philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Why aren’t people smarter? The dubious benefits of intelligence, real or artificial

Is AI going to make us all smarter, or are we already as smart as we can handle?

Human cognitive gaps, well documented in The Logic of Failure, explain why we keep making the same mistakes over and over.
There's also our fast leaps-to-conclusions mind and our slow, analytical mind. The fast mind is usually correct on everyday issues, but complex problems baffle it.

COUNTERFIT INTELLIGENCE

This is why pundits love to offer simple, short, and irrelevant punchlines that inflame emotions rather than encourage thought.

CULTURAL TRANSMISSION VS EVOLUTIONARY SELECTION

In the paper, "Why Aren't We Smarter Already: Evolutionary Trade-Offs and Cognitive Enhancements" two scientists consider the potential of drugs for cognitive enhancement. They consider how evolution has shaped our cognitive functions, looking at two major problem examples.

Intelligence isn't an end in itself, but a tool that allows us to understand and shape our environment. If people willfully abandon facts, evidence, and logic, it doesn't matter how "intelligent" they are. They'll get the wrong answer and damage themselves, and, sometimes, the rest of us.

The two goals of AI should be to extend the fast-thinking part of our intelligence, so we can apply more intelligence to the areas where we are most likely to make mistakes. That is an ideal use case for embedded mobile device intelligence.

The second goal should be where we've made the most progress: Domain-specific expertise, such as interpreting medical imaging. This will put a lot of expensively trained professionals out of business, but improve the quality of life for the rest of us.

See the full story here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/why-arent-people-smarter/