Three Ages and Three Intelligences: Explore, Exploit, Empower

A common model of AI suggests that there is a single measure of intelligence, often called AGI, and that AI systems are agents who can possess more or less of this intelligence. Cognitive science, in contrast, suggests that there are multiple forms of intelligence and that these intelligences trade-off against each other and have a distinctive developmental profile and evolutionary history. Exploitation(the pursuit of goals, resources, and utilities) characterizes adult cognition. However, exploration (seeking information about the world) characterizes childhood cognition, and empowerment (of others, through care and teaching) characterizes cognition in elderhood. The combination of these three different kinds of intelligence, across the course of a life, explains human success.

Our Wonderfest speaker, Dr. Alison Gopnik, is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley. She is also Affiliate Professor of Philosophy at Cal, and a member of the Berkeley AI Research Group.