[ExI] definitions

[William Flynn Wallace]

Life.  Consciousness.  Intelligence. etc.

Things hard to define.  What good will come when we agree on the meanings
of these words?   Is an AI conscious or not?  Who cares?

A biologist I told once that I had read a book called "Life on Man" said
that the author's definition of a parasite was different from his.  And I
said "Well, that doesn't make either one of you right or wrong, does it?"

He had no reply, of course.  Biologists will deal with the creatures
whatever we call them, won't they ?  Yep.  Will deciding that a slime mold
is intelligent cause us to do anything different?  Nope.  Don't argue with
words:  argue with observations of the slime mold.

We start out life putting things in our environment into one of two
categories:  to be feared, or not to be feared.  Thus begins our journey of
putting people and things in our lives into the 'right category'.  "Is she
cheating or not?"  "Am I doing the right thing?"  Much of this makes a
difference.

Much doesn't.  Who cares?

I suggest that we should treat definitions/categorizations just like we do
theories: we don't ask that they be right or wrong.  We ask that they be
useful. To be useful they have to produce testable ideas which can be
falsified.

"Is something intelligent?" has to depend on defining intelligence in ways
that leave no doubt as to what we are talking about/ testing.

Ya know, some days it seems to me that my life, inner and outer, my
environments and so on, are being produced and directed by an evil demon.
Nothing else makes any sense at all.   bill w
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