We have such a human-centric and focused interpretation of knowing, and what qualifies as intelligence. Something that these recent series of advances should impress upon you is that maybe, complexity alone is enough. Obviously whatever we’ve built out of silicon isn’t something we’d describe as intelligence. But the hint that maybe just ‘having a preposterous number of connections’ might be sufficient for emergent properties like reason and memory and identity.
So then what about plants? Discount the incredible relationships they make with fungi. Just plants are foreign enough to us to maybe give you a bit of caution. They are easy to take for granted because they are so ubiquitous. Internally they’re as networked as you or I. They’re constantly gathering information about the world around them. What does a plant know of the wind or the sun? Where would a plant put its ‘self’ if it had one?
If complexity alone is enough, then why wouldn’t silicon brains connected to multiple external sensors be enough? The computer scientist are even starting to experiment with bio fuel cells that convert light to energy, and using fuzzy logic for AI networks. Our brains are giant fuzzy logic processors.
Consider that human neuron makes around 7000 connections, while plant cells via plasmodesma may make from 1k to 100k connections.
We have such a human-centric and focused interpretation of knowing, and what qualifies as intelligence. Something that these recent series of advances should impress upon you is that maybe, complexity alone is enough. Obviously whatever we’ve built out of silicon isn’t something we’d describe as intelligence. But the hint that maybe just ‘having a preposterous number of connections’ might be sufficient for emergent properties like reason and memory and identity.
So then what about plants? Discount the incredible relationships they make with fungi. Just plants are foreign enough to us to maybe give you a bit of caution. They are easy to take for granted because they are so ubiquitous. Internally they’re as networked as you or I. They’re constantly gathering information about the world around them. What does a plant know of the wind or the sun? Where would a plant put its ‘self’ if it had one?
Probably not in my butt, but that’s where it’s going! ;)
If complexity alone is enough, then why wouldn’t silicon brains connected to multiple external sensors be enough? The computer scientist are even starting to experiment with bio fuel cells that convert light to energy, and using fuzzy logic for AI networks. Our brains are giant fuzzy logic processors.
It’s a start: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-13-8922-1