Intelligence and Reality

There is much to read on the topic of intelligence as it relates to education.  Individuals are measured by many tests - to derive their IQ, EQ, and many other quotients we deem important for learning.  Is intelligence a pure number?  Is there an algorithm that defines one's inner workings of the mind?  How does intelligence impact reality?  Here is the beginning of a much larger thought...

As I perused my graduate school books on the subject, I found thirteen definitions of intelligence ("Psychological Testing - History, Principles, and Applications (2nd Ed.)" by Robert J. Gregory  p.152-3, 1996).  I know, it is an old edition, but that's what I have.  Before reading the following definitions, write down on a blank sheet of paper your definition of intelligence.  (...done?)

Okay, now take a deep breath and read the definitions

from the aforementioned book and compare them to yours...

"Spearman (1904, 1923): a general ability which involves mainly the education of relations and correlates.

Binet and Simon (1905): the ability to judge well, to understand well, to reason well.

Terman (1916): the capacity to form concepts and to grasp their significance.

Pintner (1921): the ability of the individual to adapt adequately to relatively new situations in life.

Thorndike (1921): the power of good responses from the point of view of truth or fact.

Thurstone (1921): the capacity to inhibit instinctive adjustments, flexibly imagine different responses, and realize modified instinctive adjustments into overt behavior.

Wechsler (1939): the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with the environment.

Humphreys (1971): the entire repertoire of acquired skills, knowledge, learning sets, and generalization tendencies considered intellectual in nature that are available at any one period of time.

Piaget (1972): a generic term to indicate the superior forms of organization or equilibrium of cognitive structuring used for adaptation to the physical and social environment.

Sternberg (1985a, 1986): the mental capacity to automatize information processing and to emit contextually appropriate behavior in response to novelty; intelligence also includes metacomponents, performance components, and knowledge-acquisition components.

Eysenck (1986): error-free transmission of information through the cortex.

Gardner (1986): the ability or skill to solve problems or to fashion products which are valued within one or more cultural settings.

Ceci (1994): multiple innate abilities which serve as a range of possibilities; these abilities develop (or fail to develop, or develop and later atrophy) depending upon motivation and exposure to relevant educational experiences."

These are but a few definitions of intelligence.  The concept of intelligence has been framed using other words as well, such as emotional, social, multiple, and artificial.  My current preferred definition of intelligence is one that includes all aspects of one's ability to comprehend a reality and create new meaning.  'Meaning' itself has multiple definitions - 1, 2, and  3. Take a look at each linked set of definitions of 'meaning'.

An inventor is typically referred to as intelligent.  Inventors comprehend the properties of items in reality - their physical meanings - and combine these various items to create new meaning, new reality.  New properties emerge from combinations that never existed before.  It is astounding to think that we have the ability to transform the physical reality before us into a new reality.  Remove certain items from your current reality - the computer in front of you, the phone (most likely a mobile phone) nearby, the variety of machines that lessens your daily work, indoor plumbing, and even the materials with which the clothes, fabrics, furniture, and walls that surround you and what is your reality without them?  If you had no contact with such items before and you were provided them all at once, then would you be dumbfounded?  Would you be less intelligent for not comprehending them?  Would the world be anew?

Nature does this all of the time on a geologic time scale, but we do also have examples of items transforming with whole new characteristics.  What is an acorn?  What is an oak tree?  Is an acorn not an oak?  What is the difference between them - time? potential?  Add intelligence to this capacity of nature to transform and we have the ability to transform reality itself.

"The power of the Holy Spirit, enlightening man's intelligence, has enabled him to discover means of bending many natural laws to his will.  He flies through the air, floats on the sea, and even moves under the waters.  All this proves how man's intelligence has been enabled to free him from the limitations of nature, and to solve many of her mysteries.  Man, to a certain extent, has broken the chains of matter.  The Holy Spirit will give to man greater powers than these, if only he will strive after the things of the spirit and endeavour to attune his heart to the Divine infinite love." - Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, pp. 37-38.

We have the intelligence to break 'the chains of matter' (with the clarification - 'to a certain extent').  We understand quite a lot about the development of an acorn to a mighty oak.  But, what are these 'greater powers than these' that are gained once we 'attune (our) heart(s) to the Divine infinite love'?

"The Heavenly Father gave the priceless gift of intelligence to man so that he might become a spiritual light, piercing the darkness of materiality, and bringing goodness and truth into the world." - Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, pp. 113-114.

Intelligence is not merely for material transformations, it should be used to bring 'goodness and truth into the world.'  So, when I write that intelligence "includes all aspects of one's ability to comprehend a reality and create new meaning" - it includes spiritual transformations.

"Progress is the expression of spirit in the world of matter.  The intelligence of man, his reasoning powers, his knowledge, his scientific achievements, all these being manifestations of the spirit, partake of the inevitable law of spiritual progress and are, therefore, of necessity, immortal.  My hope for you is that you will progress in the world of the spirit, as well as in the world of matter; that your intelligence will develop, your knowledge will augment, and your understanding be widened." - Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, pp. 90.

Intelligence and its application is a manifestation 'of the spirit' in our reality.  Even by the act of writing, it is "in itself, a sign of the writer's soul and intelligence." (ibid, pp. 91-92).

If we are to use the concept of intelligence to inform educational practices though, we must find a way to measure it, no?  How does one measure intelligence?  Can it be demonstrated by a student that is given a task to devise an answer to a mathematical problem?  Can it be demonstrated by a student when handling a dispute between classmates?  Can it be demonstrated by a student that provides help to others?  Can it be demonstrated by a student who collaborates well and uses creativity and critical thinking to organize information in a new way?  

The data we collect from such demonstrations will be dependent on our creativity in assessment. We collect data that is informative and leave the rest behind.  Therefore, not all data is collected.  So, if intelligence can be demonstrated in so many different ways, then to which data do we give priority?  Being self-aware that there is a limitation in this prioritization, then we must choose wisely.  A multiple choice exam for intelligence provides one data point, a portfolio another, a presentation another, a behavioral rubric another, etc.  But the prioritization will dictate the measures we record and therefore the category of intelligence in which we place the student.  We must be mindful of how that categorization of intelligence changes the ways we interact with a student.  Imagine if you label a student as highly intelligent and another as having low intelligence.  Do you challenge them differently?  If so, how?

Our expectations, as research shows, will be a force in determining the student's intellectual growth.  Educational practices impact our reality and the future reality of humanity - one person at a time.

I wonder...what are those "greater powers than these" mentioned earlier?  Perhaps they are something more than the material reality alone.  Perhaps, they are an illumination based on comprehension of the material world in light of virtuous teachings.  For example, imagine a world in which universal education promotes unity in diversity and oneness of humanity intertwined with the arts and sciences - what new realities would we create?

ABS Tangents

Dear Friends,

Sorry to be so distant this past month.  I will post a few times this month in order to stir the blogging pot a bit more evenly.  

Tangent 1: Practical Application

I attended the most recent Association of Baha'i Studies meeting here in San Diego this past weekend and it was a good experience.  There were many Baha'is contemplating an assortment of ideas in relation to social cohesion.  Out of all of the talks, I believe that the presentation that spoke most to me about applying religious principles in a practical manner was from the CEO of Idea Connections Systems, Inc., Robert Rosenfeld.  Specifically, the Mosaic Partnerships Program stems from a simple idea (relatively) - foster friendship and trust among people in diverse race/ethnic backgrounds and organizational transformation can occur for the betterment of the organization and society.  You can read more about the program itself here - Mosaic Partnerships.  (I hope that Bob doesn't mind the oversimplification of his program in my blog.)

Tangent 2: Invoking Scripture Academically

Faculty from diverse backgrounds met at the ABS meeting as well.  It seems that there is a challenge to integrate one's faith with one's work.  Are you an academic?  Are you a faculty member, graduate student, undergraduate, etc.?  Would it make sense to invoke scripture when considering how best to conduct biochemistry research?  Or does invoking scripture make sense only in the humanities and arts?

Remember the Lawh-i-Maqsud (Tablet of Maqsud)?  The one that contains the quote "Regard man as a mine..." (see first post, if not).  Well, the last part of it that I quoted was,

"The Great Being saith:  The learned of the day must direct the people to acquire those branches of knowledge which are of use, that both the learned themselves and the generality of mankind may derive benefits therefrom.  Such academic pursuits as begin and end in words alone have never been and will never be of any worth."  So, doe that mean that basic scientific research is pointless?  Can you think of areas of academic pursuit that may fall into the 'never be of any worth' category?

In another passage, Baha'u'llah states in Bisharat (Glad Tidings), "The eleventh Glad Tidings - It is permissible to study sciences and arts, but such sciences as are useful and would redound to the progress and advancement of the people.  Thus hath it been decreed by Him Who is the Ordainer, the All-Wise."

Consider the following example, someone asks you if it is important to study bacteriophage (viruses that infect bacteria) and how bacteria respond to them.  At first, it may seem to be an unimportant area of study, since bacteriophage infect bacteria one may think of them not having an impact on human health - so why study them?  Well, they have been studied and restriction enzymes were discovered.  The molecular 'scissors' that are used to cut DNA in the research lab for a variety of uses (the least of which is to be used in a forensics lab on CSI).

So, I ask you, as I asked my friends at the ABS meeting - in your area of academic interest (or study) - what counts as service?  Does it include invoking scripture?  Provide ten ways that you can provide service to society through your profession.

Time for me to go workout and contemplate the same.