[extropy-chat] Qualia Bet

[gts]

On Sun, 27 Nov 2005 13:00:03 -0500, John K Clark <jonkc at att.net> wrote:

> If you SINCERELY thought that the ability wear pants was what I meant by
> intelligence then yes, that does tell me a lot about intelligence, not  
> about Einstein's intelligence but about somebody's.

Seems to me you are defining "intelligence" as something similar or  
identical to "creativity", and that perhaps you should make the  
distinction. Creativity requires some ability to reflect on and ponder  
one's experience, something lower organisms lack but which Einstein-like  
organisms do not lack.

I would say that a bacterium acts intelligently or rationally, but not  
creatively, when it swims away from vinegar. It lacks self-awareness and  
the ability to ponder its experience, but nevetheless has a basic  
low-level machine intelligence hardwired in its genes.

-gts