That’s an astute question. I think I almost certainly do value those things more than I otherwise would if we did have peers. Having said that, I believe that even if we did have peers with respect to those abilities, I would still think that, for example, abstraction is more important, because I think it is a central aspect of the only general intelligence we know in a way that WM is not. There may be other types of thought that are more important, and more central, to a type of general intelligence that is beyond ours, but I don’t know what they are, so I consider the central aspects of the most general intelligence I know of to be the most important for now.
abstraction is more important, because I think it is a central aspect of the only general intelligence we know in a way that WM is not.
In what way is that? I don’t see why abstraction should be considered more important to our intelligence than WM. Our intelligence can’t go on working without WM, can it?
I can imagine life evolving and general intelligence emerging without anything much like our WM, but I can’t imagine general intelligence arising without something a lot like (at least) our capacity for abstraction. This may be a failure of imagination on my part, but WM seems like a very powerful and useful way of designing an intelligence, while abstraction seems much closer to a precondition for intelligence.
Can you conceive of a general intelligence that has no capacity for abstraction? And do you not find it possible (even if difficult) to think of general intelligence that doesn’t use a WM?
Can you conceive of a general intelligence that has no capacity for abstraction? And do you not find it possible (even if difficult) to think of general intelligence that doesn’t use a WM?
Particularly since our most advanced thinking has far less reliance on our working memory. Advanced expertise brings with it the ability to manipulate highly specialised memories in what would normally be considered long term memory. It doesn’t replace WM but it comes close enough for our imaginative purposes!
I mean just that abstraction is central to human intelligence and general intelligence in a way that seems necessary (integral and inseparable) and part of the very definition of general intelligence, whereas WM is not. I can imagine something a lot like me that wouldn’t use WM, but I can’t imagine anything remotely like me or any other kind of general intelligence that doesn’t have something very much like our ability to abstract. But I think that’s pretty much what I’ve said already, so I’m probably not helping and should give up.
That’s an astute question. I think I almost certainly do value those things more than I otherwise would if we did have peers. Having said that, I believe that even if we did have peers with respect to those abilities, I would still think that, for example, abstraction is more important, because I think it is a central aspect of the only general intelligence we know in a way that WM is not. There may be other types of thought that are more important, and more central, to a type of general intelligence that is beyond ours, but I don’t know what they are, so I consider the central aspects of the most general intelligence I know of to be the most important for now.
In what way is that? I don’t see why abstraction should be considered more important to our intelligence than WM. Our intelligence can’t go on working without WM, can it?
I can imagine life evolving and general intelligence emerging without anything much like our WM, but I can’t imagine general intelligence arising without something a lot like (at least) our capacity for abstraction. This may be a failure of imagination on my part, but WM seems like a very powerful and useful way of designing an intelligence, while abstraction seems much closer to a precondition for intelligence.
Can you conceive of a general intelligence that has no capacity for abstraction? And do you not find it possible (even if difficult) to think of general intelligence that doesn’t use a WM?
Particularly since our most advanced thinking has far less reliance on our working memory. Advanced expertise brings with it the ability to manipulate highly specialised memories in what would normally be considered long term memory. It doesn’t replace WM but it comes close enough for our imaginative purposes!
I agree with you about intelligences in general. I was asking about your statement that
i.e. that WM is less important than abstraction, in some sense, in the particular case of humans—if that’s what you meant.
I mean just that abstraction is central to human intelligence and general intelligence in a way that seems necessary (integral and inseparable) and part of the very definition of general intelligence, whereas WM is not. I can imagine something a lot like me that wouldn’t use WM, but I can’t imagine anything remotely like me or any other kind of general intelligence that doesn’t have something very much like our ability to abstract. But I think that’s pretty much what I’ve said already, so I’m probably not helping and should give up.