[richk449]

Let’s say that you have the ability to know the state of every neuron, and the interconnect map between them, at all times. You watch a chess player make a move, determine what is going on, and define the process the brain follows as an algorithm. Now that you have an algorithm, you have a very powerful piece of silicon execute the algorithm. Does that piece of silicon have intelligence? You would probably say no, since simply executing a pre-defined algorithm is a shortcut. Intelligence means the ability to develop the algorithm intrinsically in your head.

So fine, we take a step back. Instead of tracing all the neurons as they determine a chess move, we trace all the neurons as they start, from a baby, and learn to see and to understand spatial temporal behavior and as they understand other independent entities that can think like they do and as they learn chess and how to make a move. Then we encode all of that into algorithms and run it on silicon. Is that intelligence? To me, it sounds like it is just a shortcut - we figured out what a brain does, reduced it to algorithms, and ran those algorithms on a computer.

What if we go back further and replay evolution. Is that a shortcut?

To be fair, you did claim that the ability to adapt and make tools is what distinguishes real intelligence. But I wonder if ten years from now, you will saying that a tool making computer is just a shortcut.