How would YOU define intelligence?

[Actual_Criminal]

Just having a think about something and I'm interested to see what people think. This is a tech forum after all, so hopefully the average person is smarter on here rather than somewhere like Reddit. 

 

Anyway, how would YOU define intelligence? 

 

There is no wrong answer. I'm trying to understand how everyday people would identify 'intelligent' people vs average people; for me to understand this though, I need to know exactly how everyday people define 'intelligence' rather than using the literal definition from an English lexicographer / dictionary. Please let it be your own opinion and not a Google search. Try not to let other comments influence your answer. You can write as little or as much as you want. 

 

-

Many thanks to anyone contributing

[whm1974]

Well for starters:

 

1) Problem Solving.

2) Abstract Thoughts

3) Learning from Mistakes and not repeating them.

4) Thinking ahead. As in Planning.

 

How is that?

[WhitetailAni]

A character with higher intelligence has higher M.ATK. Equipping items such as the Soul of Thamasa will boost intelligence, resulting in higher M.ATK.

[dilpickle]

54 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

Well for starters:

 

1) Problem Solving.

2) Abstract Thoughts

3) Learning from Mistakes and not repeating them.

4) Thinking ahead. As in Planning.

 

How is that?

That's pretty good. It also applies to animals. We used to think only things like dogs, dolphins, and primates had any real intelligence. Now we see all kinds of animals like octopuses and crows making tools and being incredibly intelligent.

[whm1974]

27 minutes ago, dilpickle said:

That's pretty good. It also applies to animals. We used to think only things like dogs, dolphins, and primates had any real intelligence. Now we see all kinds of animals like octopuses and crows making tools and being incredibly intelligent.

Making Tools or using simple items in their environment?  I like to see a Chimp produce Stone Tools. Or weave a basket.

[Jtalk4456]

The dictionary defines it as an ability to learn
Merriam Webster - the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills

Knowledge being an understanding of a collection of facts, such as a subject in school, such as being knowledgeable in Math. Problem is knowledge can be pure memorization without comprehension or application. That's where intelligence comes in.

Intelligence to me is split into a few types
1. Self Awareness - The basic defining point between other animals and humans. Most other animals simply exist and live and die. We consider HOW we will live, how much money we will make, when we die what happens, OMG did I just say "You Too" again?! It's official I need to find a new grocery store, can't show my face back there. What is our purpose in the universe. A microscopic organism neither knows or cares of the effect of its existence on the rest of the universe. We are aware. This can often end up going too far with self criticism leading to mental health issues. Awareness can also be extended to an aptness 

2. Book Smarts - This is what most people seem to use the word for. people who love math, science, computers. I've always found it interesting how little we associate some subjects over others. While as a kid, reading above your age might be a good skill, few think of an english major when they think of super intelligent people. Our language and communication skills at some point turned into creative skills versus intelligence. I'd sum this up as part of 3 but with specific knowledge sets (school subjects), most of which in one way or another involve knowledge of how the world works.

3. Critical Thinking and Application - This is a range of things from being able to understand abstract concepts, to visualizing problems and splitting them up into manageable issues, to being able to connect facts and concepts together to create more knowledge than was given (Database management and Business analytics for example), to something as overlooked as basic logic or common sense. Without taking a single physics class, you can use angles and predict how a ball will roll when playing pool

4. Street Smarts - This is kinda overlapping 1 & 3 because it's common sense and paying attention and thinking critically, just specifically applied towards other people and the unspoken rules of living. It involves paying attention to other people, learning social skills and being thoughtful and aware during interactions.

 

[Guest]

Quote

 

 I'm trying to understand how everyday people would identify 'intelligent' people vs average people

 

 

 

Well there's levels of intelligence. But where would only fit while experiencing a certain type of life style.

Someone with street smarts may have some ups and downs to a person with book smarts. The average person would be in between having both.

Just because a person, say like the intelligence of Musk or Einstein, made them famous, there are plenty that lived a life of crime with the same fame. And possible fortunes and misfortunes just simply experiencing it differently.

 

What I mean by that is there is levels to society. Everyone has just about the same level of intelligence. Some people are better applying it in different areas and aspects of the life in which they experience. 

 

I'm a better Desiel technician than I am an accountant, however I do have to manage accounting, obviously budgeting ect, it's just not my profession. 

 

If a person is really good at Math, that doesn't make them good at playing soccer lol. So the guy playing soccer is less intelligent or just applying his intelligence to something that he's really interested in. You can really see intelligence with people that have Autism. They can really focus on something of a particular subject and exceed at it, but may have trouble with speech. They are not less intelligent, just in a different way that we (most people) can't understand unless we could experience it.

 

Just because a guy is making more money than you, doesn't mean he's really smarter than you. He just likes to make money, so found a way to do so. That was his drive.

 

Me? I'm not intelligent with much. I love Being a Diesel technician, including welding and fabrication. Just because the book worm can't change his own engine oil doesn't mean I'm smarter than him lol. 

 

What is level of intelligence to be measured? Just look in the mirror. Self awareness is the #1 thing to look for. If you see another cat staring back and you attack... you're not that smart.

Edited April 24, 2021 by ShrimpBrime
spelling corrections

[dilpickle]

50 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

Making Tools or using simple items in their environment?  I like to see a Chimp produce Stone Tools. Or weave a basket.

If you modify an object to perform a specific task that's a tool. It's been long known that chimps do this. But there are many animals that use tools depending on the definition.

 

https://www.sciencealert.com/crows-are-so-smart-they-can-make-compound-tools-out-of-multiple-parts/

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool_use_by_animals

[whm1974]

2 minutes ago, dilpickle said:

If you modify an object to perform a specific task that's a tool. It's been long known that chimps do this. But there are many animals that use tools depending on the definition.

 

https://www.sciencealert.com/crows-are-so-smart-they-can-make-compound-tools-out-of-multiple-parts/

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool_use_by_animals

Anything as Complex as Stone Tools or even a simple basket?

[Guest]

People are very bright at different things, the ability to think critically and work hard makes you intelligent. 

[starry]

Intelligence is not talking about your intelligence on the internet.

[LogicalDrm]

*** Thread cleaned ***

 

Would it be insulting to say that those who got their posts removed weren't very intelligent in terms of our rules and the subject of this topic?

[Tan3l6]

This tells me how smart I am - https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/FSIQ/

 

Tells me I'm not too smart.

[whm1974]

4 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

*** Thread cleaned ***

 

Would it be insulting to say that those who got their posts removed weren't very intelligent in terms of our rules and the subject of this topic?

Perhaps you could Mark their Posts as Prime Examples of what not to post on LTT instead?

[whm1974]

4 hours ago, Tan3l6 said:

This tells me how smart I am - https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/FSIQ/

 

Tells me I'm not too smart.

In my experience, such Tests on the Internet are Worthless.

[Tan3l6]

15 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

In my experience, such Tests on the Internet are Worthless.

Most yeah, agreed. But this one is quite thorough. 

At least doesn't qualify everyone as 160+ geniuses. And by everyone I mean at least me.

[Radium_Angel]

21 hours ago, whm1974 said:

Making Tools or using simple items in their environment?  I like to see a Chimp produce Stone Tools. Or weave a basket.

There are African crocodiles that have successfully used reeds, held in their mouths, at certain times of the year, to mimic nesting material that large birds use. They lure the birds in with the reed, and blam! Free lunch.

This is abstract thinking (only certain times of the year this works)

Abstract logic (bird needs this, I pretend to be this, I eat bird)

Tool use.

 

Pretty damn intelligent if you ask me.

[HumdrumPenguin]

On 4/23/2021 at 9:08 PM, Actual_Criminal said:

Just having a think about something and I'm interested to see what people think. This is a tech forum after all, so hopefully the average person is smarter on here rather than somewhere like Reddit. 

 

Anyway, how would YOU define intelligence? 

 

There is no wrong answer. I'm trying to understand how everyday people would identify 'intelligent' people vs average people; for me to understand this though, I need to know exactly how everyday people define 'intelligence' rather than using the literal definition from an English lexicographer / dictionary. Please let it be your own opinion and not a Google search. Try not to let other comments influence your answer. You can write as little or as much as you want. 

 

-

Many thanks to anyone contributing

I'd consider first the differences between being smart, and acting or taking decisions in a smart way. For example, for the former I'd take into account the innate talent of a person and their capacity to think logically, understand and memorize new information, and express themselves in a way that get a message across in an effective manner, with high probabilities of converting someone's thoughts to their own. For the latter, I'd say that the ability to analyze data from any given source and act based on that information for a productive outcome is essential. Note that given different circumstances, what's beneficial to others can also be seen as beneficial to you, and understanding how to shift the balance between your needs and of others is also important.

[Moonzy]

Having the ability to take input, process it and produce an output that changes based on experience, or having "memories" and can learn/adapt based on it

 

Have the capacity to understand that there are other entities and is able to understand their desires and not just your own to further improve your own decision making

 

Having the input and output is just very basic machine, but if you add memory and adaptation based on memory, that's what I would define as intelligence

Being able to predict what others want would be included in the "adapting from memory" part

[Triggeravus]

I'm generally lazy intellectually.  

 

But I'm good at analyzing people and figuring them out.  I can easily spot a BSer and pick apart scenarios people tell me quickly.

 

Feels like I should get into detective work but never pursued it.

[Actual_Criminal]

11 minutes ago, LloydLynx said:

Ability to comprehend consequences and having at least some self control.

Even a person with a very low IQ that has no mental problems can comprehend consequences. Hell, put an electric fence round some pigs and they'll stop touching it after realising it is electric...because they know the consequence of those actions.

 

I know I said there were no wrong answers but really disagree with this one though. I believe your comment could be used to define the difference between someone who is sane VS insane. To take it 'deeper' I guess you could say being sane is intelligence, but I would argue that there are probably some intelligent insane people out there. 

[Colonizor48]

The clockspeed/ipc of the brain.

[RasmusDC]

to be honest, being older, i think my mindset has changed.

 

in a younger age, i based it mostly on mathematical skill, problemsolving, ability to form a decent sentence.. the older i´ve got, the more i relay it onto this. And yes it is a construction based on a flawed theory, but i feel like it is the most fair mindset towards general populus..

 

Intelligence is even in people, unless you actually have functional brain damage, or a direct birth defect.

 

there are plenty of areas, some can be social intelligence, mathematical, strutural, or physical skill..

 

depends on a lot of traits, and also enviroment. 

 

look at people with for instance autism which is often also attached to lower social intelligence, however it often lets these people be really deeply detail oriented or strong in certain skill sets. 

 

there are certain traits that i do not like, so certain people traits i don´t work well with.

 

and to be honest, the "base" old mindset of intelligence, have often NOTHING to do with where you are financial in life..

 

my learnings is that most "highlevel" leaders have NO if LOW intelligence, but are only there because of either high narcissitic traits, or traits that are often associated with physcopaths. 

 

i work close with LOTS of high level leaders, and to be honest, NONE and i mean NONE of them are people i would choose to use private time with, they are so "disgusting" as human beings, there are GOOD leaders, but often they do not get far, because they have etics and moral. (every rule has its outliers, so of course there are good people at the top, but they are always willing to sacrifice others to save them selves, because ALL people, even good people are met by outside elements that can remove them from power, even though they have done NOTHING wrong)

 

 

[Spindel]

3 hours ago, RasmusDC said:

look at people with for instance autism which is often also attached to lower social intelligence, however it often lets these people be really deeply detail oriented or strong in certain skill sets. 

Now we are getting down to how we define intelligence. But just a comment from me on this particular part of your post. 

 

I would not consider most people with autistic traits that fits your description here as intelligent in any way. Sure they are good at accumulating information and at developing specific skill sets but I don't see that as intelligence. 

 

That comes from how I see "intelligence". In my view "intelligence" is partly being able to accumulate a lot of general knowledge and problem solving skills and being able to apply this knowledge and skills in new situations that you have not been exposed to previously and/or being able to come to conclusions in new (to you) topics based on prior knowledge of other topics (kind of hard to explain). The latter part being something that a lot (not all) people with autistic traits struggle with, they tend to be rather inflexible when the situation goes out of bounds of what they are familiar with. 

 

 

[Rex Hite]

Applied consciousness