Ebook: Beyond Information: The Natural History of Intelligence

Preamble The emergence of machine intelligence during the second half of the twentieth century is the most important development in the evolution of this planet since the origin of life two to three thousand million years ago. The emergence of machine intelligence within the matrix of human society is analogous to the emergence, three billion years ago, of complex, self-replicating molecules within the matrix of an energy-rich molecular soup - the first step in the evolution of life. The emergence of machine intelligence within a human social context has set into motion irreversible processes which will lead to an evolutionary discontinuity. Just as the emergence of "Life" represented a qualitatively different form of organisation of matter and energy, so will pure "Intelligence" represent a qualitatively different form of organisation of matter, energy and life. The emergence of machine intelligence presages the progression of the human species as we know it, into a form which, at present, we would not recognise as "human". As Forsyth and Naylor (1985) have pointed out: "Humanity has opened two Pandora's boxes at the same time, one labelled genetic engineering, the other labelled knowledge engineering. What we have let out is not entirely clear, but it is reasonable to hazard a guess that it contains the seeds of our successors".

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The second half of the twentieth century has seen the use of machine intelligence infiltrate many critical areas of technology, including defence and military planning. Intelligent knowledge-based systems have the potential to augment informed judgement and to help avoid high-technology failures such as the Chernobyl meltdown by reducing the margin for human error. However, as our understanding of the nature of information and human intelligence is extremely limited, it is now recognised that we need to develop a body of scientific knowledge about artificial intelligence to ensure that these systems are sufficiently reliable for the roles they perform. In Beyond Information Professor Tom Stonier examines the issues involved in making artificial intelligence into an engineering science and clarifies many of the accompanying problems. He also makes an important contribution to the development of a theory of information by discussing the evolution of intelligence from its most primitive to its most advanced conceivable form. Beyond Information is the second in a trilogy of books which addresses this important area: the first volume, Informationand the Internal Structure of the Universe, examined the proposition that information has a physical reality, like matter and energy, while a third volume, Beyond Chaos, will outline the requirements of a theory of information in greater detail. Among the actual topics discussed in this volume are: the nature of intelligence and information; intelligence as the inevitable product of an advanced information system; the evolution of collective intelligence into animal society; the evolution of human culture and technology; a comparison between the human brain and the computer; and the future of machine intelligence with an emphasis on neural network computers. Overall Beyond Information considers the long term future of the human race in the face of the extraordinary new technology which is emerging. Although it is specifically aimed at physicists and members of the IT community, it is a book which will also be of interest to a wide general readership.

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The second half of the twentieth century has seen the use of machine intelligence infiltrate many critical areas of technology, including defence and military planning. Intelligent knowledge-based systems have the potential to augment informed judgement and to help avoid high-technology failures such as the Chernobyl meltdown by reducing the margin for human error. However, as our understanding of the nature of information and human intelligence is extremely limited, it is now recognised that we need to develop a body of scientific knowledge about artificial intelligence to ensure that these systems are sufficiently reliable for the roles they perform. In Beyond Information Professor Tom Stonier examines the issues involved in making artificial intelligence into an engineering science and clarifies many of the accompanying problems. He also makes an important contribution to the development of a theory of information by discussing the evolution of intelligence from its most primitive to its most advanced conceivable form. Beyond Information is the second in a trilogy of books which addresses this important area: the first volume, Informationand the Internal Structure of the Universe, examined the proposition that information has a physical reality, like matter and energy, while a third volume, Beyond Chaos, will outline the requirements of a theory of information in greater detail. Among the actual topics discussed in this volume are: the nature of intelligence and information; intelligence as the inevitable product of an advanced information system; the evolution of collective intelligence into animal society; the evolution of human culture and technology; a comparison between the human brain and the computer; and the future of machine intelligence with an emphasis on neural network computers. Overall Beyond Information considers the long term future of the human race in the face of the extraordinary new technology which is emerging. Although it is specifically aimed at physicists and members of the IT community, it is a book which will also be of interest to a wide general readership.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xii
Introduction....Pages 1-17
The Spectrum of Intelligence....Pages 19-42
The Origin and Early Evolution of Intelligence....Pages 43-62
The Evolution of Collective Intelligence in Animals....Pages 63-83
Information Technology, Collective Intelligence and the Evolution of Human Societies....Pages 85-106
The Evolution of Machine Intelligence....Pages 107-133
Computers and the Human Brain....Pages 135-160
The Future of Machine Intelligence....Pages 161-194
Summary and Conclusion....Pages 195-214
Back Matter....Pages 215-221

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The second half of the twentieth century has seen the use of machine intelligence infiltrate many critical areas of technology, including defence and military planning. Intelligent knowledge-based systems have the potential to augment informed judgement and to help avoid high-technology failures such as the Chernobyl meltdown by reducing the margin for human error. However, as our understanding of the nature of information and human intelligence is extremely limited, it is now recognised that we need to develop a body of scientific knowledge about artificial intelligence to ensure that these systems are sufficiently reliable for the roles they perform. In Beyond Information Professor Tom Stonier examines the issues involved in making artificial intelligence into an engineering science and clarifies many of the accompanying problems. He also makes an important contribution to the development of a theory of information by discussing the evolution of intelligence from its most primitive to its most advanced conceivable form. Beyond Information is the second in a trilogy of books which addresses this important area: the first volume, Informationand the Internal Structure of the Universe, examined the proposition that information has a physical reality, like matter and energy, while a third volume, Beyond Chaos, will outline the requirements of a theory of information in greater detail. Among the actual topics discussed in this volume are: the nature of intelligence and information; intelligence as the inevitable product of an advanced information system; the evolution of collective intelligence into animal society; the evolution of human culture and technology; a comparison between the human brain and the computer; and the future of machine intelligence with an emphasis on neural network computers. Overall Beyond Information considers the long term future of the human race in the face of the extraordinary new technology which is emerging. Although it is specifically aimed at physicists and members of the IT community, it is a book which will also be of interest to a wide general readership.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xii
Introduction....Pages 1-17
The Spectrum of Intelligence....Pages 19-42
The Origin and Early Evolution of Intelligence....Pages 43-62
The Evolution of Collective Intelligence in Animals....Pages 63-83
Information Technology, Collective Intelligence and the Evolution of Human Societies....Pages 85-106
The Evolution of Machine Intelligence....Pages 107-133
Computers and the Human Brain....Pages 135-160
The Future of Machine Intelligence....Pages 161-194
Summary and Conclusion....Pages 195-214
Back Matter....Pages 215-221
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