4 ms·

Not everything in the world. Rocks are not intelligent. That's simple enough. They don't encode any information as far as I can see, they certainly don't act

by retrac 5y ago

Not everything in the world. Rocks are not intelligent. That's simple enough. They don't encode any information as far as I can see, they certainly don't actively process or transform it. Living systems seem to. Even bacteria. Information theory seems too applicable when I look at DNA. All living systems seem intelligent, to varying degrees, as they are storing, duplicating and conditionally applying patterns to various biochemical problems in the task of propagating the rulebook of solutions further, the same task that the intelligence of the brain was evolved for. I worry this is more pseudospiritual woo rather than philosophy, though.

colechristensen 5y ago
And that drills down into my point. "alive" and "intelligent" shouldn't by synonyms. We should reserve the word "intelligent" for a certain considerably higher level of ability and complexity than can be ascribed to most anything living. When you say every living system is intelligent, the word ceases to add any information and you might as well just say "alive" and drop "intelligent".
- retrac 5y ago
  For practical purposes, I get you. But if it is the same essence at its very core, maybe we shouldn't separate them so vigorously when we think about it philosophically.
  - colechristensen 5y ago
    And this is where much of philosophy ends up, coming to an agreement (or not) as to the boundaries and conditions where a term should be applied.
DonHopkins 5y ago
How intelligent is your smartphone? It's made of rocks.
DonHopkins 5y ago
Never underestimate the behavioral complexity of rocks! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_stones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_stones >Sailing stones (also called sliding rocks, walking rocks, rolling stones, and moving rocks) are part of the geological phenomenon in which rocks move and inscribe long tracks along a smooth valley floor without animal intervention. The movement of the rocks occurs when large sheets of ice a few millimeters thick and floating in an ephemeral winter pond break up on sunny days. Frozen during cold winter nights, these thin, floating ice panels are driven by wind and shove rocks at speeds up to 5 meters per minute. The three types of pet rocks are: ingenius, sentimentalary, and anthropomorphic. I invented and implemented a pie menu remote control touch screen interface on the PocketPC for sending commands to pet rocks (and it also works with many feral rocks): Pet Rock Remote Control: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG0FAKkaisg&ab_channel=DonHopkins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG0FAKkaisg&ab_channel=DonHo... The essential key to successfully training happy and obedient pet rocks is to repeatedly and consistently give them commands they can perform well, like "Sit", "Stay", "Play Dead", "Roll Over", "Gather Moss", and lots of positive reinforcement immediately after they obey what you tell them to do: "Good Rock!"
- caycep 5y ago
  I need to look this up, but there was an geology/astrobiology faculty at Caltech looking at the computation abilities of certain crystal formations.

by retrac 5y ago

colechristensen 5y ago

And that drills down into my point. "alive" and "intelligent" shouldn't by synonyms. We should reserve the word "intelligent" for a certain considerably higher level of ability and complexity than can be ascribed to most anything living. When you say every living system is intelligent, the word ceases to add any information and you might as well just say "alive" and drop "intelligent".

retrac 5y ago
For practical purposes, I get you. But if it is the same essence at its very core, maybe we shouldn't separate them so vigorously when we think about it philosophically.
- colechristensen 5y ago
  And this is where much of philosophy ends up, coming to an agreement (or not) as to the boundaries and conditions where a term should be applied.

DonHopkins 5y ago

How intelligent is your smartphone? It's made of rocks.

DonHopkins 5y ago

Never underestimate the behavioral complexity of rocks! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_stones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_stones >Sailing stones (also called sliding rocks, walking rocks, rolling stones, and moving rocks) are part of the geological phenomenon in which rocks move and inscribe long tracks along a smooth valley floor without animal intervention. The movement of the rocks occurs when large sheets of ice a few millimeters thick and floating in an ephemeral winter pond break up on sunny days. Frozen during cold winter nights, these thin, floating ice panels are driven by wind and shove rocks at speeds up to 5 meters per minute. The three types of pet rocks are: ingenius, sentimentalary, and anthropomorphic. I invented and implemented a pie menu remote control touch screen interface on the PocketPC for sending commands to pet rocks (and it also works with many feral rocks): Pet Rock Remote Control: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG0FAKkaisg&ab_channel=DonHopkins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG0FAKkaisg&ab_channel=DonHo... The essential key to successfully training happy and obedient pet rocks is to repeatedly and consistently give them commands they can perform well, like "Sit", "Stay", "Play Dead", "Roll Over", "Gather Moss", and lots of positive reinforcement immediately after they obey what you tell them to do: "Good Rock!"

caycep 5y ago
I need to look this up, but there was an geology/astrobiology faculty at Caltech looking at the computation abilities of certain crystal formations.