Intelligence as search

Intelligence might be search. And if computers search fast, they might be intelligent. That idea became early AI's beating heart.

Newell and Simon doubled down with the General Problem Solver. It tackled any problem you could describe as Goal + Allowed Moves.

How? Means-ends analysis: Look where you are. Look where you want to be. Pick the move closing the biggest gap. Repeat.

Elegant logic: If every problem is a search problem, and computers search fast, then intelligence might just be really fast search.