![]() Human versus ET SuperpowersPart Two:COULD MIND-INTELLIGENCE HAVEUNIVERSAL SIMILARITIES AND QUALITIES?[Ingo Swann, 21Mar01]It is possible for Earth humans to erect the assumption that that THEIR mind-intelligence evolved or developed on Earth, and that it is therefore unique in the cosmos. This assumption can prevail as a “reality” until, as discussed in Part 1, our species encounters another species having intelligence commensurate with or advanced beyond our own. One past reason for the assumed validity of this assumption was that Earth humans also assumed that the occurrence or evolution of intelligence could only take place on planets similar to Earth. Until very recently, the existence of such planets, even the probability of them, could not be verified – which is to say that the probability could neither be proved nor disproved. This kind of thing, the inability to prove or disprove something, can be thought of as a hiatus of information – i.e., a lapse, an absence, or a break in the continuity of information and knowledge packages. Where such a lapse occurs, any number of ideas and assumptions can be poured into it, and which, themselves, probably cannot be proved or disproved. This appears to fill in the hiatus and to restore the continuity, but via assumption rather that fact. This, of course, leads to all sorts of philosophical and other entanglements that have no basis in proof or disproof, but which can affect the nature and scope of various assumed reality packages. However, once a lapse of information begins to be filled in by facts or even probable facts, the nature and scope of various assumed reality packages must change and take on new frames of reference. As briefly outlined in Part 1, because of recent and sudden advances in astrophysics discovery, the possibility of millions or even billions of Earth-like planets, scattered throughout the indescribable vastness of the cosmos, at least begins to settle the lapse in information about the probability of other planets. This knowledge advance, even if only tentative, can now lead from the idea that human mind-intelligence is unique in the universe to the hypothesis that life and life forms may have occurred upon some of them. If it is hypothesized that the life forms have occurred, then the important questions must arise. The first of these has to do with why and from what life-making formats get going at any location in the cosmos, including Earthside formats of life. This naturally will lead to the question of WHAT “forces” ultimately collect and animate matter and energy that otherwise would remain inanimate, and then makes the animated matter into bio-structural patterns (i.e., genomes). This, in turn, will lead to the question having to do with whether, or if, those life forms have achieved mind-intelligence that is commensurate with or advanced beyond Earth formats of it. If those questions are speculated upon as calmly as possible, then it is possible to think that Earth humans would be quite pleased to encounter other species having mind-intelligence lesser than our own. If it should chance that other species have mind-intelligence commensurate with our own, then certain challenging situations might arise. If it should turn out that the encountered species is in possession of mind-intelligence advanced beyond Earthside versions of it, then it could (or should) be assumed that such a species is:
One of the bottom lines of all this it that if ANY microscopic evidence of protein structures that are made only by life organisms are found anywhere except on Earth, then the idea of a universal life force must be extended to include the cosmos entire, even if only theoretically so. By extension, if exo-evidence of life forms is encountered, then the principle of life force turning into life forms must be extended (theoretically) to include the ultimate possibility of turning into some kind of life mind-intelligence. Thus, and ONLY speaking theoretically to be sure, life force and life intelligence COULD ultimately be understood as indigenous and generic within the universe. In other words, wherever the universe IS, then there is also matter, energy, space, and time – AND life force, life forms, and life intelligence. The enormous light year distances between various emergences of life phenomena have no real meaning in this regard, except that the distances are very great (as measured within the scope of current Earthside frames of reference.) What has far greater meaning are the time elements involved – for example, the difference between 4 billion years and 1,000 billion years before that. Our own small solar system is not very old when computed against hundreds of billions of years. Thus, based on the 50-50 speculations that life could occur elsewhere in the universe, there is a significant chance that it might have occurred billions of years BEFORE Earth ever came into a life-bearing condition. The whole of the immediately foregoing discussions can be considered as highly theoretical or speculative. But as surprising at it might seem, those speculations are helpful toward enlarging upon the nature of INTELLIGENCE – IF it can be considered a generic potential in the whole scheme of cosmic goings on. The Modern Earthside Definition of IntelligenceTo begin getting deeper into this, we of course have to start with the conventional Earthside definition of INTELLIGENCE, which is thought to be complete and correct in psychological and scientific terms. In most dictionaries, this definition is given as “The capacity to apprehend facts and propositions and their relations and to reason about them.” At first take, this definition seems logical and rational, and so its portrayed meaning and usefulness are not usually inspected too much. One cannot say that the definition is wrong, but one can suggest it could be put in a more useful and thus more meaningful manner as follows:
Most dictionaries define to REASON (as the verb) as “to use the faculty of reason, i.e., to think.” As a noun, however, REASON is defined in several ways:
These definitions of reason do not indicate that reasoning always takes place within frames of reference. It is important to observe this, because, with regard to the first definition just above, comprehending something can have different results because of different frames of reference. As but one slightly amusing example, the power of comprehending the sum of the intellectual powers depends on the frames of reference being used (1) to define the sum of the intellectual powers in order (2) to think about them. Since Earthside knowledge of what the intellectual powers are is not very massive, any Earthside thinking about them cannot be too massive either. Indeed, Earthside definitions of mind-intelligence are established in ways that afford societal satisfaction rather than on any in-depth examination of mind-intelligence phenomena themselves. There are thus a number of special difficulties surrounding the topic of reason. These will be further outlined in Part 3, entitled “Human vs ET Reasoning.” The foregoing descriptions lead to the commonly shared understanding composed of four factors:
It is thus that modern Earthsiders have established such intelligence-measuring tests, and hold that the tests constitute the best scientific evidence of the real existence of intelligence naturally indwelling not only in individuals, but in our species as well. It is important, however, to note that the Earthside emphasis is on individual IQ, and not on the sum IQ potentials as carried within our species as a whole. In any event, and within the general contexts briefly outlined above, Earthsiders can stipulate that intelligence among our species does exist, albeit in +/- capacities at the individual level. By extension, then, if ET intelligence does exist elsewhere in the universe, it COULD be referred to within the same contexts as the Earthside scenario. However, if that ET intelligence should be advanced beyond Earthside realities about intelligence, then the Earthside assumptions and formulas could end up being almost useless. One basic reason for this has to do with the general, but fundamental, matter of ADVANCED intelligence capacitance. The word ADVANCED is an adjective and has four principal Earthside meanings:
If, therefore, an ET intelligence, or evidence of it, is:
Another contrasting way to put all of this is to wonder that if Earthside humans utilize only a small fraction of their brains, then perhaps they are utilizing only a small fraction of their intelligence. IF this should be the case, then modernist Earthside IQ tests are measuring only a fraction of human brain-mind powers – largely because it is not really understood WHAT ELSE to measure for. As but one example of this, Earthside IQ tests do not measure for telepathy, because telepathy is not a topic that affords satisfaction within most Earthside societal structures, and so there is no real need to figure out how to test for it in individuals, much less within the species entire. In any event, utilizing only a SMALL fraction of all possible knowledge about intelligence cannot be very useful in encountering an ADVANCED intelligence - which, by definition, must be utilizing a far LARGER fraction of knowledge about intelligence (and about “brains” as well.) All of the foregoing considered, although Earthsiders may be content with their own ideas and realities about THEIR intelligence, it would seem that Earthsiders have no easily identifiable way of conceptualizing what ET advanced intelligence might consist of. Even if subtly so, it might not be too far off the mark to think that intelligence anywhere in the universe probably DOES principally deal with information intake and output. (Indeed, if intelligence does not do this, then it is difficult to comprehend what it DOES do.) And this in turn would imply that advanced intelligences probably would have achieved greater and more intricate capacities to do so, while not-so-advanced intelligence would have to struggle along within the contexts of their smaller and less intricate capacities. The immediate Earthside response to this can easily be expressed as: “Well, THEY have learned more than we have.” Yes in general, but not in particular. Because something particularly depends on what the “learned more” actually consists of. In conventional Earthside contexts, “learned more” almost always refers to whatever exists EXTERNAL to intelligence itself. Indeed, intelligence is defined and identified almost exclusively by how it interacts and deals with factors that are external to the INTERNAL factors of intelligence itself. It is this idea about intelligence that makes possible the conventional Earthside definition of it – “the capacity to apprehend facts and propositions and their relations and to reason about them.” This definition clearly implies that “capacity to apprehend facts and propositions” is very suggestive of large, small, narrow, or big capacity. But the definition glides much too fast over the term “apprehend.” It can surely be thought that intelligence capacity is dependent upon what IS and IS NOT apprehended – largely because intelligence cannot deal with what is not apprehended. Thus, we finally encounter the two-fold wonderment as to how and why intelligence apprehends anything at all – and why an advanced intelligence MUST be apprehending much more than a non-advanced one. There are two working definitions for APPREHEND:
To grasp with understanding, and to recognize the meaning of, are, of course OUTPUTS of intelligence. But both kinds of output MUST have been stimulated as the result of some kind of information INPUTS. And it can be identified that Earthside ideas of what intelligence is and consists of are almost exclusively formulated with regard to OUTPUTS. Thus arises, with some pristine clarity, the important question of how and wherefrom does intelligence get inputs, upon which various understandings and recognitions of meanings are based. There can only be one really applicable answer here. Mind-intelligence probably cannot achieve information inputs unless there exist arrays of sensing systems that PERMIT intake of various kinds of information, possibly including systems that specialize only in certain types of information processing. It can thus be hypothesized that if ET mind-intelligences have occurred elsewhere in the universe, then intake and processing of information must be as fundamental to them as it is to the version of human intelligence here on Earth. MIND-INTELLIGENCE TRAPPED ON A GIVEN PLANETA civilization of mind-intelligence can be said to be trapped within the environments of a given planet if:
Such a trapped mind-intelligence stands a very good chance of not only becoming introverted into its own societal orders, but would also tend to set up basic frames of reference with respect to whatever levels and extent of knowledge ARE possessed and tolerated by the orders. Unless it was to encounter another mind-intelligence of similar or greater magnitude, such a trapped mind-intelligence would have no comparative way of measuring and assessing the nature of its own mind-intelligence. In the absence of parameters that might serve for identifying and comparing mind-intelligence contrasts, it is quite likely that the trapped civilizations would construct definitions of mind-intelligence that are in accord with societal frames of reference. Indeed, in such societal frames of reference, mind-intelligence need not achieve much, if any, definition at all – largely because such definitions, if too extensive, would tend to complexity social management within societal frames of reference. Such societal civilizations are composed of many individuals, the whole of which is usually somehow divided, for example, between the thinkers and the doers, between those that must be protected and those that are expendable. And within this kind of societal arrangement, it would surely have been noted that the doers and the expendable need not learn too much about mind-intelligence. In such societal civilizations, frames of reference and definitions of mind-intelligence (if any) need to be rather superficial and simplified to the degree that they are NOT useful to the achievement of real and intimate knowledge of mind-intelligence. The purpose of this stratagem is, of course, two-fold: to maintain knowledge about mind-intelligence within the given ordinary societal contexts; and, to prevent discovery of ways and means of developing mind-intelligence into higher, and therefore more advanced, states and functioning. The best way of achieving such preventive measures is to define mind-intelligence only by what it produces, not only in general societal terms, but also at the individual level. This process can be extremely clever, and thus hard to identify and observe. THE DOMINANT, EARTHSIDE DEFINITIONS OF INTELLIGENCEIn Earthside terms, it is difficult to speculate what a mind is unless it possesses some modicum of intelligence, AND which the mind itself can recognize as such. It is therefore important to have some general grasp of how INTELLIGENCE is principally defined in Earthside terms. During our late-modern times, a very large literature has come into existence about intelligence, but in general the principal definitions of it are few. INTELLIGENCE is defined as:
At first take, the foregoing definitions can be thought of as making sense. But after some consideration, it can be seen that they refer to a rather ambiguous “capacity” that IS what it IS wherever one finds it. It is probably somewhat tiresome to enter into a brief discussion about IQ and IQ tests, especially in that the efficacy and usefulness of those tests has been brought into serious doubt during the last twenty years or so. But even so, the concept of intelligence and the concept of intelligence quotients as measured by IQ tests became quite intermingled. One of the results of this intermingling was that intelligence became thought of as a kind of thing-in-itself, somewhat like an “organ” akin to the heart, liver, and prostate organs. During the early modern period, The IQ tests were designed to measure the evidential activity and proficiency in individuals of that “organ.” More precisely, the tests were innovated NOT to identify what the organ consisted of, but to help identify, describe, and measure what its capacity was wherever it could be tested for at the individual level. (In passing here, it is worth pointing up that no such tests have been innovated to test IQ at collective societal and social levels, and certainly not at our species level.) The official definition of IQ is “A number held to express the relative intelligence of a person determined by dividing his mental age by his chronological age and multiplying by 100.” The term “number” refers to a total “score” achieved by combining and averaging scores of the different sections that test for different capacities. One such section tests for mathematical expertise. While it is true that our species, and hence all individuals, possess indigenous mathematical faculties, these need to be nurtured, developed, and sharpened by educational methods. Most can learn addition, even if by themselves, but multiplication, algebra, calculus, trigonometry and etc. need to be nurtured. Therefore, those unfortunates who have not benefited by such mathematical nurturing will score low on this section of the IQ text, and their overall IQ score will be pulled down. Here is at least one clue that mind-intelligence consists of faculties that need to be, or can be, nurtured into higher states of performance. This same clue also suggests that IQ tests largely measure NOT what has been nurtured or not in the individual, but measure what the society has selected to be measure. There are many KNOWN aspects of intelligence that have not been incorporated into IQ tests. For example, there are no IQ test routines that attempt to measure for wisdom, telepathy, foresight, empathy, information and knowledge packages accessed by intuition, and for “minds” that work together via harmonious interfacing. As it can be identified from the foregoing definitions of INTELLIGENCE, the modern IQ tests were highly selective regarding topics that might be tested. Indeed, viewed now in retrospect, the tests referred only to components of intelligence that were as valuable within the contexts of the modernist societal structures. But intelligence surely has activity components that are not included in the modernist IQ paradigm. Our species could be faced with such if an advanced ET species was encountered – and which species had, for example, active components of telepathic interaction. THE CONCEPT OF INTELLIGENCE TOOLBOXESIt is probably difficult to hypothesize what intelligence might consist of in addition to modern Earthside definitions of it. It is because of this difficulty that time has been taken in these essays to establish what those Earthside definitions do consist of. This was necessary in order to begin pointing up the authenticity of additional factors that are not normally thought of as “belonging” to intelligence – but which factors are OBVIOUSLY necessary to intelligence IF it is to function at all. When intelligence is considered in its larger overall species contexts, it ultimately needs to be accepted that however else it may be defined, intelligence (1) takes in information and (2) outputs products based in some kind of processing of what was intaken. Nothing can be taken into intelligence unless there are some kinds of systems that permit and facilitate doing so. In Earthside terms, these kinds of systems can be referred to as sensing systems. As one such system, intelligence must have some kind of memory storage and retrieval processes regarding information, for without these the sensing systems alone would be of little use. In addition to sensing and memory systems, intelligence must also have information-comparing systems, via which input information via memory storage and retrieval are sorted and identified. What has been sorted and identifies must then undergo processing via cognitive systems that result in comprehension, understanding, and ideas of usefulness. Finally, intelligence must possess activity and innovation systems if anything is to be DONE with the products of the cognitive systems. The foregoing identifies FIVE tool-like, systemic aspects of intelligence, all five of which MUST exist if intelligence is to function at all. Indeed, an intelligence that merely exists but does not produce anything has lesser meaning than intelligence that does. At this juncture, it is useful to reprise the major Earthside definition of INTELLIGENCE: “The capacity to apprehend facts and propositions and their relations, and to reason about them.” Two things can now be pointed up with some clarity. First, intelligence capacity must incorporate all five of the systemic tools briefly elaborated above, and it would seem that if one or more of those tools is not nurtured and brought into enhanced activity, then they will remain inherent but inactive. Second, while each of the tools has some equal necessity and importance with the others, it would be quite obvious that the information intake sensing systems are the most fundamental. This is so much the case that the fundamental definition of intelligence should note that it is, in its first instance of manifesting, a series of information intake sensing systems. In any event, it is bluntly obvious that intelligence cannot deal with information that is not sensed. HUMAN SENSING SYSTEMS vs ET ADVANCED SENSING SYSTEMSThere is more to be discussed about the five systems inherent in the toolbox of intelligence. But before doing so, it is important to undertake a magnifications of the utter importance of the sensing systems. This magnification cannot be facilitated by the use of Earthside definitions of mind-intelligence - largely because SOCIETAL criteria require the non-nurturing, and sometimes active suppression, of various kinds of intelligence sensing systems. The result of this is that various kinds of sensing systems cannot even be brought into view, with the result that the full extent of human sensing systems remains unidentified and unknown. However, IF our species should chance to encounter an ET species having advanced mind-intelligence, then it would be possible, perhaps even somewhat urgently necessary, to speculate upon the characteristics of THEIR intelligence toolbox. Most certainly, it would have to be noted that if their mind-intelligence were advanced beyond their own, then it would be reasonable to conclude that they have achieved larger capacities regarding information intake and output. This would imply that they have come to possess, have nurtured, have enhanced, or have activated, more extensive sensing systems that we have. Indeed, they may have intelligence toolbox factors that are beyond Earthside knowledge or imagination, they are almost certain to have our own five toolbox factors. We would therefore speculate that advanced formats of ET mind-intelligence has developed and enhanced those same five factors. Frankly put, our species has information intake sensing systems, and because of this the basic fundamentals of those sensing systems download into all individuals. However, here on Earth, what is to be sensed and not sensed is determined by societal criteria, not by actual and virtual realities of our species mind-intelligence. In any event, and briefly put, it is possible to hypothesize that advanced ET mind-intelligence implies that ET is in cognitive possession of sensing systems more extensive than what societal criteria here on Earth allow for. And it would be because of their advanced possession of sensing systems, combined with other intelligence systemics, that they could also have innovated advanced technologies. WOULD
ADVANCED ET MIND-INTELLIGENCES HAVE INNOVATED, DEVELOPED,
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