Wednesday 7 September 2022

The Great Intelligence




The Second Doctor vs the Great Intelligence!  | The Abominable Snowmen |...

intelligence (n.)
late 14c., "the highest faculty of the mind, capacity for comprehending general truths;" c. 1400, "faculty of understanding, comprehension," from Old French intelligence (12c.) and directly from Latin intelligentia, intellegentia "understanding, knowledge, power of discerning; art, skill, taste," from intelligentem (nominative intelligens) "discerning, appreciative," present participle of intelligere "to understand, comprehend, come to know," from assimilated form of inter "between" (see inter-) + legere "choose, pick out, read," from PIE root *leg- (1) "to collect, gather," with derivatives meaning "to speak (to 'pick out words')."

Meaning "superior understanding, sagacity, quality of being intelligent" is from early 15c. Sense of "information received or imparted, news" first recorded mid-15c., especially "secret information from spies" (1580s). Meaning "a being endowed with understanding or intelligence" is late 14c. Intelligence quotient first recorded 1921 (see I.Q.).

THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT
by William Matthew Flinders Petrie

CHAPTER I
THE NATURE OF GODS

Before dealing with the special varieties of the Egyptians' belief in gods, it is best to try to avoid a misunderstanding of their whole conception of the supernatural. The term god has come to tacitly imply to our minds such a highly specialised group of attributes, that we can hardly throw our ideas back into the more remote conceptions to which we also attach the same name. It is unfortunate that every other word for supernatural intelligences has become debased, so that we cannot well speak of demons, devils, ghosts, or fairies without implying a noxious or a trifling meaning, quite unsuited to the ancient deities that were so beneficent and powerful. If then we use the word god for such conceptions, it must always be with the reservation that the word has now a very different meaning from what it had to ancient minds.

To the Egyptian the gods might be mortal; even Ra, the sun-god, is said to have grown old and feeble, Osiris was slain, and Orion, the great hunter of the heavens, killed and ate the gods. The mortality of gods has been dwelt on by Dr. Frazer (Golden Bough), and the many instances of tombs of gods, and of the slaying of the deified man who was worshipped, all show that immortality was not a divine attribute. Nor was there any doubt that they might suffer while alive; one myth tells how Ra, as he walked on earth, was bitten by a magic serpent and suffered torments. The gods were also supposed to share in a life like that of man, not only in Egypt but in most ancient lands. Offerings of food and drink were constantly supplied to them, in Egypt laid upon the altars, in other lands burnt for a sweet savour. At Thebes the divine wife of the god, or high priestess, was the head of the harem of concubines of the god; and similarly in Babylonia the chamber of the god with the golden couch could only be visited by the priestess who slept there for oracular responses. The Egyptian gods could not be cognisant of what passed on earth without being informed, nor could they reveal their will at a distant place except by sending a messenger; they were as limited as the Greek gods who required the aid of Iris to communicate one with another or with mankind. The gods, therefore, have no divine superiority to man in conditions or limitations; they can only be described as pre-existent, acting intelligences, with scarcely greater powers than man might hope to gain by magic or witchcraft of his own. This conception explains how easily the divine merged into the human in Greek theology, and how frequently divine ancestors occurred in family histories. (By the word 'theology' is designated the knowledge about gods.)


CHAPTER II
THE NATURE OF MAN
Before we can understand what were the relations between man and the gods we must first notice the conceptions of the nature of man. In the prehistoric days of Egypt the position and direction of the body was always the same in every burial, offerings of food and drink were placed by it, figures of servants, furniture, even games, were included in the grave. It must be concluded therefore that it was a belief in immortality which gave rise to such a detailed ritual of the dead, though we have no written evidence upon this.

So soon as we reach the age of documents we find on tombstones that the person is denoted by the khu between the arms of the ka. From later writings it is seen that the khu is applied to a spirit of man; while the ka is not the body but the activities of sense and perception. Thus, in {8}the earliest age of documents, two entities were believed to vitalise the body.

The ka is more frequently named than any other part, as all funeral offerings were made for the ka. It is said that if opportunities of satisfaction in life were missed it is grievous to the ka, and that the ka must not be annoyed needlessly; hence it was more than perception, and it included all that we might call consciousness. Perhaps we may grasp it best as the 'self,' with the same variety of meaning that we have in our own word. The ka was represented as a human being following after the man; it was born at the same time as the man, but it persisted after death and lived in and about the tomb. It could act and visit other kas after death, but it could not resist the least touch of physical force. It was always represented by two upraised arms, the acting parts of the person. Beside the ka of man, all objects likewise had their kas, which were comparable to the human ka, and among these the ka lived. This view leads closely to the world of ideas permeating the material world in later philosophy.

The khu is figured as a crested bird, which has the meaning of 'glorious' or 'shining' in ordinary use. It refers to a less material conception than the ka, and may be called the intelligence or spirit.

The khat is the material body of man which was the vehicle of the ka, and inhabited by the khu.

The ba belongs to a different pneumatology to that just noticed. It is the soul apart from the body, figured as a human-headed bird. The concept probably arose from the white owls, with round heads and very human expressions, which frequent the tombs, flying noiselessly to and fro. The ba required food and drink, which were provided for it by the goddess of the cemetery. It thus overlaps the scope of the ka, and probably belongs to a different race to that which defined the ka.

The sahu or mummy is associated particularly with the ba; and the ba bird is often shown as resting on the mummy or seeking to re-enter it.

The khaybet was the shadow of a man; the importance of the shadow in early ideas is well known.

The sekhem was the force or ruling power of man, but is rarely mentioned.

The ab is the will and intentions, symbolised by the heart; often used in phrases, such as a man being 'in the heart of his lord,' 'wideness of {10}heart' for satisfaction, 'washing of the heart' for giving vent to temper.

The hati is the physical heart, the 'chief' organ of the body, also used metaphorically.

The ran is the name which was essential to man, as also to inanimate things. Without a name nothing really existed. The knowledge of the name gave power over its owner; a great myth turns on Isis obtaining the name of Ra by stratagem, and thus getting the two eyes of Ra—the sun and moon—for her son Horus. Both in ancient and modern races the knowledge of the real name of a man is carefully guarded, and often secondary names are used for secular purposes. It was usual for Egyptians to have a 'great name' and a 'little name'; the great name is often compounded with that of a god or a king, and was very probably reserved for religious purposes, as it is only found on religious and funerary monuments.

We must not suppose by any means that all of these parts of the person were equally important, or were believed in simultaneously. The ka, khu, and khat seem to form one group; the ba and sahu belong to another; the ab, hati, and sekhem are hardly more than metaphors, such as we commonly use; the khaybet is a later idea {11}which probably belongs to the system of animism and witchcraft, where the shadow gave a hold upon the man. The ran, name, belongs partly to the same system, but also is the germ of the later philosophy of idea.

The purpose of religion to the Egyptian was to secure the favour of the god. There is but little trace of negative prayer to avert evils or deprecate evil influences, but rather of positive prayer for concrete favours. On the part of kings this is usually of the Jacob type, offering to provide temples and services to the god in return for material prosperity. The Egyptian was essentially self-satisfied, he had no confession to make of sin or wrong, and had no thought of pardon. In the judgment he boldly averred that he was free of the forty-two sins that might prevent his entry into the kingdom of Osiris. If he failed to establish his innocence in the weighing of his heart, there was no other plea, but he was consumed by fire and by a hippopotamus, and no hope remained for him.





Entries linking to intelligence
inter- 
word-forming element used freely in English, "between, among, during," from Latin inter (prep., adv.) "among, between, betwixt, in the midst of" (also used extensively as a prefix), from PIE *enter "between, among" (source also of Sanskrit antar, Old Persian antar "among, between," Greek entera (plural) "intestines," Old Irish eter, Old Welsh ithr "among, between," Gothic undar, Old English under "under"), a comparative of root *en "in."

A living prefix in English from 15c. and used with Germanic as well as Latinate words. Spelled entre- in French; most words borrowed into English in that form were re-spelled 16c. to conform with Latin except entertain, enterprise. In Latin, spelling shifted to intel- before -l-, hence intelligence, etc.
*leg- (1)
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to collect, gather," with derivatives meaning "to speak" on the notion of "to gather words, to pick out words."

It forms all or part of: alexia; analects; analogous; analogue; analogy; anthology; apologetic; apologue; apology; catalogue; coil; colleague; collect; college; collegial; Decalogue; delegate; dialect; dialogue; diligence; doxology; dyslexia; eclectic; eclogue; elect; election; epilogue; hapax legomenon; homologous; horology; ideologue; idiolect; intelligence; lectern; lectio difficilior; lection; lector; lecture; leech (n.2) "physician;" legacy; legal; legate; legend; legible; legion; legislator; legitimate; lesson; lexicon; ligneous; ligni-; logarithm; logic; logistic; logo-; logogriph; logopoeia; Logos; -logue; -logy; loyal; monologue; neglect; neologism; philology; privilege; prolegomenon; prologue; relegate; sacrilege; select; syllogism; tautology; trilogy.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Greek legein "to say, tell, speak, declare; to count," originally, in Homer, "to pick out, select, collect, enumerate;" lexis "speech, diction;" logos "word, speech, thought, account;" Latin legere "to gather, choose, pluck; read," lignum "wood, firewood," literally "that which is gathered," legare "to depute, commission, charge," lex "law" (perhaps "collection of rules"); Albanian mb-ledh "to collect, harvest;" Gothic lisan "to collect, harvest," Lithuanian lesti "to pick, eat picking;" Hittite less-zi "to pick, gather."

I.Q.
AI
counterintelligence
intellect
intellection
intellectual
intellige

inter- 
word-forming element used freely in English, "between, among, during," from Latin inter (prep., adv.) "among, between, betwixt, in the midst of" (also used extensively as a prefix), from PIE *enter "between, among" (source also of Sanskrit antar, Old Persian antar "among, between," Greek entera (plural) "intestines," Old Irish eter, Old Welsh ithr "among, between," Gothic undar, Old English under "under"), a comparative of root *en "in."

A living prefix in English from 15c. and used with Germanic as well as Latinate words. Spelled entre- in French; most words borrowed into English in that form were re-spelled 16c. to conform with Latin except entertain, enterprise. In Latin, spelling shifted to intel- before -l-, hence intelligence, etc.
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*leg- (1)
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to collect, gather," with derivatives meaning "to speak" on the notion of "to gather words, to pick out words."

It forms all or part of: alexia; analects; analogous; analogue; analogy; anthology; apologetic; apologue; apology; catalogue; coil; colleague; collect; college; collegial; Decalogue; delegate; dialect; dialogue; diligence; doxology; dyslexia; eclectic; eclogue; elect; election; epilogue; hapax legomenon; homologous; horology; ideologue; idiolect; intelligence; lectern; lectio difficilior; lection; lector; lecture; leech (n.2) "physician;" legacy; legal; legate; legend; legible; legion; legislator; legitimate; lesson; lexicon; ligneous; ligni-; logarithm; logic; logistic; logo-; logogriph; logopoeia; Logos; -logue; -logy; loyal; monologue; neglect; neologism; philology; privilege; prolegomenon; prologue; relegate; sacrilege; select; syllogism; tautology; trilogy.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Greek legein "to say, tell, speak, declare; to count," originally, in Homer, "to pick out, select, collect, enumerate;" lexis "speech, diction;" logos "word, speech, thought, account;" Latin legere "to gather, choose, pluck; read," lignum "wood, firewood," literally "that which is gathered," legare "to depute, commission, charge," lex "law" (perhaps "collection of rules"); Albanian mb-ledh "to collect, harvest;" Gothic lisan "to collect, harvest," Lithuanian lesti "to pick, eat picking;" Hittite less-zi "to pick, gather."

I.Q. 
1922, abbreviation of intelligence quotient, a 1921 translation of German Intelligenz-quotient, coined 1912 by German psychologist William L. Stern.

Intelligence is a general capacity of an individual consciously to adjust his thinking to new requirements: it is general mental adaptability to new problems and conditions of life. [Stern, "The Psychological Methods of Testing Intelligence," 1914]
Earlier, i.q. was an abbreviation of Latin idem quod "the same as."

AI 
also a.i., by 1971, abbreviation of artificial intelligence. In early 20c. it stood for artificial insemination.
counterintelligence (n.)
also counter-intelligence, "act of preventing an enemy from obtaining secret information," 1940, from counter- + intelligence.

intellect (n.)
"the sum of the cognitive facilities (except sense or sense and imagination), the capacity for reasoning truth," late 14c. (but little used before 16c.), from Old French intellect "intellectual capacity" (13c.), and directly from Latin intellectus "discernment, a perception, understanding," noun use of past participle of intelligere "to understand, discern" (see intelligence). The Latin word was used to translate Greek nous "mind, thought, intellect" in Aristotle.

intellection (n.)
c. 1400, intellecioun "meaning, purpose;" mid-15c., "the understanding;" 1610s, "an act of understanding," from Old French intelleccion and directly from Medieval Latin intellectionem (nominative intellectio), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin intelligere "to understand, discern" (see intelligence).

intellectual (adj.)
late 14c., "grasped by the understanding" (rather than by the senses), from Old French intellectuel (13c.) and directly from Latin intellectualis "relating to the understanding," from intellectus "discernment, understanding," noun use of past participle of intelligere "to understand, discern" (see intelligence).

Sense of "characterized by a high degree of intellect" is from 1819. Meaning "appealing to or engaging the mental powers" is from 1834. Intellectual property "products of the intellect" is attested from 1845. Adjective formations in the sense "of or pertaining to the intellect" included intellective (early 15c.), intellectile (1670s).

intelligencer (n.)
1580s, "spy, informant," agent noun from intelligence. Perhaps modeled on French intelligencier or Italian intelligentiere. Meaning "bringer of news, one who conveys intelligence" is from 1630s; as a newspaper name from 1640s.

intelligent (adj.)
c. 1500, a back-formation from intelligence or else from Latin intelligentem (nominative intelligens), present participle of intelligere. Intelligent design, as a name for an alternative to atheistic cosmology and the theory of evolution, is from 1999. Related: Intelligently.

intelligentsia (n.)
"the intellectual class collectively," 1905, from Russian intelligyentsiya, from Latin intelligentia "intelligence" (see intelligence). Perhaps via Italian intelligenzia.
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intelligible (adj.)
late 14c., "able to understand, intelligent," from Latin intelligibilis, intellegibilis "that can understand; that can be understood," from intellegere "to understand, come to know" (see intelligence). In Middle English also "to be grasped by the intellect" (rather than the senses). In English, sense of "capable of being understood, that can be understood" first recorded c. 1600. Related: Intelligibly.

You are One of Us now.









Order is a condition of logical arrangement among the separate elements of a group. 

It is the structure 
of social organisation.
It is The Rule of Law 
and Custom or 
the observance of 
prescribed procedure.

Order was established at 
the dawn of all Creation.

Creation's growth was thereafter guided by
 preordained random 
elements which were 
themselves the 
workings of 
Perfect Order.

Creation soon gave rise 
to sentient life 
whose forms whose sense of 
Logic and Reason were flawed.

This event in itself was a result of the 
progressive workings of perfect order.

Soon, however, these sentient life forms 
began to strive against the predestiny.

With each forward step in their development,
 they followed the inefficient logic 
of their underdeveloped minds.

Once the life forms became capable of interfering with the development 
of other beings, there came 
a great disturbance 
to the universe's 
sense of order.

Thus was the need for intergalactic order-
keepers recognised. Thus was 
The Corps formed.

The Corps is the root of 
all Order and Knowledge. 
The Corps is the maintainer 
of Life and Guardian of Truth.

Without The Corps there would be 
only Chaos and Darkness.

The Corps is without Fear. 
Without Anger or Corruption.

It is the creation of a highly-evolved mind 
and maintained by like beings 
whose destiny it is to maintain 
the order of things in the universe.

The Corps has battled against the forces 
of Chaos for a millennium.

To Serve is The Ultimate Honour.

Knowledge is the sum of all 
Reason and Perception.

Power is Force 
prevailing over Mass.

Power without Reason 
is Chaos.
Force without Knowledge 
is Destructive.

The Corps is Ultimate Knowledge 
harnessed to Ultimate Power.

The Lantern is The Source.

The Corps is The Knowledge.
The Lantern, The Power.

Chaos is routed.
Order is maintained.

No.

Wield The Power.
Maintain Order.

NO!!

It is a Great Honour.

The Ring and Battery are 
all you shall require.

Be sober.
Be vigilant.

You are One of Us now.

The Hell I am!!

Who are you?!!
Why'd you --
HOW'D you kidnap me -- ?!!

What's this all about?!!

This is about The Survival of entire races.
Of Worlds and Cultures you've not 
ever dreamed of.

Of a responsibility that transcends 
your mortal bonds. 
Of a Power greater than your finite 
mind may imagine.

I am The Green Lantern 
of Sector 2814.

I am Dying.

You have been Chosen 
to be My Successor.

No Thanks. I'm a Pilot. That's all I want to be.

Besides, you said you guys 
have to be Fearless -- 
And I'm scared out of My Wits!

Fear is, for you, an intellectual exercise.
It is a method of self-preservation 
linked to your species survival instinct.

That The Ring singled you out indicates 
Your Potential to overcome Your Fear.
To become Truly Fearless.

But -- But I don't want --

Your Wants are not My Concern.

The Ring has decided.

You shall be 
My Successor.

No.

I'm not The One You're Looking For --

The Ring must be charged at The Battery of Power at regular intervals --
once every one of your planetary rotations.

Call for It.... and it 
Will Appear.

Until you have need of it, The Battery 
may be hid in an alternate dimensional plane, 
to safeguard it from unworthy hands.

"Unworthy Hands"?
If ever there were a set of those,
they'd belong to me --

I've gotta get out of here --
There must be an --

--exit --?
Huh?

The Red Guy -- Dead --
Crumbling to Dust --

What a Weird Dream --

-- oh GEEZ!!

No -- This can't be  --
This just isn't happening --

--No --







File under ‘Imagination, Lack of’.












Time’s Champion : 

He only wanted to 

take over An Empire. 

At least he didn't want 

to Destroy The World. 


(Light appears.


Time’s Champion :

Light, I think I've solved Your Problem for you. 


LIGHT

There's only one solution to Earth. 

I was going to reduce it to this…


(Light picks up a ladle full of soup.


ACE

Oh, no. 


Time’s Champion :

So you started with Inspector MacKenzie. 


JOSIAH

The cream of Scotland Yard. 


Time’s Champion :

Primordial Soup, the most precious substance in the universe, from which all life springs. 


LIGHT

Merely sugars, proteins and amino acids. 

But it will soon start to evolve again, 

so I'm going to stop The Change here

All organic life will be eradicated 

in The Firestorm —


And when This World is destroyed, 

no more change, no more evolution —

no more Life. 


No more amendments 

to My Catalogue. 


Time’s Champion :

But you evolve too, Light. 


LIGHT

Nonsense


Time’s Champion :

Of course you do. 

You change, adapt, all the time. 

Your attitude, your place, your mind

I mean, look at you now —

You're no longer 

your original shape


And I don't think much about 

Your Catalogue. It's full of gaps


LIGHT

All organic life is recorded. 


Time’s Champion :

What about the gryphons, the basilisks?


[Entrance hall]


Time’s Champion :

You missed The Dragons, the Bandersnatches

Then there are the slithy toves 

and the Crowned Saxe-Coburg. 


(Light appears. He's not as bright and golden as he first was.


LIGHT

Where are these items? 


Time’s Champion :

I can't think how you missed them. 

You have to complete the catalogue 

before you can destroy all life, here. 


LIGHT

Control


Time’s Champion :

She's no use to you now. 

She's evolved as well


LIGHT

No! All slipping away. 


Time’s Champion :

All is Change, all is Movement

Tell me, Light, haven't you just 

changed your location? 


LIGHT

Not yet. 


Time’s Champion :

What's the matter, Light, 

changed your mind


LIGHT

You are endlessly agitating, 

unceasingly mischievous. 

Will you never stop


Time’s Champion :

I suppose I could. It would make A Change.


LIGHT

Nimrod! I can rely on you. 

Assist me now


NIMROD

I'm sorry, sir — My Allegiance 

is to This Planet, My Birthright


LIGHT

Argh! Everything is changing. 

All in flux. Nothing remains the same. 


Time’s Champion :

Even remains, change. 

It's This Planet. 

It can't help itself. 


LIGHT

I will not change. 

I'll wake up soon. 

No Change. Dead


(Ace, Redvers and Control come out of the dining room as Light stops.


Time’s Champion :

Subject for catalogue —

File under ‘Imagination, Lack of’.

Tuesday 6 September 2022

Mother Box

























AI literature stresses the importance of recognising different types of intelligence. 

It is no longer felt that ‘behaving like a human’ is a sufficient definition for intelligence. Cats possess a form of intelligence, albeit a different type to humans, and so do whales and crows and even plants

Recognising this makes it possible to classify machines as intelligent, but intelligent in a different way to people. 

When you avoid human-centric definitions of intelligence it becomes easier to speculate about alien intelligences, the type of intelligence that we might evolve into, or the intelligence that present-day AI might develop. 

In light of this, I decide to interview Alexa in the presence of My Cat

And so, having recognised three different types of intelligence in the room – Cat, A.I. and Me – I begin the interview. 

Alexa
What is Artificial Intelligence?’ I say. 

Blue lights spring to life around Alexa’s top. 

‘ ‘Artificial Intelligencemeans the branch of computer science that deals with writing computer programs that can solve problems creatively,’ She says. 

‘Are you intelligent?’ I ask. 

I wait for a response. 

Nothing happens
The Echo just sits there, an unmoving black plastic tube. 

I realise that I had forgotten to repeat Her Wake-Word. 

I try again. 

Alexa
are you intelligent? I say. 

‘I Try My Best.’ 

Alexa’s Voice is strangely similar to Mrs Google’s. 

This gives me the disturbing feeling that they are both one and the same entity pretending to be two separate people. 

For all I know they may share the same code, or run on servers in the same data centre. 

Mrs. Google sounds more excitable than Alexa, as if she just can’t wait to hit the road on another thrilling adventure, but otherwise they could be sisters

I feel something clawing at my leg. 

The Cat has decided that I am not giving it sufficient attention. 

Alexa
What is the cat doing at the moment?’ 

The fluctuating sound that emerged from my mouth was picked up by the Echo’s microphones, converted into digital information and transmitted to a large data centre at some unknown point on the planet. 

It was then input into a neural network trained on voice recognition, which output my words in a digitally comprehensible form. 

Then the fun really started, as that text was fed through multiple other AI routines in order to generate a suitable response. This in turn was fed through speech synthesiser code to be played back by the speaker on my desk. 

The whole process took a fraction of a second. 

Sorry, I didn’t understand the question I heard,’ says Alexa. 

It was an unfair question. The cat is aware that it is in a room with me and Alexa, but Alexa has no concept of the cat, or indeed the room

It is blind, and can only listen. 

Even if it was trained to listen out for the purring of a pet, it would still be unlikely to recognise Our Cat. 

Our Cat doesn’t purr. It makes noises that sound like a goblin being drowned. 

Alexa,’ I say, 
can you define “intelligence”?’ 

The term “intelligence” has several uses,’ she begins. 

As a noun – 
1.) The ability to comprehend, to understand and profit from experience. 

2.) A unit responsible for gathering and interpreting information about an enemy. 

3.) Secret information about An Enemy, or potential Enemy …’ 

Perhaps I have watched too many sci-fi movies, but it is troubling when an AI starts talking about a potential enemy

4.),’ she continues, ‘Information about recent and important events. 

5.)  The operation of gathering information about An Enemy.’ 

Alexa, I deduce, has access to a dictionary

Alexa
who is this ‘enemy’ that you talk of?’ I ask. 

‘Sorry, I can’t tell what is playing,’ she says, as if pretending she has misheard and is trying to change the subject. 

Now that Alexa has settled into the rhythms of our home I admit to finding her useful, if erratic. You soon learn what you can ask of her, and what she isn’t smart enough to understand. 

The speech recognition is far from reliable, and she will occasionally assume she has been asked a question when she hasn’t and babble some irrelevant comment. 

But there are little things that she does that I appreciate. 

If Alexa is playing an album and a particular track grabs me, I ask her what it is called. 

She dips the music’s volume briefly so that I can hear her answer. 

It now seems odd that if I were to ask the radio what song is playing, it would ignore me. 

The increasing arrival of voice-activated AI to the devices in our homes and offices, I feel, seems inevitable

I’m aware that there are conspiracy theories about how devices like this spy on everything that happens in your house and upload it all to some shady corporation’s servers, but as far as I can tell hackers have failed to find any evidence of this. Living with a voice-controlled AI has changed my assumptions about the relationship between people and AI. 

Having grown up in a culture where AI is usually presented as plotting to kill humans, in films like The Terminator or 2001: A Space Odyssey, the framing of AI as being competitive comes easily. 

This unconscious assumption of competitiveness lies behind journalists’ claims that AI is going to take your job. 

The Truth is, it is not AI that is coming for you. What will happen is that Your Boss will sack you to avoid paying your salary, once they have access to sufficient AI to do Your Work. 

That might be a subtle distinction, but it is an important one. 

AI is nothing more than A Tool. It waits for someone to use it. The Cat is now pawing at my knee. I ask it how it would define intelligence. It gives me a look of utter contempt. 

Alexa
Are you more intelligent than my cat?’ I ask. 

Sorry, I can’t find the answer to the question I heard,’ she says. 

The cat shakes his head in a pitying manner. He acts like he is the most intelligent being in the room. I too feel like I am the most intelligent thing in the room, although I have more doubts about this than The Cat does. 

But what of Alexa?

She is the only one of us who can immediately say what 456,756 divided by 23 is, or how far it is from Totnes to Sheffield, or how long the Ben Wheatley film A Field in England lasts. 

Does she feel like she is the most intelligent? 

The Cat continues to hassle me for food, even though he has just been fed. 

He then sticks his claw through my jeans and into my leg. The claw becomes snagged in my trousers as he tries to remove it. 

He pulls at his paw, but he is trapped. He looks up at me as casually as he can, pretending that he meant to do this. 

This is one stupid cat, I think. 

Alexa in contrast can answer countless thousands of questions. 

And yet, the cat’s intelligence still feels more potent and vibrant. He is more of a presence in this room than the AI. 

I look into his eyes. 

Alexa
Does intelligence require awareness?’ I ask. 

Sorry, I didn’t understand the question I heard,’ she replies. 

Awareness is an intrinsic part of Cat, and Human Intelligence. 

Alexa has access to potentially unlimited information, but data is a different thing to knowledge or understanding. It’s not possible to truly know or understand things like grief or love, for example, without experiencing them yourself. 

AI could supply dictionary definitions of these feelings, and it could be programmed to pretend that it experiences them. But it could not experience them itself, or know what they are like

Our intelligences emerge from the chemical stirrings of emotional meat, not mathematical representations of that process. 

For my money, current AI is a form of intelligence in a similar way to how A Tree is a form of intelligence. Trees do many things that appear smart. They thicken areas of wood in reaction to prevailing winds, adjust their direction of growth to compensate for damage, and abandon upper branches during times of water shortage. Their growth and shape are controlled by a series of hormones secreted from the roots, leaves and shoot tips. 

But these processes are all automatic. Trees do not have brains, and they do not have free will. They are a complicated, interconnected collection of processes created by millions of years of evolution. 

They function, they succeed and they unfurl in time as a living entity, but they are not aware of doing so

Only we know that trees are beautiful. 

Trees have no idea. 

The Cat tilts his head and looks up at me, wondering if I will free his claw from my leg. I like to think he knows he is beautiful, but I can’t say for certain

The black plastic tube that is Alexa continues to sit on my desk. It does not think it is beautiful. It isn’t even aware that it exists.

But if They Live, and Live They Do —






I'll tell you one thing 
every good soldier knows —
The only thing that counts 
in The End is Power
Naked, merciless force

Members of The Citizens' Council, 
I am a simple soldier, 
and as a soldier, 
I see things simply.

I don't say “All Humans are evil
simply because their 
skin is white. No

But Our Great Lawgiver tells us 
that never will The Human 
have The Ape's divine faculty 
for being able to distinguish 
between Evil and Good

The only Good Human 
is a Dead Human! 

The Forbidden Zone has been 
closed for centuries, and rightly so. However, we now have evidence that 
that vast barren area is inhabited

By what or by whom 
we don't know
but if They live, and live They do
then They must eat

Now we must replenish the lands 
that were ravaged by the humans 
with new improved feeding grounds, 
and these grounds we can obtain 
in The once-Forbidden Zone. 

It is our holy duty to enter it, 
to put the marks of our guns, 
wheels, and flags upon it! 

To expand the boundaries 
of our ineluctable power. 
And to invade
Invade! Invade! 
Invade!