Does intelligence imply contradiction?

Does intelligence imply contradiction?

Contradiction is often seen as a defect of intelligent systems and a dangerous limitation on efficiency. In this paper we raise the question of whether, on the contrary, it could be considered a key tool in increasing intelligence in biological structures. A possible way of answering this question in a mathematical context is shown, formulating a proposition that suggests a link between intelli...

Does ought imply can?

Most philosophers believe that a person can have an obligation only insofar as she is able to fulfil it, a principle generally referred to as "Ought Implies Can". Arguably, this principle reflects something basic about the ordinary concept of obligation. However, in a paper published recently in this journal, Wesley Buckwalter and John Turri presented evidence for the conclusion that ordinary p...

Does Optimization Imply Rationality?

The relations between rationality and optimization have been widely discussed in the wake of Herbert Simon’s work, with the common conclusion that the rationality concept does not imply the optimization principle. The paper is partly concerned with adding evidence for this view, but its main, more challenging objective is to question the converse implication from optimization to rationality, wh...

Does Instability Imply Transitivity?

Does self-replication imply evolvability?

The most prominent property of life on Earth is its ability to evolve. It is often taken for granted that self-replication– the characteristic that makes life possible–implies evolvability, but many examples such as the lack of evolvability in computer viruses seem to challenge this view. Is evolvability itself a property that needs to evolve, or is it automatically present within any chemistry...