How can you define intelligence? The article “Being Analog” argues that computers won’t be truly intelligent until they are able to deceive. So that implies that deception equals intelligence. Hmm. Does the opposite apply, as well? Are humans who can’t deceive not intelligent?
Donald Norman points out that it now takes several decades to become a well-educated citizen, because our knowledge is cumulative. If we look at computers, we can really say the same thing; without cumulative knowledge in technologies we can’t further develop these either. In fact, you could argue that computers are far more intelligent, simply because they don’t have to start the learning process all over every time – the information is already stored in its system.
So it takes several decades now to become a well-educated citizen. Being a well-educated citizen means you’re intelligent. But look at our society a few decades ago, and compare it to today; I know plenty of generation X people who’ve had limited education, and they are very successful today. These are intelligent people. It is true, however, that more education is needed today to acquire a similar kind of success. I feel an enormous pressure to continue my education, even after I finish my B.A., to be able to compete in the market.
What I think is happening is simply that times have changed. And the word “intelligence” has changed. What intelligence used to mean has been replaced by a different kind of intelligence in which man and machine live and work together. Machines can’t live without humans, because we create and operate them. We can’t live without machines, because they are helping us in becoming intelligent, and are aiding us in our ever-expanding education. We just need to find a balance in combining the two, a way to be analogically digital, or digitally analogical.
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How much education will one need a century from now, as a result of the move from analog technologies to digital technologies?
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What sort of new issues do you foresee arising given our rapid globalization and digitization?
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How can you define intelligence?
