A Theorem on Intelligence

Scott Holmes (sholmes@NETCOM.COM)
Tue, 7 Feb 1995 12:36:18 -0800

developing an index to measure facility in descriminating context.
Context, as used here, is the ["frame", "environment", "circumstances",...]
within which an ["action", stimuli", "thingie",...] exists or occurs.

As an example: a dog bares his teeth. Within one context, this is a
threatening gesture; within another, an invitation to play. A certain degree
of intelligence is required to make a determination as to the appropriate
context. A mistake could be very dangerous. Information about the context
will have been provided by clues, such as ear posture, or a previous
event. In order to correctly recognize and interpret the clues one would
needed to have learned about them.

I'll leave it to you readers to imagine as many thingies as you can as
well as the contexts within which these thingies occur. Also, keep in
mind that a context can be a thingie within some metacontext. How well
one can handle this nesting of thingies and contexts is one's intelligence.



----------- There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, ----------------
Scott Holmes <sholmes@netcom.com> Informix 4GL Applications
---------------- Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. ------------------------