Week 1

What is Intelligence? What does it mean to be intelligent, and more importantly why do people create "simulated" or "artificial" intelligence?

This week, we will discuss these questions, and approach the questions from different perspectives: thought experiments, technical prototypes and the history of artificial intelligence, and how these set the stage for us to understand the larger techno-political landscape of design and technology.

Class Notebook

Andrea Cheng

This week, I learned that intelligence does not always require consciousness or understanding. A system can appear intelligent by sensing information, following rules, recognizing patterns, and responding to change.

Binjia Li

This week, I learned how personal color analysis works as a system by turning visual information into categories and recommendations. I also realized that even when a system follows specific rules, human judgment still plays an important role. This makes me question: Can a system really decide what looks good on someone?

Jiayi Li

Tegmark defines intelligence as “the ability to accomplish complex goals,” and he argues that a system does not necessarily have to create its own goals. It can receive a goal from someone else and break it down into different steps in order to accomplish it. I found this interesting because it made me notice how easily we describe effective task completion as a form of “intelligence.” For example, when Days Matter reminds me that today is an important date, I intuitively feel that the app is being “intelligent,” even though it is simply calculating and responding to information I entered earlier. This makes me more curious about the word itself: why do we choose “intelligence” to describe this kind of ability?

Li Zhang

Intelligent is a lot bigger word to think of.

Lulah Balde

I learned how many complex perspectives exist on the understanding of intelligence, what it may mean to different people. I also considered how systems of intelligence can be both tactile and digital which was interesting to explore, because I think under the general subject of technology, intelligence may be understood under digital platforms alone. This takes away the opportunity for us to consider how tactile forms of intelligence existed before digital forms of technology were created and advanced. So I appreciated this exploration beyond the expected forms of 'intelligence'.

Mingfu Yang

I have to admit that, while I personally do not consider Eliza truly intelligent, its responses can be quite convincing during initial encounters. Human ingenuity is truly amazing.

Rebecca Davidson

Intelligence takes many forms and is integral to adaptable and dynamic systems.

Samridhi Jain

After reviewing the materials and diving into my system. I now believe "Intelligence is when a system evokes fear and stress.” If a stack of printed cardboard can make a grown adult sweat and second-guess their choices, it has effectively simulated an intelligent opponent.

Seulgi Choei

This week, I had a chance to think about how we define intelligence.

Wendy Wang

Think about the definition and forms of intelligence.

Xiran Wang

I learned that genuinely intelligence is someone who understand something complex and is able to solve problems, learn knowledge, maintain lasting social networks, and adapt to new situations.

Zoe Liu

Our understanding is quite different from that of ancient people. Ancient people believed that rain could only be summoned by offering enough sacrifices, but nowadays all you need to do is wash your car. Even so, the rainmaking ritual used to be a very important part of life back then, without rain there was no food.

Week 1: What is intelligence?

Nhan June Paik's TV Buddhas series

Lectures

What is Intelligence?

This Week’s Reading

Chapter 2, “Matter Turns Intelligent,” from Max Tegmark’s Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Resources

Assignment 1

This assignment is part 1 of the project Epistemological Research of Technology

Submit Assignment

For this first assignment, choose one subject that could be understood, described, or perceived as demonstrating some form of “intelligence.” Your subject might be a historical artifact, technical system, computational model, game, method of prediction, classification system, conversational script, organism, environmental process, social behavior, or contemporary AI system. The goal is not to prove that your subject is intelligent. Instead, begin by asking: what makes someone describe this system as intelligent, and what assumptions are built into that description?

Spend the week researching how your chosen subject operates. Rather than focusing only on what it is or what it represents, pay attention to what it does. What does it sense, receive, remember, compare, classify, predict, repeat, or respond to? What kinds of rules, conditions, patterns, inputs, outputs, or feedback loops allow it to function? Collect at least five research artifacts that help you understand the system. These may include images, diagrams, videos, manuals, texts, screenshots, technical documents, advertisements, oral histories, or other relevant materials.

From your research, create a preliminary map of the system using a simple structure such as Input → Process / Rule → Output. The diagram does not need to be polished; boxes, arrows, drawings, notes, screenshots, or other forms of representation are welcome. Accompany the map with at least five observations about how the system behaves and one question that you are still unsure about. For example: Where does the intelligence of this system actually reside? What happens when its rules encounter something unexpected? Is prediction a form of intelligence if the system does not understand what it predicts?

Bring your research, observations, and system map to class next week for a short informal presentation.