22 May 2019 - general intelligence

Why are there so many species? For the same reason that we have so many specialists: Specialization works. Doing one thing well is more efficient than doing many things adequately. But wait, then how are humans a successful species if we’re generalists who might learn to specialize in anything? We are a new breakthrough; we are like the first insect to evolve flight, and we haven’t had time to speciate further. You heard it here first; we don’t need a robot revolution. General intelligence is evolutionarily unstable all by itself.