Artificial Intelligence

            I have recently seen a number of news articles about something called “Artificial Intelligence.” I haven’t read any of them. My wall of ignorance is too intimidating. Nevertheless, my ignorance will not prevent me from having a few things to say about it.

 

            First of all, isn’t all intelligence really “artificial”? “Artificial” means, usually, made by human beings, and human beings contrive ideas. There aren’t ideas roaming through the woods or oceans naturally. We make ideas! People use something called “intelligence” to create thoughts, and if it’s something we made, it’s artificial, not natural. So, what’s the big deal about so-called artificial intelligence?

 

            As the above paragraph illustrates, stupidity is also artificial. We have stupid ideas. If you don’t agree, you are not paying attention to politics.

 

            My second wise insight into Artificial Intelligence is that any kind of intelligence, whether artificial or natural (???), or whether generated by a human being or by a machine, is welcome here, isn’t it? Again, read the news. I’d like a little intelligence, artificial or whatever, to deal with global warming, war, poverty, racism, etc.

 

            On the other hand, isn’t intelligence over-rated? We human beings supposedly have a lot of it, and yes, we’ve made some progress, but we also have used our so-called intelligence in very self-destructive ways. Here’s Walt Whitman’s take, from Song of Myself:

 

I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain'd,

I stand and look at them long and long.

 

They do not sweat and whine about their condition,

They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,

They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,

Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,

Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,

Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.

 

            OK – now that I’ve scattered some confusion into my small world, let me actually read an article or two about Artificial Intelligence.