Intelligence is a Process

That's the title of the most recent blog post by Arnold Kling.

In the case of artificial intelligence, we have a problem. There is no clear, settled definition of natural intelligence. If we are not sure what the natural thing is, how can we know what the artificial thing ought to be?

In fact, I want to claim that intelligence is not a thing at all. It is an ongoing process. It is like science. You should not think of science as a body of absolute truth. Instead, think of the scientific method as a way of pursuing truth.

One should resist the temptation to think of intelligence as a huge lump of knowledge that an entity possesses. Memorizing the encyclopedia does not constitute intelligence.

Human intelligence is collective. Pretty much everything I know I learned from other people, either directly or indirectly.

Human intelligence is not fixed. We are constantly trying out new ideas. Many of our beliefs are contestable. The science is not settled.

Human intelligence is evolutionary. We want to obtain true beliefs and to discard mistaken beliefs.

Institutions help to guide the evolutionary process. Free speech, open inquiry, and the scientific method for gathering and debating evidence are examples of such institutions. Jonathan Rauch coined the expression The Constitution of Knowledge.

I prefer to think of intelligence as residing in these collective institutions.

There's more at the link.