Re: What is Intelligence?

Robin Hanson (hanson@hss.caltech.edu)
Sun, 29 Sep 96 19:58:25 PDT


Dan Clemmensen writes:
>I feel strongly that speed of access to information and speed of
>disemmination of new information are very important contributore to
>the equation. ...
>Computers are a new phenomon. Their impact is only now being seriously
>felt. So far, the contribution to knowledge has been mostly in the
>infrastructure: Communications, word processing, publishing, etc. More
>... Comuputers are now essential elements in the development of new
>digital circuits, including new computers. Thus, I feel that the
>situatin you describe is changing very rapidly. ...
>I prefer not ot predict the exact nature of the way computers will
>augment intelligence, since IMO it's not central to our discussion. I

Sure computers are new, and will new kinds of impacts. And at one
time cars were new, trains were new, radio was new, etc. But the
question here is, do they fundamentally change the nature of economic
growth any more than these did? You have stated your belief in this,
but have not offered any reasons.

>If uploads are similar to other types of algorithms,
>faster will be preferable to more, because multiple processors spend a
>lot of time on cummunication of intermediate results.

Sometines a few fast processors are best, sometimes lots of little
ones are best. That's the way it is now, and should remain.

>I feel that "knowledge-filled" will be superceeded by the ability to
>access the entire knowledge base at a very high data rate.

You lost me here.

Robin D. Hanson hanson@hss.caltech.edu http://hss.caltech.edu/~hanson/