Intelligence in a Post-A.I. World
In part 1, we considered the Multiple Intelligences that Artificial Intelligence already exhibit today. In part two, we consider the three intelligences for which A.I. does not exist.
Existential Intelligence is one of the intelligences in Howard Gardener’s taxonomy of multiple intelligences. It is the intelligence ascribed to those who think philosophically and involves an individual’s ability to contemplate values and intuition to understand themselves and the world around them. People who possess this intelligence are able to see the big picture and ask the big questions. They are able to see the interconnectedness of different aspects of life and wonder about the complexity and diversity of the universe
Existential intelligence was not included in the original seven intelligences that Gardner listed in his original list of Multiple Intelligences. However, Gardener has always been a stickler for research, and after an additional two decades of research, he decided to include existential intelligence but not officially (probably because he wisely realised how problematic it would be to claim a seat of the numinous or existential wonder in the brain). He did, however, say, “This candidate for intelligence is based on the human proclivity to ponder the most fundamental questions of existence. Why do we live? Why do we die? Where do we come from? What is going to happen to us? I sometimes say that these are questions that transcend perception; they concern issues that are too big or small to be perceived by our five sensory systems.”
Existential Intelligence is catered to the least in most schools. This is probably because most teachers do not possess this intelligence in any great degree, which in turn is because it was not nurtured in them when they were young.
A way to promote existential intelligence in the classroom is to give students the opportunity to contemplate the universe they live. An understanding of the scale and mystery of the cosmos we live in never fails to arouse deep existential feelings in many people. Encouraging students to adopt different perspectives, take part in Socratic dialogue, ask profound questions, and explore their inner self are a few ways to promote Existential Intelligence in class. These are questions most young kids ask anyway. They are naturally curious about these matters. Unfortunately, the conventional school system systematically distracts them from this interest and forces them to focus on the curriculum and on exam grades.
Pedagogical Intelligence wasn’t in the original list of Intelligences. However, in 2016, Gardner mentioned in an interview with BigThink that he is considering adding the teaching-pedagogical intelligence which is the intelligence that allows human beings to convey knowledge or skills to other persons. It also involves the ability to research, analyse, select relevant information, transfer competencies, and develop learning pathways.
In the same interview, Gardner explicitly refuses some other suggested intelligences like humour, cooking and sexual intelligence — because there is no neuroscientific evidence for it.
In the interview, Gardner says, “Not only is my theory based on evidence from science, it can and will be changed on the basis of new scientific evidence. Fifteen years ago, I would not have spoken of pedagogical intelligence, but the evidence is accruing that the ability to teach is a distinctly human capacity which begins to develop in the first years of life.” Schools and Universities should take particular note of this and realise that being an educator and having pedagogical intelligence appear to be two separate features.
Intrapersonal intelligence involves the ability to introspect and be self-reflective. It includes having a deep understanding of the self; what one’s strengths or weaknesses are, what makes one unique, and being able to predict and analyse one’s own reactions, emotions, and motivations.
Currently, there is no A.I. that is capable of exhibiting introspection, self-reflection, and metacognition. It is hard to say whether this might change in the future. Will AI become self-aware and sentient? Will we be able to come to grips with the hard problem of consciousness? Will we have AI that have both mind and intelligence? Will AI have a sense of Self? At this point, it might be useful to quote a limerick by the wonderful philosopher, Alan Watts, who is credited with making Eastern thought accessible to a Western audience in the 1960s:
There once was a man who said, “Though
It seems that I know that I know.
What I’d like to see
Is the “I” that knows “me”
When I know that I know that I know.”
Will we ever have an AI that thinks about itself thinking about thinking?
Ray Kurzweil points out that by the second half of this next century, “there will be no clear distinction between human and machine intelligence. On the one hand, we will have biological brains vastly expanded through distributed nanobot-based implants. The law of accelerating returns implies that by 2099, the intelligence that will have emerged from human-machine civilization will be trillions of trillions of times more powerful than it is today, dominated of course by its nonbiological form.”
We are now surrounded by Artificial Intelligence and AI systems. However, what we are anticipating is the advent of Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI). This is what humans have to be worried and excited about. (There are those like Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking who say we should be worried. Others, like Neil Degrasse Tyson, are not worried. “Bring it on,” says Tyson). However, Neuroscientist and public intellectual, Sam Harris, compares the arrival of ASI to receiving a message from extraterrestrial aliens. If we received a radio message from aliens announcing their arrival on Earth in 30 years, what would our reaction be? We know these aliens would be far more intelligent than we are because at the very least they would have the knowledge of how to travel between stars. Should we be excited about the prospect of encountering these aliens? Or, should we be concerned? We know ASI is coming; it is just a question of when.
Nick Bostrom defines Artificial Super Intelligence as “an intellect that is much smarter than the best human brains in practically every field, including scientific creativity, general wisdom, and social skills.” However, when we talk about ASI we must factor in its ability to exhibit all the various Multiple Intelligences.
Currently, schools focus on Pedagogical, Existential, and Intrapersonal intelligence only in the most cursory way — if at all. However, in a world of increasing automation and ubiquitous A.I. where machines are taking over from humans and superseding us in almost every domain, what we need more than ever is balance. Balance and harmony between all the Multiple Intelligences.
But also, balance and harmony in other domains: It is important for us to teach our kids to see things in shades of grey and perceive things in duality. We must endeavour to teach them to take a yin-yang approach to life: pragmatism and spirituality, skepticism and belief, reason and emotion, the Apollonian and the Dionysian, the literal and the metaphorical, the masculine and the feminine, empiricism and mysticism, rationality and intuition, Aristotle and Buddha, logos and mythos, investigation and insight, experimentation and imagination, intellect and instinct, science and the arts, technology and philosophy, sobriety and psychedelia, agency and meditation…. It is the ability to harmoniously use all these tools of action and cognition that will allow us to develop into a well-rounded person and attain mental peace and a deeper, more fulfilling conception of Reality and the Self.
Currently, to the best of my knowledge, Awecademy is one of the rare few educational platforms that focuses on Existential, Pedagogical, and Intrapersonal Intelligences in a deep and meaningful way.
In part 3, we consider the importance of focusing on these three Intelligences as we move into the future and edge closer to the Technological Singularity.
Part 1: The Many Ways of Being Intelligent
