Are we intelligent?

"Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change." - Stephen Hawking.

This theory has strong scientific evidence that can be seen in the processes of natural evolution, the development of innovations, market supply and demand and - the formation, growth and death of culture. And, because of the all pervading nature of the concept, intelligence is not limited to the simple human definition but rather presented as an all-encompassing, universal law that applies to all - whether it is understood or not.

Adaptation is a movement as is change, yet the type of movement differs. Whereas change is any movement, adaptation is a reactive movement aimed at achieving continuance through altering form and in so doing, becoming better suited to the operating environment.

When it comes to human adaptation it seems that we are both gifted and plagued by our mental ability. The gifts come in our capacity to compute, predict and create with the plagues being our tendency to complicate, assume and form attachment to what we know, possess and want. We are simultaneously both extraordinarily brilliant and tragically unaware.

Making a mark, becoming a Statistic

When we are faced by a challenge, we are accomplished solution finders, but it is at this point that we often get attached to what we have created. Each solution has an effect on the environment and therefore changes the conditions. These changes may be minor but are compounded against other uncountable and unforeseen aspects and acts within the surroundings. These environmental movements are effectively new information that was unavailable when a solution was found. In time, the solution that worked so well, becomes obsolete or possibly even harmful to us, others or the environment. If we fail to recognise the changing elements, fail to evaluate the effectiveness of our current solution in combination with the new information or fail to let go of what was once useful for something that is better suited, we expose ourselves to becoming a statistic used to prove the law itself.

There are already many numbers among the ranks of statistics that prove the rule. Dinosaurs and viruses, civilisations, inventions and professions have all fallen prey to the law of adaptation. Some couldn't adapt fast enough, some moved in the wrong direction and some chose to attempt what no other has so far managed - remain the same.

It is Us

There has never been a point in the evolution of humans where we have had this level of population, connection and technology to influence our world. The movements we make are too many to count, interactions too complicated to predict and consequent reactions can go unseen for long periods, if seen at all. We would be foolish to think that our movements and solutions are not having micro and macro effects on where we live, how we live and why we live. We would be doubly foolish if we thought that we knew and understood all components and could see all repercussions, side-effects and future impacts. And triply foolish if we believed that we can control it all.

The answers we have found in the past have helped create the world in which we live today but they are solutions designed to resolve different questions. They need to be reexamined, tested, stressed and developed for the environments of now or removed entirely if they are useless or harmful. We cannot become attached to what we have built for nothing remains unchanged. Some questions raised may target seemingly fundamental aspects of who we are, but who we truly are is liquid and adaptive to the environment in which we fill. We only ever appear solid when frozen by the self-made rules we use to define us.

Questions, raise Questions

When you think you have found the best solution, know that it is based on the information and skills you have available today. Before comparing your life, your rules and your beliefs to that of another understand the randomness, chance and uncontrolled processes that led you to your own. And before you judge another on their position, know that like the rest of us, they are doing the best that they know how given the information and resources they have available.

The challenges we have faced, currently face and inevitably will face are only questions that beg for solution. Open information, clear communication and deep cooperation is the best way to most efficiently and effectively answer the questions in front of us. And as we find solutions together, the next array of questions will form and be faced: together.

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Einstein