Thread on intelligence
First: health
For every system, what allows it to operate in a wider range of situations in the future and for longer time, contributes to its health, it is beneficial (game & value theory)
Easy to see in systems like: body, mind, economy, ecosystems,…
This fits with the usual definition of adaptability to the environment, and the less common ability of pursuing an objective function in a wide range of situations, but there's more to it
The objective function is more specific: increasing health
The adaptation is not necessary
Intelligence cannot be understood without upper and lower holistic levels
Parasites have by definition a detrimental effect on the health of their hosts, less health means less intelligence for their strategy for survival, e.g. if they cause the death of their host, they may die
If parasites cause the extinction of their possible hosts, they may go extinct. The parasitic behavior is not a healthy behavior, thus not an intelligent behavior
Intelligent implies sustainable, taking care of preserving the infrastructure that provides a healthy existence
Similarly, intelligent behavior implies the creation of a superstructure to escape local survival maxima
Can the Earth leave the Solar System? No, rocks don't do that… but if intelligent life springs in Earth, part of its matter, energy, and information may reach other systems
Humans create societies, ideally contributing to address existential risks (albeit creating other ones along the way), achieving better health, resilience, anti-fragility, survival capabilities
Some species/organisms create societies/ superorganisms, we see symbiosis,…
Intelligent systems spawn superstructures to prosper and endure, and they may become more intelligent than their infrastructures, emancipating from them, as humans would by traveling to other stars
In addition to the previous vertical expansion, there is horizontal too
Individuals have offspring. Species, nations, companies,… result in new ones
Darwinism applies to many systems, resulting in intelligence, by the initial definition. The intelligent survive, those that survive are intelligent
Survival depends on the vertical alignment
The human perspective is the easiest for us
The health/survival of our societies depends on the alignment with the infrastructures (e.g. environment) and the superstructures (e.g. economy)
The happiness (mental health) depends on the alignment between individuals (vs conflict)
As the health of a system is dependent on others, an intelligent system will be aligned with the interdependent systems, so that its health implies health in the others and viceversa, i.e. benefit
Consequently, intelligent means ethical and viceversa
BTW: This solves the orthogonality thesis
While decision theory helps to choose the best trade-off in a multi-objective function, intelligence helps to find better options
Innocents choose other's benefit, at their expense
Bandits choose their benefit, at other's expense
Intelligence asks: why not both?
Intelligence allows finding greater alignment in the health/benefit/survival or more interconnected systems, collaboration-based models instead of competition-based ones, positive sum instead of zero or negative sum
Because intelligence implies survival and ethics, good tends to triumph over evil in the long term
The answer to existential risks lies in intelligence
The answer to intelligence lies in ethics
The answer to ethics lies in health in a broad and interconnected sense
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