4 ms·

I have a different take on our spaceship-level intelligence. What makes the human species unique and supremely powerful on our planet is not individual intelli

by fleddr 4y ago

I have a different take on our spaceship-level intelligence. What makes the human species unique and supremely powerful on our planet is not individual intelligence, rather the systems and tools we invented to persist knowledge, tools, improvements and automation across generations. This creates a system intelligence thousands of times more impressive than any single individual can reasonably produce. To make this point, a thought exercise. Take a modern human being out of the system and dump them on an island with plenty of natural resources. They'll die. They can't hunt nor do they know agriculture or have the time to "try it". Pretty crazy that this critical survival skill isn't even passed on, right? All the other species on the island know exactly what to do, and none require 20 years of education just to function. Suppose somehow these individuals do survive. Could they now go on and recreate modern society? No. Because no modern human being has any idea about how anything works. They just tap a button and the next thing you know some product is on the doorstep. Yes, the average human being is more intelligent than the next dog, primate, etc. But we're not rocket ship intelligent, none of us could even produce a single component of a rocket ship or have the faintest understanding of how it works. The additive intelligence of our system is what makes us unique, at an individual level we're very much "meh".

munificent 4y ago
I think it's both. You are correct that no individual human could build a spaceship. Our ability to aggregate intelligence across brains and across time is our superpower. But that superpower is open to exploitation. When working together as a group, you can't blindly assume all other members are good faith participants. Doing so would open the species up to being exploited and destroyed by an evolutionary offshoot that parasitized or otherwise took from the group without giving as much in return. In order to aggregate our intelligence across the tribe, we also need a lot of individual level brainpower that we can put to use determine which other humans around us are helpful versus harmful. That same brainpower can also be harnessed to let us solve problems individually. Sure, lots of us would die on a desert island, but that's because surviving on any isolated microclimate is hard. Plenty of animals die on them too! But a solitary human would survive better than you give credit for across a whole range of environments. Any given animal might have some honed instincts to survive in a single climate, but none of them is as plastic and creative as we are.
- hoseja 4y ago
  What... what do you think psychopath kings/CEOs are.
- sdenton4 4y ago
  Animals are far smarter than you think, and instinct is far less important than you think. Most animals learn by imitation of their parents or others of their own species. This is a big part of why reintroduction of captive animal populations into the wild is so difficult. And adaptability is highly variable by species; koalas will for quickly without their specific eucalyptus, but raccoons will thrive just about anywhere. As I've read and researched, I've come much closer to the opinion that we're slightly smarter monkeys with writing.
  - munificent 4y ago
    > Animals are far smarter than you think I know this is, like, a meme in our culture. And I get that it's important for the pendulum to swing back from the 19th century idea of animals as dumb brutes. But human beings are way fucking smarter than animals when it comes to general plastic intelligence and problem solving. I'm not disparaging animals here, and I'm certainly not saying that we shouldn't appreciate their many capabilities. But humans can do stuff like set up a tarp to collect condensation and understand the chemistry behind phase changes for how that works. Sure, that's because we were taught by prior humans who incrementally figured that out, but no other animal is even capable of being taught anything anywhere near that level of sophistication.
TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
If you have not read the famous essay “I, Pencil” (and the invisible hand), you’d enjoy it. As I recall it is only 10-15 pages and in the public domain. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Pencil https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Pencil

by fleddr 4y ago

munificent 4y ago

I think it's both. You are correct that no individual human could build a spaceship. Our ability to aggregate intelligence across brains and across time is our superpower. But that superpower is open to exploitation. When working together as a group, you can't blindly assume all other members are good faith participants. Doing so would open the species up to being exploited and destroyed by an evolutionary offshoot that parasitized or otherwise took from the group without giving as much in return. In order to aggregate our intelligence across the tribe, we also need a lot of individual level brainpower that we can put to use determine which other humans around us are helpful versus harmful. That same brainpower can also be harnessed to let us solve problems individually. Sure, lots of us would die on a desert island, but that's because surviving on any isolated microclimate is hard. Plenty of animals die on them too! But a solitary human would survive better than you give credit for across a whole range of environments. Any given animal might have some honed instincts to survive in a single climate, but none of them is as plastic and creative as we are.

hoseja 4y ago
What... what do you think psychopath kings/CEOs are.
sdenton4 4y ago
Animals are far smarter than you think, and instinct is far less important than you think. Most animals learn by imitation of their parents or others of their own species. This is a big part of why reintroduction of captive animal populations into the wild is so difficult. And adaptability is highly variable by species; koalas will for quickly without their specific eucalyptus, but raccoons will thrive just about anywhere. As I've read and researched, I've come much closer to the opinion that we're slightly smarter monkeys with writing.
- munificent 4y ago
  > Animals are far smarter than you think I know this is, like, a meme in our culture. And I get that it's important for the pendulum to swing back from the 19th century idea of animals as dumb brutes. But human beings are way fucking smarter than animals when it comes to general plastic intelligence and problem solving. I'm not disparaging animals here, and I'm certainly not saying that we shouldn't appreciate their many capabilities. But humans can do stuff like set up a tarp to collect condensation and understand the chemistry behind phase changes for how that works. Sure, that's because we were taught by prior humans who incrementally figured that out, but no other animal is even capable of being taught anything anywhere near that level of sophistication.

TedDoesntTalk 4y ago

If you have not read the famous essay “I, Pencil” (and the invisible hand), you’d enjoy it. As I recall it is only 10-15 pages and in the public domain. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Pencil https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Pencil