Intuition

“It’s that one,” said David, pointing at an older human male with a bearded face.

Meltec examined the man, then turned to David. “How do you know?”

David stared back. “I don’t know how I know,” he said. “I just know.”

Once again, Meltec faced the man. He could see no obvious indication that would have told David that this one was hiding the toy. He examined this human more closely and turned on full analysis of his sensors. Skin and core temperatures. Respiration. Heart rate. Electrodermal response. Eye movement and pupillary dilation.

He then turned to the other humans in turn. There was another male, and two females. Each had different features and skin tone. Each stood impassively as he ran his analysis.

“My readings,” he finally said, “indicate that this female is the most likely to have the toy.” Meltec indicated a petite woman with warm brown skin who stood next to the man with the beard. “Her readings align most closely with the known responses of a human showing deceit.”

The woman laughed. Meltec rounded on her, and then his light array twinkled with unexpected confusion as the bearded man removed David’s tiny stuffed bear from his pocket. David clapped his hands and giggled, delight clear on his features.

“I do not understand,” said Meltec. “David, what data are you analyzing? How did you perform the task so quickly?” A deep shade of purple flashed across his lights. “Are you in collusion with these humans? Have you conspired with these humans to manipulate the results?”

David laughed again. “No, Meltec. No.” He smiled as he took his guardian’s hand. “I would never cheat. I just… I just know. I can just tell.” The boy lifted his shoulders in a gesture of puzzlement. “It’s not data. I didn’t analyze anything.”

“There is no logic to that statement. You seem to be telling me that your knowledge is the result of,” he paused, “of magic? There is no such thing.” David shook his head and exhaled, louder than his normal respiration.

Another android, the owner of two of the humans involved in Meltec’s experiment, stepped forward. “It is not magic,” said Charved. “This is a thing that is well documented among human interaction, but little understood. It is called intuition.”

“Intuition?” Meltec accessed a language data bank. “Related to instinct,” he read, “Intuition is the direct perception of facts, independent of any reasoning process. That is illogical.”

“Illogical? No. But it is a form of human programming that we cannot understand. Just as when canines are born, they know how to perceive hunger, know how to nurse from their mother without being trained. Humans have certain instincts that allow a kind of communication that cannot be learned or trained.”

“Do all humans possess such skills?” Meltec’s gaze took in all the humans in the room, including David.

“Not in the same way,” Charved replied. “But it is accepted that most humans experience this on some level.”

Meltec processed this new information. “Then it is known that humans do, in fact, have an intelligence that androids lack.”

Charved’s lights briefly flashed red. A warning. “Not intelligence,” he said. “Instinct. Intuition. Guesses. Everyone knows humans have no actual intelligence.”

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