# Key Points from IRC Discussion

• A definition of intelligence was shared as "the ability to reveal hidden affordances of the world," illustrated by the example of a crow using a twig to access a nut.

• Anders Sandberg's perspective on superintelligence was discussed, comparing how animals perceive human intelligence (as incomprehensible actions with no obvious connections) to how humans might perceive superintelligent entities.

• NASA's Europa software for resource allocation and scheduling was identified as a useful tool for planning and scheduling tasks (http://ti.arc.nasa.gov/tech/asr/planning-and-scheduling/).

• Research on language processing was mentioned, referencing Haskin's Laboratories' 1960s findings that listeners forgot the beginning of sentences when arbitrary acoustic signals replaced speech.

• A significant breakthrough in neural cell development was shared: researchers generated induced neural progenitor cells (iNPCs) from blood using single-factor OCT4 reprogramming, enabling the study of neural diseases directly from patient samples.

• Nature's science podcasts with transcripts were highlighted as a valuable resource (http://www.nature.com/nature/podcast/archive.html), though it was noted their science fiction podcasts lack transcripts.

• An article about open access publishing controversy was shared, describing how an open access publisher dismissed 31 editors amid disputes over independence.