Re:The Beautiful Intelligence of Bacteria and Other Microbes
by carterehsmith on Monday November 13, 2017 @06:51PM
(#15691355)
"Intelligence is the ability to take decisions that lead to maximum utility"
Source? There are many definitions of intelligence, e.g. at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence
For example, a random process can find a configuration that maximizes utility. But that is not considered intelligence.
So... there is more to it.
Re:The Beautiful Intelligence of Bacteria and Other Microbes
by optimuspaul on Monday November 13, 2017 @04:33PM
(#15690467)
agreed, if "good decisions" were the bar much of humanity would be struggling to qualify as intelligent :)
Re:The Beautiful Intelligence of Bacteria and Other Microbes
by _alias on Monday November 13, 2017 @04:55PM
(#15690629)
Utility being propagation of the species?
Re:The Beautiful Intelligence of Bacteria and Other Microbes
by AnimalMuppet on Monday November 13, 2017 @05:40PM
(#15690965)
But by that definition, every not-yet-extinct species is intelligent. Or at least, every species that responds in any way to external environment in order to enhance survival and reproduction... which is pretty much every species.
Re:The Beautiful Intelligence of Bacteria and Other Microbes
by opportune on Monday November 13, 2017 @06:15PM
(#15691164)
You're assuming a binary extant/extinct dichotomy. That may work on the level of an individual species, but not on the colony level. The colony is simply attempting to propagate itself. So the utility at a given time could be given by something that measures the current size of the colony, the size of its descendants, and some estimate of how much each colony will further propagate.
Re:The Beautiful Intelligence of Bacteria and Other Microbes
by AnimalMuppet on Monday November 13, 2017 @06:33PM
(#15691259)
Fine, but it's still a bogus use of the word "intelligence".
I found this article very interesting because it showcases the exploration/exploitation dilemma of reinforcement learning. Even a bacteria colony is a RL agent, reacting to external events in a useful way.