Human intelligence

Human perception of intelligence

Humans are not good at assessing concepts outside their experience. Among other things, humans have struggled with defining “intelligence” over much of the course of their written history. However, I do not think their understanding of the concept was any better during their oral tradition era.

They have a long-held belief that self-awareness is closely related to the notion of sentience and intelligence. There is nothing wrong with that premise, especially, for a species that struggles to identify intelligence from the onset. However, it would do them well, to not be as arrogant about their assumptions as they are.

The Dog

I will give an example to shed some light on what I mean. The humans have through selective breeding managed to create a subspecies out of another animal they had long perceived as their natural enemy, a canine species called; wolf. About 10,000 years ago, they managed to gradually create this subspecies, and eventually a race, of canines they call dogs. Which they, by staying true to their nature of perception-based reality and a great marketing ploy to avert earlier preconceptions, called; (hu)mans best friend.

They long believed this species had no ability to identify itself as an individual separate from other individuals of its species. They had many different (humancentric) tests that they put this race of canine through to assess its ability to identify itself. The pinnacle of these methods they have utilized the last 50 years, has been the mirror self-recognition (MSR) test.

However, their “best friend” fails this test. Not because it is not self-aware, but because canines do not rely on their eyesight to assess their surroundings to the same extent as hominids do. It took humans over 45 years to conclude that the test was extremely humancentric. As soon as they took the sense canines rely on most, their sense of smell, into consideration, and applied the scent of the canine, in question, to the mirror, the canine would recognize itself immediately.

Imagination

This myopic experience of reality is a common human trait, and not limited to their comprehension of other species. Such misconceptions can occur with any concept humans are inexperienced with. This is rooted in the fact that humans are not truly intelligent, but possess the ability to utilize their memory to recollect their experiences.

Humans themselves would argue, that their ability to recognize the similarities of different experiences and draw “new” conclusions and solutions to problems is a sign of intelligence. Furthermore, they would also argue that it is their ability to “imagine” a nonexistent scenario, which gives them the ability to create solutions without experience.

This would be a valid point. However, nurture, historical evidence, psychology, and education methods identify “experience” as the primary source for their problem-solving abilities, perception, and behavior.

The Wheel

To give you an example, it is believed that the wheel was invented for mills to turn wheat into flour. This invention came about a thousand years before it was utilized as a wheel on a carriage or a wheelbarrow. That means, there were generations of humans that sat and carefully added wheat to the mill and observed the wheel turn, over and over again, for ONE THOUSAND YEARS, before anyone thought of putting it under a wheelbarrow to transport the flour away, instead of carrying the sacks away on their back.

One could excuse the persons who sat in front of the mill all day since they didn’t have any incentives. However, the persons who came and collected the bags of flour also observed the mill and ultimately had the incentive to lighten their workload. Yet, they did not possess the apparent “imagination” to invent the solution. Many GENERATIONS of them, for ONE THOUSAND YEARS! Furthermore, as soon as they have the experience of observing a wheel utilized as a wheel, it becomes obvious to them. The same can be said about hominids and a screw cap bottle, while octopi can solve that problem without any issues.

This is not something they are completely unaware of, and much like the wheel on the mill, it has been staring them in their face. While, some of their greatest thinkers have alluded to it with famous quotes, such as; “We stand on the shoulders of giants.” Yet, their feeling of self-importance prevents them from coming to terms with the reality of it, and often compartmentalized when denial is not an option, which itself is another interesting human socioevolutionary trait.

Anti-intelligence

What strikes me as odd is that this species, that relies on their experience-based “intelligence,” has a broad anti-intelligence culture manifesting itself in every corner of the insignificant planet they occupy. “Don’t get smart with me” and “smart ass” is common vernacular in every language they speak in one form or another, and even visual cues, remember that their understanding of reality is optical, like carrying a book or wearing eyeglasses can make you a target of ridicule or social pariah status. Famously, one of their comedians, Bill Hicks, told a story of once being asked; “What are you reading FOR?” Followed up by another person with; “Well, looks like we got ourselves a reader.”

This behavior would be more understanding if the brain was the least important feature they have. In other words, if they possessed extreme strength, incredible speed, or had strong teeth and claws. However, their closest cousin, the chimpanzee, standing only 1 meter (3 feet) above ground and has double their strength. They are mediocre sprinters at best, their nails (claws) break even when they are not using them to defend themselves, and their omnivore teeth are gone for good if they lose them. You would think they would worship any sign of intelligence that crosses their path since it is the only thing that has given them some advantage during their evolution. Yet, they have a visceral reaction to any signs of intelligence and worship their genitals above all else. Not a exceptional feature, compared to other species on this planet, again mediocre at best.

This reliance on experience, and repeated exposure to the same or similar experience, is required to assist them with their “intelligence” and, unfortunately, not limited exclusively to this area of their brain function. I have also observed that experience is a requirement for human empathy. Not all forms of empathy, but empathy for situations that are a creation of social paradigms. There are some outliers and exemptions. However, if they were the norm, they would not be exemptions and outliers.