Define true Intelligence

Intelligence, in general, is based on the ability to adapt. When we take an IQ test, the test is a simulated intellectual environment we need to adapt to. The more ways you can adapt in that simulated world, the higher the IQ score.

There are also other human social mindscapes that require adaptative intelligence. A social landscape requires human adaptation skills with the more adapted able to move up the social ladder.

Even sports requires adaptive intelligences that places the body, heart and mind in a dynamic situation ,where other are also trying to adapt. This is not a standardized test but a fluidily changing mindscape.

Based on that adaptation definition of intellligence, the Renassaince Men were the most intelligent since they could do it all. They could adapt quite well to all of the emotional, intellectual and physical mindscapes of their day, being socialites, musicians, artists, scientists, philosophers, warriors, athletes, etc. You put them anywhere and they will adapt with a high level of learned and innate skill.

 

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Intelligence is the ability to comprehend foreign concepts. How quickly can you learn a new idea? I guess in certain ways this goes hand in hand with the ability to adapt.

 

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adaptation isn't intelligence, that often occurs without even conscious will. there have been slaves that adapted to their oppression, doesn't make them smart to do so. now if one is 'adapting' to a situation knowingly to survive with the intent to make changes when they can, that is a sign of intelligence. that is playing the game. being able to manipulate one's environment to suit one's agenda is intelligence but even that has it's issues if one isn't able to understand the long-term effects or wider repercussions of their manipulation. imo, true intelligence is understanding cause and effect on a much wider scale, not just for immediate personal gratification.

we know what the standard definition of intelligence is but is that all really?

ability to manipulate or adaptation? what about wisdom? that doesn't usually come up in discussions of intelligence because it can't be measured, it can only be seen in it's effects in the world. and wisdom isn't always due to age or experience, though some of it is. if one's intent in life is to find ways to more effectively kill people, more experience isn't necessarily going to teach them anything else except finding more effective ways to kill people, for example. all that ability, yet such profound stupidity on another level or lack of understanding or comprehension that may not be so noticeable on the surface.

for example, there may be a person with a lot of manipulative ability but their focus is crap while another has a grasp of what is truly important but doesn't have as much of that ability. who is more intelligent? something to think about.

'true' intelligence seems to be more akin to wisdom along with the ability to carry it out but the wisdom is paramount.

 

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agreed

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Intelligence is all about adapting. As you grow from a baby, to an adult. In life, everything around you, leads to you being able to adapt to that new situation you have come across. Using previous experiences and adjusting to it.

Also the most important part, is a healthy brain... Not turning into a vegetable by watching too much tv, reading more challenging books each time you pick up a new one, eating the right food, and sleeping. Different lifestyles leads to different levels of intelligence.

 

that's not intelligence. this type of adaptation is basically conforming to what already is or has been pioneered by another.

not everyone was a leonardo da vinci. sure, one can adapt to what is the social order of the day as well as absorb the knowledge that already exists. it's one thing to adapt and another to actually be able to think for oneself.

is one intelligent to conform to the religious traditions of a time because it's a majority opinion? were the ones who rebelled and stated that the sun does not revolve around the earth, unintelligent?

were the ones who never challenged the status quo intelligent, even though they survived? not if they never challenged it because they didn't know better which was surely the case.

 

no, intelligence isn't 'all' about adapting. intelligence is awareness and those who are extremely intelligent are aware of things that have no impact on day to day life as far as 'adaptation'. duh

adaptation is rather easy actually.

 

Intelligence and wisdom are two different things. An IQ test does not test for wisdom, but is more about solving objective problems that have definitive answers. This is more about real time adaptation or thinking on your feet. An IQ test will stay away from R&D extrapolations and resolving polarized subjectivities. These will take additional processing to optimize, while not always having a stock answer.

With wisdom, one makes more use of the unconscious mind to data process. The solution shows up as intuitions; fast unconscious language that you try to translate. I think IQ was more designed for the conscious mind, since it leads to definitive results that can be learned and/or procedually processed. Wisdom is more about integrating the larger picture, which would be hard to test ,since the results could be ahead of its time. What could be wrong today may be right tomorrow, when intelligence can adapt easier.

 

yeah you're right.. i shouldn't have said "all" as intelligence is made up of many things... and the list most certainly goes on and on.

but at the end of the day, i believe the people you choose to have around you in your life, makes up who you are, and thus most certainly altering your intelligence. Also about different life styles and excersing the brain, as i said before

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uh, we already know what standard definition of intelligence is. this thread is asking what 'true' intelligence is.

you also mentioned adaptation and that is lacking because many species are adapted to their environment but would you say a monkey is as intelligent as a human being? i don't think so and definitely not with the standard parameters of intelligence.

there is a difference between adaptation to what is and the ability to manipulate your environment in new ways as well as create or pioneer. that is the point. sure, one can be pretty 'intelligent' in the sense that one can score pretty well on an iq test as well as be able to learn but it's another feat altogether to come up with, for instance, calculus or the theory of relativity etc.

 

i think true intelligence is to be able to have balance in everything.. sure there are different types of intelligence and you would be perfectly intelligent if you excel in all these particular aspects at the same time.

 

The ability to communicate conceptual information, by diverse mediums would be one measure of true intelligence, I'm thinking. The use of metaphor and analogy as an enabling tool likewise toward this end also qualifies.

The resolving of challenges by original solutions, or the adaptation of other solutions to a unique problem seems to be also an intelligent and measurable 'truth'.

My thoughts after a night flogging product in the trenches, lol....

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health of the self , attitude (positive) , discovery , understand ones limits , communication , Humanity is more important than any god , understands and respects fear but pushs the limits at times , thinks , has speed of mind , but slowness in thought , independent of mind - thought and actions but with balance of being in the crowd at times , a good man towards his own being , patience

 

I observe some similarity in the responses of the posters above, and several others. The term 'balance' frequently comes about in discussions of 'intelligence'.

I find that interesting, as it begs the question of whether or not it is intelligent to be an extremist in what one beliefs or endorses.

 

This is a very stupid thread.

 

How do you come to that determination? What criteria are you using?

 

Fair question.

 

Do you know what flogging Molly means ? Is there something you want to tell us a bout the cucumbers ? Fresh are they ? I love cucumbers . I could not hardy eat a salad with out em. I will go with what you said . Yeah I agree with that . I got to wonder though ? A lot of the people from the past that made big whiskey contributions to humanity lived miserably lives of poor wretchedness yet did not give up on seeing there great contributions up for lent . They saw it through regardless of consequence. Is that really intelligent is my question . What prophet do they gain if they die penniless in poverty and it is only by others picking the treasure they leave behind gold that all of us get the benefit of there sacrifice . That tells me something about human nature . We love to kick people down and tell them no you can't do that and if they prove us wrong well we suck up to the tit. The milky way of slothfulness

 

The late psychologist, Carl Jung, defined four basic orientating functions for humans. These are intellect, emotions, sensations and intuitions. Most people tend to use one or two with competence. However, depending on the reality situation, each orientating function can have an advantage.

For example, human relationships are better served by the orientation function of emotions, compared to intellect, since one size does not fit all, while emotions can adapt faster in real time. Once relationships became an intellecual process via books, this lower level adaptation for those circumstances led to relationship problems.

If we are doing science, the intellect is the most important, since it learns the relationships of science, allows us to adapt to and extrapolate natural laws.

If you were in an unpreditable environment, such as in war, depending on your sensory systems might be the most intelligent orientation, since by the book of intellect may not apply. You can't let emotions of real cause and effect fear lead you, so that is not otimize either. Instead you may need to react quickly to real time sensory data without thinking. The cold animal inside can be useful.

If you were trying to innovate the next generation of computers, and have to leave the box in a big way, the intellect can only get you so far, since the needed definitions are lacking. You may not want to depend on your emotions since humans can be abusive and you don't want to back down out of an emotional conclusion. Instead you may need to depend on intuition to generate the new ideas to populate the intellect.

True intelligence is adpative and will make use all these tools of the brain. With all the tools in play, it is also an intelligent idea to bring more than one tool to the party of life since humans can be tricky.

For example, emotional appeal during political campaigns work the best with emotions. Rhetoric makes you feel good. If we bring heart and intellect to the table, this might allows us to feel with the herd, while also finding flaws in the logic that begins to create an inconsistency between the heart and mind. If you leave the mind at home, the heart may feel good. If the mind can't pin things down, maybe you need to bring out the intuition tool, since the creators of the mass appeal may have began there.

 

Intuition is a most interesting tool, as it is not easily explained by logic, IMO.

Sensation is the direct experiencing of a thing, while emotion is a response to sensation, derived from both past and present experiencing.

Intellect attempts to make sense of emotion and organize the data of our senses.

It has been suggested that intuition is the ability of the brain to 'short cut' the usual processes of experience/emote/intellectualize.

At all times, we have the four tools with us, and data input or sensation, is happening at all times, even when we sleep, though we may not be cognizant of this activity.

Whether we engage emotionally or intellectually with the data will depend on past experience, IMO, and the intuitive does not seem to be an 'on demand' tool, but rather functions as it will in response to data as yet to be determined.