In Chapter 2, Tegmark addresses the nature of intelligence. Understanding intelligence, learning, and information processing is integral to the development of AI and, as we will see in later chapters, consciousness. In Tegmark’s view, “One of the most spectacular developments during the 13.8 billion years since our Big Bang is that dumb and lifeless matter has turned intelligent” (49). He begins with an account of what it means to be an “intelligent” system, how these systems work, how they learn, and what this means for us. Foreshadowing the concluding chapters on goals and consciousness, Tegmark notes that “intelligent behavior is inexorably linked to goal attainment” (53). In other words, achieving complex tasks requires motivation, not just intelligence.

Tegmark notes that there is no universally agreed upon definition of intelligence. For this reason, he uses a broad, encapsulating concept of intelligence to structure both this chapter and the book. Intelligence, he writes, is “the ability to accomplish complex goals” (81). He discusses the distinction between broad and narrow intelligence, noting that humans are currently far superior to AI in terms of broad intelligence, but AI is quickly becoming superior at a growing number of narrow intelligent operations.