Why Your Cat is Lousy at Chess Yet Way Smarter Than Even the Most Advanced AI
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for chromas:
Why your cat is lousy at chess yet way smarter than even the most advanced AI:
If you share your home with a dog or a cat, look at it carefully and you will get a good overview of everything we don't know how to do in artificial intelligence.
"But my cat does nothing all day except sleep, eat and wash herself," you may think. And yet your cat knows how to walk, run, jump (and land on her feet), hear, see, watch, learn, play, hide, be happy, be sad, be afraid, dream, hunt, eat, fight, flee, reproduce, educate her kittens - and the list is still very long.
Each of these actions requires processes that are not directly "intelligence" in the most common sense but are related to cognition and animal intelligence. All animals have their own cognition, from the spider that weaves its web to the guide dogs that help people find their way. Some can even communicate with us. Not by speech, of course, but cats and dogs don't hesitate to use body language and vocalization - meowing, barking, wagging their tails - to get what they want.
Let's look again at your cat. When she comes carelessly to rub up against you or sits in front of her bowl or in front of a door, the message is quite clear. She is looking for a caress, is hungry or wants to go out (then get in, then out, then in...). She has learned to interact with you to achieve her goals.
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