Natural, Artificial, and Human Intelligences

Abstract

Human achievement, whether in culture, science, or technology, is unparalleled in the known existence. This achievement is tied to the enormous communities of knowledge, made possible by language. We trace how the principle ‘᾿Eν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος’ (in the beginning was the word) was extended beyond its theological origins and heightened the value of written intelligence throughout Western societies. There lies the challenge regarding modern-age chatbots: they can ‘do’ language apparently as well as ourselves, and there is a natural question of whether they can be considered intelligent, in the same way as we are or otherwise. Are humans uniquely intelligent? We consider this question in terms of the psychological literature on intelligence, evidence for intelligence in non-human animals, the role of written language in science and technology, progress with artificial intelligence, the history of intelligence testing (for both humans and machines), and the role of embodiment in intelligence. We think that it is increasingly difficult to consider humans uniquely intelligent. There are current limitations in chatbots, e.g., concerning perceptual and social awareness, but much attention is currently devoted to overcoming such limitations.