Abstract

The digital revolution driven by global connectivity, computing as a utility, artificial intelligence, and information sharing on an unprecedented scale is forcing the redefinition of intelligence in a broader context that extends beyond human intelligence. This paper addresses the principal characteristics of biological intelligence, as it exists on planet Earth and the form it may take in an extraterrestrial context. Human intelligence, as the most evolved form of biological intelligence on Earth, is treated as the aggregation of multiple intelligences that cannot be encapsulated in a single metric such as an Intelligence Quotient (IQ). The concept of a postbiological civilization that combines biological intelligence with artificial intelligence is presented as a cultural evolution that is driven by the replacement of the propagation of genes with some alternative replicator. The paper concludes with speculations of the nature of extraterrestrial intelligence that is likely to be much older and far superior to biological intelligence, and may be of a form that is incomparable to human intelligence and therefore unrecognizable by humans.

Disciplines

Architecture

Number of Pages

18

Publisher statement

NOTE: At the time of publication, the author Jens Pohl is a Professor of Architecture (Emeritus) from Cal Poly.

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URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/arch_fac/80