligence?* > I don't have a definition for intelligence but I have something much better, examples. After all, definitions are made of words and thus all definitions are inherently circular, examples are the only thing that give meaning to words. Intelligence is the thing that Einstein was famous for having a lot of; from that even somebody who knew nothing about Einstein except for having read a child's biography of the man would understand what the word "intelligence" stands for. >> in the last few years there has been enormous progress in figuring out >> how intelligence works, but nobody has found anything new to say about >> consciousness in centuries. >> > > *> You don't think functionalism is progress?* > I don't think it says anything fundamental about consciousness that hadn't been said a thousand times many centuries ago. John K Clark See what's on my new list at Extropolis <https://groups.google.com/g/extropolis> atq > -- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAJPayv0L7T-pa3DWAMJqm8GUKaiak74-30UcEp%3DAgTNChe9GnA%40mail.gmail.com.
