If Intelligence Is Just Optimisation, Machines Win by Definition

Writing in Aeon, Sasha Mudd frames the problem as a conditional: if intelligence is merely optimisation, then machines will outrun us. Her counterweight is Kant, who she says shows why human reason is so much more than a tool. The interesting move is where the argument puts the burden of proof. Define intelligence as optimisation — as hitting a target efficiently — and the conclusion about machines follows almost automatically; there is nothing left for a human to do that a sufficiently good optimiser couldn't do better. Arguing that reason exceeds optimisation therefore means arguing about the definition rather than about benchmark scores, which is a harder and less measurable fight.