Conversation

If you exclude reading, writing, speaking, and listening (ie use of language, including math or code) as mere table stakes, how would you define “intellectual” in terms of essential non-language behaviors that non-intellectuals typically don’t exhibit?
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An intellectual computes a function not efficiently computable by a non-intellectual—because of having key state (from canon, grand tour), or computational superiority.
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Oh! I misunderstood, because that function is from linguistic input to output. I don’t think I could be convinced of an intellectual with a vow of silence.
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I’m not saying they don’t use language. I’m saying that such use cannot be part of the definition I’m looking for. It’s like asking “what besides above-average height characterizes basketball players?” I’m blocking out the obvious bit.
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I am prepared to believe in a nonhuman, nonlinguistic intellectual. But I’m going to have more questions about the bit after the comma than the bit before. Until then? Yeah. Intellectual is metacognition, and language is needed for the strange loop.
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