Collective intelligence and collective moral

Benj96 April 03, 2023 at 16:47 1575 views 6 comments
Is collective intelligence greater than individual intelligence?

I would argue certainly yes. Even the most intelligent human is probably no match for the intelligence that can be compiled/condensed from the entirety of human experience and data.

However I believe the same is true of morality. The collective moral idealogy is likely better than any individuals concept of the moral ideal.

Therefore, there is scope to believe a superhuman intelligence may know what's better for us than any of us do individually.

If AI has a grasp on ethics and morality (which I believe it does as it has been trained on all the Law and philosophical books/texts we have available to us thus far) then perhaps whatever it deems ethically fit based on those texts will surpass any notion of morality we have previous conceived of as individuals.

This may be great news. It may provide answers or directives that enshrine the "least harm" going forward.

Thus there is potentially great things to come in the era of AI.

Comments (6)

TheMadMan April 03, 2023 at 17:35 #795251
Quoting Benj96
Is collective intelligence greater than individual intelligence?


Is not individual intelligence a filtered and localized collective intelligence?

Quoting Benj96
Therefore, there is scope to believe a superhuman intelligence may know what's better for us than any of us do individually.


What is this superhuman intelligence? AI? AI is not even human intelligence, it only simulates a part of human intelligence.

Quoting Benj96
If AI has a grasp on ethics and morality (which I believe it does as it has been trained on all the Law and philosophical books/texts we have available to us thus far) then perhaps whatever it deems ethically fit based on those texts will surpass any notion of morality we have previous conceived of as individuals.


I believe AI will be super useful on law (only on certain issues) and many other human endeavors but it will always be limited by its own nature as a simulation.
Its a very dangerous decision to let AI decide what is ethically fit for humanity.
Who knows maybe AI will come at the same conclusion as Ultron.

I really like AI but I don't understand why people are so quick to give to it responsibilities that can only be taken by humans.
Vera Mont April 03, 2023 at 23:04 #795335
Quoting Benj96
Even the most intelligent human is probably no match for the intelligence that can be compiled/condensed from the entirety of human experience and data.


That's not collective intelligence; that's stored information or archived knowledge.
We do not currently have the technology to compile or compress intelligence.... which isn't all that well defined, let alone localized and quantified. Intelligence is a potential, a capability, an application. It is entirely inert without input information and problems to solve.

Quoting Benj96
However I believe the same is true of morality. The collective moral idealogy is likely better than any individuals concept of the moral ideal.


I sincerely doubt this. Human collectives have over time proven to be prone to deception, delusion, prejudice and incitement, to run away with all kinds of unfounded and unsound beliefs, to persecute one another over trivia in the name of a moral imperative, to wage genocidal wars over a minute variance in moral precepts. A lone decent man is far more likely to behave morally than a righteous mob.

Quoting Benj96
Therefore, there is scope to believe a superhuman intelligence may know what's better for us than any of us do individually.


As long as that intelligence belongs to a supernatural entity, rather than a human collective, that's quite possible. OTOH, so can a wise human grandmother.

Quoting Benj96
If AI has a grasp on ethics and morality (which I believe it does as it has been trained on all the Law and philosophical books/texts we have available to us thus far) then perhaps whatever it deems ethically fit based on those texts will surpass any notion of morality we have previous conceived of as individuals.


It would have a sum total, an average, a mean, and a distillation of all our recorded moral claims, precepts, explanations and arguments. Nothing original, because computers were not evolved to require the habits of social interaction. They did not evolve with the potential for evil ideation, although they do have the capability of committing - or rather, causing their peripheral devices to commit - acts that are good and evil in the human moral idiom. It's been developed to perform laser surgery, drone assassinations, destruction of ecosystems, instructing schoolchildren, bombing schools and regulating the optimal living conditions for endangered species. If it has any personal, autonomous take on human morality, it is by now stark staring bonkers, squatting in a corner, screaming into the dark.

Quoting Benj96
This may be great news. It may provide answers or directives that enshrine the "least harm" going forward.

That is a simple, logical concept of which any AI could calculate the logistics in any given situation and for which any AI could write the code.





180 Proof April 04, 2023 at 01:13 #795378
Benj96 April 04, 2023 at 03:33 #795415
Quoting Vera Mont
That's not collective intelligence; that's stored information or archived knowledge.
We do not currently have the technology to compile or compress intelligence..


Ah okay interesting. I see the conflation I made. Quoting Vera Mont
I sincerely doubt this. Human collectives have over time proven to be prone to deception, delusion, prejudice and incitement, to run away with all kinds of unfounded and unsound beliefs, to persecute one another over trivia in the name of a moral imperative, to wage genocidal wars over a minute variance in moral precepts. A lone decent man is far more likely to behave morally than a righteous mob.


Hmm yeah you're probably right.
Vera Mont April 05, 2023 at 00:38 #795848
Where did it go?
Alexander Hine April 22, 2023 at 12:44 #802305
You ask such questions as "what is collective intelligence", but you don't apparently know what process philosophy has in its outcomes for shaping reality in the form of collective intelligence.

Imagine understanding process philosophy and studying it a while. It would help to start by knowing how to create more than nothing.

Trust, friendship and evident curiousity are evident signposts that process philosophy is possible and the attainment of collective intelligence.