Progress

Intellectual progress by ever increasing resemb­lance, or ever increasing resolvement.[1]

 

It is a curious paradox that we shall become more perfect by the realiza­tion of our perfection as constituting an imperfection when we consider ourselves as wholes or as autonomous. If and when we regain our balance in the world our perfection will be manifest but uninteresting to ourselves.

 

See Rosalind Williams, Notes on the Underground. p. 3: We are more likely to admire a technological environment when it replaces nature completely.

 



[1] In 1950 Alan Turing devised a test from which an accepted definition of artificial intelligence was proposed:

Suppose there are two identical terminals in a room, one connected to a computer, and the other operated remotely by a person. If someone using the two terminals is unable to decide which is connected to the computer, and which is operated by the person, then the computer can be credited with intelligence. (Bishop, 1987, p. 57).

From this test the following definition of artificial intelligence can be derived:

Artificial intelligence is the science of making machines do things that would require intelligence if done by people.(Bishop, 1987, p.57).