Artificial intelligence, AI, and human intelligence, HI, is analysed from a quantum chemical perspective. Carbon prejudice versus ‘computation all the way down’ is compared with reference to substrate dependent disciplines, such as chemistry and biology. The self-referential law of nature, starting at the microscopic level, will address the complexity of living systems, from atomic-molecular levels to biological processes all the way up to our present acumen.

The author is indebted to the UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences for the permission to use this image.

Abstract

The present rate of growth of powerful AI systems motivates an accurate comparison between the notion of computers and the workings of natural sciences. Statements such as “intelligence doesn't require flesh, blood or carbon atoms” or “it's computation all the way down” incite a substrate-independent view, providing shortcuts for Darwinian evolution and the possible appearance of sentient machines. This view is discussed and contrasted from a quantum chemical perspective. The qualitative difference between the developed AI and the evolved HI is recognized and the importance of a material constituent, formulated in terms of energy-temperature, conjugate to an immaterial ingredient, in the context of time-entropy, is pointed out as a necessary feature. The popular dictum “it from bit” does not appear valid unless amended with its obverse “bit from it.”