arXiv:2008.07324v2 [cs.AI] 18 Aug 2020 Intelligence Primer (Release 1) Andrew N. Sloss Arm Inc. andrew.sloss@arm.com Karl F. Fezer Arm Inc. karl.fezer@arm.com August 19, 2020 Abstract This primer explores the exciting subject of intelligence. Intelligence is a fundamental com- ponent of all living things, as well as Artificial Intelligence (AI). Artificial Intelligence has the potential to affect all of our lives and a new era for modern humans. This paper is an attempt to explore the ideas associated with intelligence, and by doing so understand the implications, constraints, and potentially the capabilities of future Artificial Intelligence. As an exploration, we journey into different parts of intelligence that appear essential. We hope that people find this useful in determining where Artificial Intelligence may be headed. Also, during the exploration, we hope to create new thought-provoking questions. Intelligence is not a single weighable quantity but a subject that spans Biology, Physics, Philosophy, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Psychology, and Computer Science. Historian Yuval Noah Harari pointed out that engineers and scientists in the future will have to broaden their understandings to include disciplines such as Psychology, Philosophy, and Ethics. Fiction writers have long portrayed engineers and scientists as deficient in these areas. Today, modern society, the emergence of Artificial Intelligence, and legal requirements all act as forcing functions to push these broader subjects into the foreground. We start with an introduction to intelligence and move quickly onto more profound thoughts and ideas. We call this a Life, the Universe and Everything [2] primer, after the famous science fiction book by Douglas Adams. Forty-two may very well be the right answer, but what are the questions? 1 Introduction We start with an introduction to human intelligence as we currently understand it and move on to an exploration of artificial intelligence. This section starts by covering the complexities of defining intelligence and ends with the fundamental mathematical concepts associated with Artificial Intelligence. Think of these subjects as a level down from the title, as-in distinctly different ideas but universally connected. The biochemist Efraim Racker eloquently put it “anyone who is not thoroughly confused just doesn’t understand the subject ”. Intelligence is complicated and not in a small way. We suffer from introspection where the system under study and the observer are one of the same. There is a long history of debate (probably unsettled) about whether it is truly impossible for a system under study to be completely and self-consistently understood. This introspection causes inherent hubris when it comes to intelligence. We will travel from the world of total confusion, see Figure 1, to playing with some wrong numbers, and in the process, hopefully, transfer some exciting thoughts. As discussed, intelligence is a complex subject due to our very own deep involvement. To help put this into perspective, we use a concept introduced by Plato in his work called The Republic 1