Frank H. George Memorial Lecture: Stone soup: identifying intelligence through construction

A strictly pragmatic stance is taken in asking the question “What features must be present that makes behaviour intelligent?” The Turing Test is shown to be insufficient to support any useful discussion; intelligence measures (IQ tests) suggest specialisation and little else. On the other hand, Discontinuity Theory identifies “insight” and Information Theory provides a means of measuring the practical consequence of “insight” as well as providing an argument for the need of “purpose” in intelligent behaviour. The Peircian trichotomy of inference into Induction, Deduction and Abduction supports a range of specialisation for the different aspects of reasoning. These aspects can be improved through experience leading to the notion of “wisdom” and a practical measure for the anthropomorphism of intelligence. The simplest kind of intelligence is constructed as a computer program demonstrating that intelligent machines as they are currently conceived are unlikely to be independent of their human context.