Intelligence, Determinism and Free Will

[Louisabell]

My current hypothesis of what intelligence is:

What if instead of intelligence being an attribute someone has at how adept they are at engineering a solution to a problem, or something difficult to describe using an algorithm or some complex understanding, it is instead something closely tied to consciousness. Perhaps we really do let ideas come to us like the synchronicity of events and catalyst when it enters our lives. Perhaps we yearn for an experience, and it manifests in the shortest chain of events of least resistance... And this usually involves coming to an idea in our heads to help keep events in motion towards an experience we yearn for. Maybe an idea coming to us is simply the most noticeable effect of yearning for an experience, and it actually happens more often in different ways. Maybe what many attribute to intelligence, like it simply being an attribute of our personality like a strength or weakness of the mind, is actually an attraction between the observer and the observed.

Interesting hypothesis, I do relate somewhat. When I think of my own intelligence I see how my thoughts just pop into my head as they will and at the speed they do. Both aren’t really functions that I control, my brain feeling more like a net that “catches” thoughts then a generator of thought itself. But I guess we are not privy to the subconscious, and its mechanisations, if that’s how it even works. So I suppose you’re saying that IQ would be linked to one’s desire for IQ? This is a possibility, but many people will say your IQ is steady throughout your life with little change. But then many people also have a stable personality, so I could imagine if you make conscious choices to be more, well conscious, then your intelligence may indeed increase in speed. Is this what you are saying?

One such way I have thought of this is that before every tick of time that moves forward, our consciousness wills to experience the next tiny leap forwards in time. In this act, it wills to experience something, and in doing so leaps forward down an alternate timeline. Perhaps this happens at an infinite scale, and consciousness splits into infinite parallel timelines that experiences every possible conceived outcome of the previous event. So instead of time seeming like it is right now, instead it is an illusion. And, there would be both free will and determinism if you were to think of the fabric of space-time as a hyper-dimensional object similar to film in a movie; where each frame is just another tiny leap forward, and every tiny leap forward possible is expressed and fulfilled. Thus, you do choose one of the infinite outcomes, but it already existed and always will.

I see it differently than this. In space/time, space is 3-dimensional and time is 1-dimensional. Therefore, the inverse of this in time/space would be a place with 3-dimensional time and 1-dimensional space. I imagine it to be a place where there are massive amounts of time in which a consciousness could “speculate” on possible timelines, but with not enough space to engage in cause and effect dynamics. This would be reflected in some of the funky quantum stuff, where light behaves as a wave function in time/space, but breaks down to a particle in space/time.

A choice is something very special because it occurs at a nexus where space/time and time/space co-exist. When a choice is made, certain timelines that were speculated on break-down and others strengthen. I think 3-dimensional time opens up the possibility of time being highly malleable, and therefore timelines would be able to be Co-Created in the eternal present. As Co-Creators, total freewill needs to be a reality. I don’t agree with determinism at all really.

This train of thought was from building on a thought experiment I was using to cope with my fear of death.
I tried to come to terms with the idea that perhaps I, and my ego, are not me at all. That when I die, I will cease to think or experience the same way I identify with now.

In doing so I have eased my fear of death dramatically, and gained some insight on what to think of intelligence.

Perhaps instead of identifying as a brain, or as the thoughts in my head, I can instead identify with my experiences and reactions to them.

I’ve had times when I woke up so quickly out of a dream that I am fully conscious but had forgotten who I was or where I was. Then I get what feels like my “personality download” where all the information becomes available again. I imagine that experience is something familiar, knowing that we can be conscious without the particular personality that we experience now?

Currently, I try to identify more with my initial reaction to experiences I have, and my emotional responses. I found this more suitable than finding pride in an attribute I was born with or gifted by chance. I am lucky to not have been born with learning disabilities or any other inhibition. But for that, I feel that I must be thankful and not proud.

I agree. I like what Matt Kahn says about this. To know who you truly are ask: who do I become when I don’t get my way? Our spontaneous genuine reactions to things can say a lot.

I'd be interested in anyone else's ideas about what intelligence might be.

Thanks for reading this giant post

I'd love to read your ideas, especially if they contradict my own. I am still learning, and I would love to learn with you.

Yes, it's great to entertain such metaphysical things with others!