What Is Intelligence?
Intelligence is often confused with a lot of other things. Some believe that they are intelligent because they have a very good memory while others may believe that they are intelligent because they know a lot but I fear neither of the two makes you intelligent. Knowing a lot just comes back to having a good memory.
It is handy to have a good memory and it is handy to know a lot but it is worthless if you cannot apply the knowledge that you have memorized.
Intelligence is the ability to solve new problems with your existing knowledge and thereby gaining new knowledge.
So does intelligence then depend on dexterity? The answer is ‘no’.
It goes about identifying and understanding the problem. Then you have to apply your existing knowledge to solve the new challenge. Whether you solve the problem on your own, or tell somebody else how to remedy the problem is not important. What is important is that the problem was identified and solved.
What is true is that a person with a greater knowledge will appear to have more intelligence than somebody with the same intelligence and a lesser knowledge; simply because he has more to fall back on when new challenges arrive.
On average, we are no more intelligent now than the people who lived 3000 years ago. We only have more technology and therefore more knowledge. In fact, with all the lead and other chemicals we have been exposed to, we may even be less intelligent that 3000 years ago.
Taking a strange object apart and putting it together again requires only a good memory and dexterity. Understanding what it does, how it is done, and how you can use it to your advantage requires intelligence.
But be careful, the very person that you may consider as a dumb a** may be a genius in another field that you could never dream to grasp.
Have a great week.
Comments (81)
YES! Now you have it. And wisdom does not require high intelligence nor knowledge.
They say wisdom comes with age but I have often seen age arriving alone.
It was entirely my error that I forgot to preface my post regarding an average IQ score with '@ Bungallow'. I shall endeavour not to make that error again.
What was the topic again? Ah yes, 'what is intelligence?'
Now that is another interesting term. An Idiot. Sometimes with an exceptional memory capacity with no ability to apply all that knowledge. We have quite a few around us.
Memory, knowledge, intelligence and dexterity.
let me throw in another word, LEARNING.
Intelligence is and should be all about a willingness to LEARN,
having the intelligence to remember what we have LEARNT, and then to have the dexterity to be able to follow through with what we have LEARNT.
So to have any sort of intelligence, we must first be willing to LEARN.
LEARN how to apply what we have LEARNT, takes memory, knowledge dexterity, thus giving us INTELLIGENCE.
Interesting blog.
Behind every successful blogger stands a commentor to tell him he is wrong. I bow to your greater wisdom knowledge and intelligence.
When I respond to your blogs, perhaps offering an alternative perspective to contribute to the exploration of ideas, you think I'm telling you you're wrong.
That explains a lot.
The word learn - or some of the equivalents - came up numerous times. Intelligence is all about learning. That is the learning (inventing or discovering) of new things by expanding on what we already know.
Hmmmmm..
Therefore..the ability to act and react in different situations is called intelligence...
Also to adopt in differences,places,people or things and resolves each consequences with appropriate knowledge and learnings...to develop our mind and body at the same time!
I think its a Cycle and equilibrium!
its a long story mybe!
nice one catty....
You remind me of somebody else and just like him you have the unfailing ability to turn even the most average blog into an interesting affair. But somehow he got tired.
You should really try the forums; or is it getting a bit hot for you there?
I'm rather old fashioned and I think of a blog as something written and others are welcome to give an opinion about it. It still seem rather odd to me when I encounter a lengthy discussion; mostly unrelated to the topic, especially so when it adopts a personal nature.
I fail to see why you would waste your precious time latching onto small things to make an issue of it. But then as I already said: You do make my blog interesting.
I suppose there may be some intelligence amongst men folk but we all have the same built in flaw. We fall in love with women and that is where all reason or intelligence end.
u made my day!lol
perhaps I should find an intellegent man to explain more to me what u meant??
I don't know who you're talking about, but I'm wondering if I'm seeing a pattern here.
I wonder if when you feel threatened by someone's exploratory contributions to your blogs, you're hostile to them until they go away.
Certainly, you have always been hostile and rude to me for no apparent reason.
I don't think there is much more to explain. God gave men two vital organs; one to think with and one to reproduce with and only enough blood to operate one of them at a time. It would still have been ok but the wrong one got the automatic override with no manual abort switch.
Thanks for the great blog ...very interesting yet entertaining all the while..
Yes, we see that all over the blogs from time to time. Always the same faces though. It is amazing how some people can manage to be a nuisance all the time.
I suppose it is ok to hit a cyberdog into cyberspace with a cyberstick.
I'll just hijack your blog next time. It is these blogless souls who cheeses me off leaving you no revenge.
Enjoy the trip to Lala Land.
Maybe ignoring a problem will make it go away by itself.
Picked up this homeless person. cause, was in trouble and surrounded by mobs here. and needed backup.
anyhow, put him on the computer, and he like new everything, networking, programming, engineering the works.
unfortunately, didnt know he was a thief, after catching him out, but he still got away with alot.
and is now trying to break in when Im not here.
My intelligence is reduced everytime I work night shift...
Just a point to ponder on; Robin hood did not steal from the rich to give to the poor. He robbed the rich because the poor had nothing worth stealing.
Hmm, it seems that work is counterproductive. Golf pays better. I wish I could play the game.
I do like your explanation of what is intelligence! Now I wonder if I should apply this to the test.
Hope you had a great day!
I just finished reading the difference in the Dictionary and I think this is the shortest to its definition for me...And sometimes I am all about the opposite of the level of intelligence required in solving problems..Therefore I conclude in the absence of that, then I am a moron, idiot and mediocre sometimes.
Hope this will not hijack and or digress your great blog.
Thanks
hi!!!!!!!! baby.....
some lose all soul and become mind, intellectual.
some lose both and become accepted
Bukowski
ps thank goodness i am never really accepted
I don't know much about testing. Last test I failed was my blood test.
This is one of the things of antonyms in a dictionary. For example, if you take MEDIOCRITY and look it up backwards you will find that most dictionaries will list it as everything but unintelligent. The general meaning comes to being rather average; and that is what we all are when it comes to intelligence.
Though our IQs may vary greatly we, as members of the human species, all have more or less the same intelligence, unless when mentally impeded such as in the case of morons and some idiots.
I say 'some idiots' because 'idiot' is also a medical term. Savant Idiots may have a very good but narrow intelligence that can make them brilliant in a certain field; even with a serious brain disability.
Hi Girl, whats' up? Why do you sound so sad lately?
Hmm, that is about how it is.
A funny thing, self awareness is one of the first signs of a greater intelligence and we find it in most - if not all - of the more intelligent animals; notably so with dolphins and elephants.
This was posted in a public forum, and yet...
...there are a number of people who would like it to be not open to the public.
How do you solve this problem?
I agree with every thing she says..always make perfect sense to me..am I the only one