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mikebart101
Bromden



Registered: 08/01/06
Posts: 619
Loc: New England
Last seen: 11 years, 5 months
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The Nature of Intelligence
#7409593 - 09/14/07 02:54 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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My hippy differential equations professor said this to the class today and it got me thinking, "Its funny. People 'understand' everything there is to know about one another; how to tell the difference between a smile and a frown, laughter from pain and yet 99% of them can't even master simple algebra; a subject that has only 30 or so properties.Hahaha"
Besides the brutality of the hippy sarcasm, it made me wonder if human intelligence is in fact controlled by the power of one's mind and ability to manually control that power.
For example, an intelligent person can switch their brain into both high gear and low gear. The more intelligent, the more gears. Now the problem is determining which gear applies to which subject. Savants seem to be stuck in low gear (according to social standards) yet they posses an overwhelming sense of knowledge for a subject that would otherwise be considered 'difficult' by the rest of society.
Does that mean that factual based knowledge like history or algebra is actually comparable to learning shapes and colors on the difficulty scale, and that theory (understanding the nature of reality) and how it dictates fact is where you start up-shifting; that this is in fact where true intelligence lies; in one's ability to be both dumb and smart at once?
-------------------- So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.
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EternalCowabunga
Being of Great Significance



Registered: 04/04/05
Posts: 7,152
Loc: Time and Space
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Re: The Nature of Intelligence [Re: mikebart101]
#7409633 - 09/14/07 03:00 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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I think intelligence might be the ability to perceive intelligence. As for being both dumb and smart at once, I think this is close to the mark - intelligent people are better at playing a greater number of roles in a situation.
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Droz
Love of Life



Registered: 10/15/00
Posts: 2,746
Loc: Floorida
Last seen: 8 years, 5 months
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Do we learn intelligence or are we born with it?
-------------------- Evolution of Time.
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EternalCowabunga
Being of Great Significance



Registered: 04/04/05
Posts: 7,152
Loc: Time and Space
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Re: The Nature of Intelligence [Re: mikebart101]
#7409680 - 09/14/07 03:11 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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We're all born with vast intelligence and then our doubts and learned limitations block us out from it. I equate intelligence with wisdom, not necessarily pattern recognition.
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MushroomTrip
Dr. Teasy Thighs



Registered: 12/02/05
Posts: 14,794
Loc: red panda village
Last seen: 2 years, 10 months
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Re: The Nature of Intelligence [Re: Droz]
#7409724 - 09/14/07 03:20 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Droz said: Do we learn intelligence or are we born with it?
Isn't it intelligence that makes us able to learn in the first place? Intelligence is already there. Depends on how much you train it.
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   All this time I've loved you And never known your face All this time I've missed you And searched this human race Here is true peace Here my heart knows calm Safe in your soul Bathed in your sighs
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Droz
Love of Life



Registered: 10/15/00
Posts: 2,746
Loc: Floorida
Last seen: 8 years, 5 months
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Re: The Nature of Intelligence [Re: MushroomTrip]
#7409822 - 09/14/07 03:40 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Yes you are right the intelligence is always there, you just have to learn how to use it as you grow up and become educated.
Peace, Droz
-------------------- Evolution of Time.
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trendal
J♠



Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,815
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Re: The Nature of Intelligence [Re: mikebart101]
#7409835 - 09/14/07 03:43 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Jeff Hawkins proposed that "intelligence" is what the brain "does", if you catch my drift here. The only thing the brain does is be intelligent...and everything else follows that.
My cat, for instance, has intelligence. It doesn't have as much intelligence as I do...but it has more than, say, a fish. That fish in turn has more intelligence than a bug, or worm.
So then we come to the question..."what is intelligence?"
Intelligence is the ability to take in information and compare it with information you already had. This can be seen in high level human learning, such as when I learn a new math equation, but also in low-level things...like a single neuron's input from a retinal receptor in my eye.
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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Veritas


Registered: 04/15/05
Posts: 11,089
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Re: The Nature of Intelligence [Re: trendal]
#7409891 - 09/14/07 03:57 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Intelligence (relevant definition) 1 a (1) : the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations : REASON; also : the skilled use of reason (2) : the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria.
IMO, this two-part definition clarifies the difference between mere brain function and intelligence. I agree that different life forms appear to have varying degrees of intelligence, though our own ability to define and measure intelligence may create or exaggerate this variation.
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OrgoneConclusion
Blue Fish Group



Registered: 04/01/07
Posts: 45,414
Loc: Under the C
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Re: The Nature of Intelligence [Re: Veritas]
#7410567 - 09/14/07 06:54 PM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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Caution: Brain in mirror appears larger than it actually is.
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