What is Intelligence?

[The_Game]

Hello again ladies and gentlemen of the forum and a merry happy christmas to you all...


Now then, for some time now I have been thinking in my mind and pondering over and over again about what the actual definition of Intelligence is...


Is it logic?, well yes kind of, the ability to figure out the most effective and efficient idea relating to the situation or environment.

Memory? well I suppose memory plays a role as the more things you remember the more things you can figure out effectively and faster as well...

But things we learn are just part of what life throws at us, thus not the major definition of intelligence...

Studying and exams......well, not really...
We go to school, we study what we like and we go to college etc...to get a decent job.....that's about it
Anyone can memorize an exam technique or answers and study 24/7 but it wont define them as intelligent.

Having a look through the internet myself, I've been able to locate some answers...

Definition number 1:


"Intelligence is an umbrella term used to describe a property of the mind that encompasses many related abilities, such as the capacities to reason, to plan, to solve problems, to think abstractly, to comprehend ideas, to use language, and to learn."


Okay so logic and reasoning playing a part of that there...but surely that can't be the entire explanation?

Various other answers were derived from the same page..

"Individuals differ from one another in their ability to understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to the environment, to learn from experience, to engage in various forms of reasoning, to overcome obstacles by taking thought."


Well that can be true in my eyes...everyone has a sense of danger to some extent but the lengths people can go to to secure themselves are more stratified than others.....



Again boffins and psychologists have been creating many theories to intelligence.....over 2 dozen were asked what their definition of intelligence was and the answer was roughly 2 dozen individual comments to some extent.


Now then I bring this topic to this forum for a reason and that reason is...

Your verdict

Okay so not quite as sinister as that but I would like us all to get involved and give some opinions and theories of themselves to the subject...

What are your thoughts?

The_Game

 

[C-quenced]

What all women seem to lack... and unfortunately most men as well.

 

[chinwaggler]

Why do you need to know the definition. As long as you can tell whether they are intelligent or not then...

 

[aner]

I'd say what we call intelligence is basically one's reasoning ability, with respect to both quantity and quality. Quantity being how many operations or whatever you can perform in a given time, and quality being how efficient or effective those operations are. A computer can think incredibly fast, so it is intelligent in a sense, but a philosopher might produce high-quality, abstract thoughts that a computer wouldn't be able to match. A highly intelligent person would probably be able to think both fast and well.

There are plenty of theories out there about multiple intelligences and whatnot, but I think they distort the meaning of 'intelligence' the way most people perceive it.