Intelligence is the ability of a system to make observations and adjust itself based on them (like our brain is changing while learning or our environment is ch

Intelligence is the ability of a system to make observations and adjust itself based on them (like our brain is changing while learning or our environment is changing with technological progress). It’s definitely not binary state. If we put the internal complexity of the system on one axis and external complexity (what can be observed and meaningfully processed) on another axis, there’s a circle on the plane representing what humans perceive as being intelligent. It intersects with a few other species so we do think now that they are intelligent. Everything else outside that circle is either too primitive or too complex for us, so we do not see e.g. plants as intelligent, but we also may not recognize aliens as intelligent because their existence is too complex for us to even notice it. Humans unlocked evolutionary path not based on DNA, so we evolve much quicker now through science and culture. Our circle is thus expanding and we start realizing how more primitive systems think and create new intelligent systems.