A Practical Definition of Intelligence

Abstract

Studying mathematics, one learns that before one can use any term, one has to precisely define it. When I first started seriously thinking about how the mind works, I applied this approach rigorously, perhaps a bit too much so. Since then I’ve gotten used to non-mathematical ways and loosened up a bit, but I still find definition of terms a pretty good way to approach difficult problems. In this chapter, I’ll pursue this strategy, but with a psychological rather than mathematical flavor. The theme is intelligence. I’m claiming the Internet is going to become a self-organizing, distributed, intelligent system. But what does this mean? What is “intelligence” anyway?