Dissecting Intelligence

After doing the "top 100 IQs" stats article, I got the inspiration to write something about intelligence itself. It's something that I have dedicated a lot of time to analyze / "disassemble" / "dissect", so writing about it comes quite naturally for me. 

Now, most humans would agree that intelligence is one of the most important evolutionary traits. But what exactly is intelligence? Where does it come from? Can it be improved, and if yes, how? I will try a novel approach on these questions, based on my own "investigation" on the issue.

The distillation of intelligence

Let me start by stating my "conclusion" first.

Intelligence, at its most distilled level, is about understanding who you are, where you are and why you are here. If you've figured these questions, then you are easily among the wisest and most intelligent people on the planet.

At a more practical, or mundane level, it is about realizing the software-like nature of the mind and its ability to "patch" itself into increasingly efficient ways of operation, which elevates its level of intelligence.

For example, if you perform a certain task in 3 minutes and another can do the same task in 1 minute by using a better method, at that point you say "oh that's clever!" and you adopt the faster method (if it doesn't have any drawbacks). In general, we can easily identify as "clever" those who are doing things in a better way than others.

"Patching" the mind

Improving our ways of thinking will usually involve external stimuli. Seeing how others act, talk, or function can provide lessons on what to adopt and what to reject - by sampling what works and what doesn't work for specific tasks.

The information and ways of thinking that we come across, will either be rejected as inferior (it won't improve our modus operandi), adopted as superior (producing improvements in our life), or adopted and evolved to better fit our own needs.

But the mind also has inner resources that go beyond external stimulation - and this type of intelligence is commonly blocked from surfacing and improving our thought process.

Obstacles in increasing our intelligence

In order for an individual to increase their intelligence, they must overcome certain obstacles: 

1) Lack of external stimulation: If one's environment isn't very stimulating this can create stagnation. Interacting with smart people, watching videos of smart people or smart methods, can and will increase one's stimulation levels in order to adopt more efficient ways of thinking. The smarter one becomes, the more difficult it is to find stimulating interaction - and at that point this necessitates a turn within to further accelerate one's intelligence.

2) Subconscious automation: The conscious mind can only take so much cognitive load and thus a lot of processes are delegated as subconscious automations. One of these automated ways, that has to be understood, is the mind's inclination to use the "last prior working solution" for any operation. 

Once an automation is in place, it will create a subtle discomfort to the conscious mind when the conscious mind wants to try something different. One might get a slight feeling of boredom, as a "protest" for the extra work spent to find and adopt new and better ways. It would appear better, for cognitive-load's sake, to just allow the subconscious to do the old, familiar and more inefficient thing. 

Once this automated objection is dissected, the individual must consciously ask themselves whether they want to become smarter or not. Since the answer is yes, the subconscious will comply into learning the new and higher methods - and then automating them (until one can find even better methods).

3) Lack of awareness regarding the dual nature of the mind: Suppose you have two ways to make 100$. One is working for two days and the other is stealing 100$ (while being absolutely certain that no-one will ever find out). On a superficial level the second way is the "optimum" way. Most crimes are based on a simplistic cost/reward analysis that indicate that the potential gain far outweighs the potential cost.

What is missing from such a cost/reward analysis are the hidden costs: Every single conscious act is simultaneously a subconscious presupposition which generates a subconscious programming to either expand or limit one's self. If you steal, your subconscious sees the conscious act and says "since I'm resorting to stealing, it means that I am incapable to make this kind of money with ease, on my own - otherwise I wouldn't be doing that". This observation becomes a limiting self-suggestion that will cripple one's own potential in the future.

4) Misunderstanding inferior solutions and hidden costs due to (3): Every method that is going to be emulated must be assessed for its hidden costs in terms of subconscious admissions, otherwise one risks adopting inferior ways and thinking they are superior. 

What does a certain frame of mind betray? Is abusing people, stealing, etc etc, really "superior"? Is using technological means to supplicate our mind a "superior" solution, or is it undermining the mind's potential with admissions of inadequacy - thus making us less intelligent instead of more? What are the costs associated with any act in terms of limiting one's own potential?

5) Idolizing smart people: In (1) we noted that external stimulation is needed in order to have something better to "sample" from. The act of sampling superior ways of thinking can enhance one's intelligence but can also limit one to the level of a simple "adopter" instead of an inventor/generator of better ideas. 

In the act of sampling something, there is a subconscious admission that one is a thought-client, instead of a thought-inventor. The presupposition and self-suggestion is one of "If I was smart enough, I would have thought this by myself instead of adopting it from another". Yet at that point, the subconscious must be consciously reminded that this is not necessarily the case because the collective population has accumulated experience from billions of people and thousands of years of history - and naturally a lot of things cannot be "original".

It is essential to avoid sublime "worshiping" of very smart people who we'd like to emulate - because this repeated action cements the inadequacy of "I'm not as smart as he is". We can adopt ideas and better ways of thinking and doing things, but not worship/idolize/"follow" others for their "thought-leading". The moment this is done, it will be self-defeating by disallowing one's self to generate better ideas. It will also prevent one to greatly accelerate one's intelligence on one's own capabilities due to the subconscious self-limitation admission. 

In short, one should have no master, other than their self.

6) Cognitive biases: As we grow up, we do not only adopt ways of thinking, but also some limits in terms of what thoughts we are "allowed" to explore. These limits are not always explicit, but are very well implied by the behaviors of others towards us. For example, if you expressed to some friends that you noticed a random connection that makes no sense to most people, you'd be looked like "huh?" Yet a neural network program might find the same connection as you did and its results would be "respected".

Now, people want to be loved. An individual will typically follow a strategy of acceptance, where he will try to be "accepted" by others. Love is sublimely equated with acceptance - so acceptance is pursued and this acceptance-strategy breeds conformity. This conformity enforces the "barriers" of thought and what is "acceptable" to think. Once one places themselves in these barriers, they cannot start expressing themselves about less-mainstream or "weird" things due to fear of ridicule / non-acceptance / non-love  that this will beget. 

In a way, the mind will prioritize acceptance over seeing the truth. The mind will suppress its innate higher understanding and natural ability to recognize patterns in data that computer simulations / neural networks can emulate without any cognitive filter. 

Future human interaction with AI will be able to shake our cognitive filters, because a neural-network based program will be able to "see" what we don't - when we actually have real neural networks in our brains. So it will trigger the question on "why is the AI seeing what I am not?" And the answer to that question will be our own self-imposed cognitive filters that need to be understood for their structure and purpose, and then removed, while also designing new social strategies.

7) Subconscious blocking of creativity, intuition and pattern recognition: There are many reasons why our subconscious would automatically suppress these qualities. For example, in the case of (6) that was just addressed, the subconscious has simply automated the avoidance of truth because seeing and dealing with the truth will be more painful for the individual: Admitting the truth -> world-view change -> hard to relate or express the truth -> relations or social status in jeopardy -> acceptance in jeopardy -> getting love in jeopardy. So the individual avoids even seeing the truth - preemptively, and subconsciously.

The removal of cognitive filters is essentially the de-automation of the subconscious which hides the truth, hides patterns and connections, etc. A lot of times this blocking is related to presuppositions of inadequacy that have been established due to past acts. Other times it is due to our social strategy automations. And there are still more cases, like our day to day thinking patterns. 

For example, if you are wondering about something and you get a (correct) intuitive answer that has no "rational basis", and then reject that answer as useless, the subconscious will note that. It will register this "rejection" and prevent the superconscious mind from introducing intuitive thoughts into the conscious thought-stream on the basis that the conscious mind has decided this is "spam" that should be "blocked". 

It is like a browser-based spam filter that asks: "Do you want to see pop-ups again from this source?". If you click no, you block this behavior from repeating. Likewise if you consider your intuitive messages as "spam", you shut down your superconscious connection. 

The same will happen with creative thoughts, problem-solving thoughts, the ability to synthesize superior solutions, etc etc. All these things need to be de-automated from getting blocked. 

The best way to register to your subconscious that you now want your superconscious to inject its superior ways into your conscious thought stream, is to act on your superconscious thoughts. Acting on them is a presupposition and self-suggestion that "this is useful" and thus the subconscious will then become a better "facilitator" of the conscious-superconscious connection, instead of a "spam-blocker".

8) Beliefs related to one's intelligence: All beliefs that are related to one's intelligence can have an effect on the experience of the individual. Counter-productive beliefs can come in all forms. A common one is the belief that "I do not think that one's intelligence can improve". Subtler beliefs could include "I don't believe I'm that smart" or that "these other people are smarter" etc etc. Fears of being "dumb" also fall into the same category.

Some beliefs seem very "realistic" and thus "believable", yet things can change so all such beliefs can be restated to indicate different future expectations. For example: "This guy is currently smarter than me, in that particular area" (implying that I will eventually become smarter than him - by self-programming myself to accelerate my intelligence).

Beliefs related to intelligence must be examined and restated if they present an obstacle to increasing one's intelligence. Even if you have the belief that you are among the smartest in the world, you can still have a blocking belief which says something positive-looking like "I'm probably among the top 0.1%". Yet there is no inherent rule of the universe that prevents one from elevating even beyond that 0.1% - except that particular belief/expectation which will shape your subconscious limits accordingly.

9) The belief in technological supplication: Technology will never be able to make humans smarter than they can inherently be (although it will make them smarter than they typically are - due to the dormant potential that was never utilized). 

The human potential is more closely expressed by the superconscious operating on non-linear time, thus being able to access past, present and future, while also having no-time-constraint on any type of "calculation" (unlike computers). 

In order to understand this better, one needs to have a grasp on the nature of this reality, as a "simulation", and us being "avatars" inside it being played by our "players". 

There is nothing that can exist inside this simulation that exceeds the actual-player-level (which exists outside the simulation). All technological aids intended for "transhumanism" are all "toys" of this virtual  reality domain. Yet the superconscious is "bridged" to the non-linear/quantum domain of the "player" which exists outside this virtual reality. Through this "bridge", the inadequacies of all technological toys, including even the most sophisticated AI that can ever exist, are exposed. 

At the more "mundane" present time (2016) the use of technology to supplicate our own memory and other cognitive functions, is an expression of (4) already described - where the individual is engaging in time saving activities with large hidden penalties in terms of subconscious admissions on what they supposedly can't do. 

It's an irony of our time that dumfibication devices are called "smart" devices. For example, if I "need" to use my mobile phone to remember my friend's phone or birthday it means that I don't trust my memory to do the same (a few years/decades ago I could, but now I dont?). It should always be remembered, that even when the individual is using technology, the subconscious should not be left to assume and cement one's perceived, or implied, intellectual inadequacy. 

10) External dumbing down: The environment can actively try to suppress one's intelligence through presuppositions that target the subconscious. When we are reminded by speakers to not fall into the train tracks, when we are reminded by printed warnings to not burn or electrocute ourseves, when we are reminded to not lose our stuff, etc etc, it's all implied suggestions that we are extremely dumb and lack common sense. These are targeting our subconscious.

When the education system or the media tries to present us with very "simplified" information in order for us to be able to understand that information, it is an implied suggestion that we are totally stupid. These implied suggestions that exist everywhere around us, are lodged into the subconscious which say "if I'm treated like an idiot, then obviously I'm an idiot". This kind of indirectly programmed admission will then work as a block to one's effort in unfolding / accelerating their intelligence. All these presuppositions should be understood for their implications and get consciously nullified. 

So, what happens when all these blocks are removed?

If one is able to "disassemble" the "code" of the mind and utilize this knowledge to increase their intelligence, then, over time, the individual will be able to accelerate their intelligence to a point that allows one to understand both the Self and the world, providing one with abundant understanding and a clarity of purpose - things that are normally elusive in this reality domain.

Is there an easier way to become more intelligent?

Good question. Personal development is not formulaic. What works for one may not work for another. Or a different method might work better for someone else.

There are definitely times that the process can be taken in reverse order - where the individual first realizes who they are and where they are, and then grasp the way the world operates. The knowledge of one's broader Self is in direct relation to the knowledge one has about the world. So it doesn't matter which part of the equation rises first, as the other part will match it in response. 

One could be a Zen master, practicing "emptiness" and then realizing ...everything as a result. So, with that in mind, it's safe to say that there are no absolute "recipes" for these things.

Related articles: 

The Subconscious Observer and its effect on our life and human potential

De-automating subconscious filtering and unlocking one's potential

Prediction: The Technological Singularity will happen. And then it will be understood that it never actually happened

Image credit: wikimedia