Intelligence: From natural to artificial

Abstract

The term “Artificial Intelligence” becomes understandable only if we can explain what the terms “Intelligence” and “Artificial” mean, as well as the connection between them. The term “Intelligence” will be viewed as a general faculty to solve problems in a variety of contexts. Arguments will be presented in favour of the evolutionary character of intelligence up to the present, in which there are beings—we humans—capable of producing symbols of abstract nature, capable of representing conjectures about reality, on the basis of internal models. On the other hand, Nature will also be interpreted as a support for the creation of artificiality, in that increasingly complex and functional codifications emerge. Thanks to their capacity for symbolising, human beings for the first time implement a complex system of synchronic and diachronic networked functioning. The transition from an organic to an engineered platform for cognition might be interpreted as “just” another evolutionary leap.