The Measure of All Minds
Evaluating Natural and Artificial Intelligence

This book uses algorithmic information theory as a foundation for the universal evaluation of cognition and the future of intelligence.

José Hernández-Orallo (Author)

9781107153011, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 January 2017

568 pages, 61 b/w illus. 7 colour illus.
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.8 cm, 1.04 kg

'The range of scholarship and expertise displayed in this book is extraordinary … The work presented in this book is an extremely important contribution to the analysis of behavior and cognition. Anyone interested in psychometrics, comparative psychology, and artificial intelligence will find this book valuable and thought-provoking. The level of familiarity with disparate fields is truly remarkable.' Robert L. Greene, PsycCRITIQUES

Are psychometric tests valid for a new reality of artificial intelligence systems, technology-enhanced humans, and hybrids yet to come? Are the Turing Test, the ubiquitous CAPTCHAs, and the various animal cognition tests the best alternatives? In this fascinating and provocative book, José Hernández-Orallo formulates major scientific questions, integrates the most significant research developments, and offers a vision of the universal evaluation of cognition. By replacing the dominant anthropocentric stance with a universal perspective where living organisms are considered as a special case, long-standing questions in the evaluation of behavior can be addressed in a wider landscape. Can we derive task difficulty intrinsically? Is a universal g factor - a common general component for all abilities - theoretically possible? Using algorithmic information theory as a foundation, the book elaborates on the evaluation of perceptual, developmental, social, verbal and collective features and critically analyzes what the future of intelligence might look like.

1. Extended nature
2. Mind the step: scala universalis
3. The evaluation of human behaviour
4. The evaluation of non-human natural behaviour
5. The evaluation of artificial intelligence
6. The boundaries against a unified evaluation
7. Intelligence and algorithmic information theory
8. Cognitive tasks and difficulty
9. From tasks to tests
10. The arrangement of abilities
11. General intelligence
12. Cognitive development and potential
13. Identifying social skills
14. Communication abilities
15. Evaluating collective and hybrid systems
16. Universal tests
17. Rooting for ratiocentrism
18. Exploitation and exploration.

Subject Areas: Natural language & machine translation [UYQL], Artificial intelligence [UYQ], Educational psychology [JNC], Philosophy of mind [HPM]