The toolbox of intelligence

We humans are proud of a lot of things, from rocket science to particle accelerators and even to fine poetry, just to mention a few. All of them are there because of something the Homo sapiens value most, the enigmatic attribute called intelligence. We think of intelligence as a trait, like height, weight or strength but when we actually try to define it, things get a little blurry and somewhat difficult. It is by no means a finite entity. This article attempts to delve into a few aspects of the ocean of knowledge that constitutes “Intelligence”, from instinctive behaviour to learned patterns.

How can we determine levels of intelligence? Based on a person’s Intelligence Quotient (IQ) perhaps? IQ is a type of somewhat nebulous quantification of intelligence, assessed through standardised testing. Most of the human inhabitants of the world have an IQ averaging around 100, though it differs from place to place. However, the real level of intelligence is part nature and part nurture. We are all born with a certain type of entrenched common sense, yet a special few have an incredibly cryptic attribute known as intelligence. Intellect and cleverness are generally nurtured by the environment that we are born into and the opportunities that are presented to us from very early on in our lives. On a careful evaluation, it is apparent that even animals have been shown to display numerous signs of advanced intelligence and cognition. Intelligence is a multifaceted assortment of tools that is not uniquely species-specific and which enables us to survive in an increasingly complex world.

In a nutshell, intelligence may be delineated as a mechanism to solve problems, especially the problem of staying alive and propagating the species, which involves finding food and shelter, fighting sexual competitors or fleeing from predators, among many other things. Intelligence is not just one single thing but it involves the ability to gather knowledge, to learn, to be creative, form strategies and engage in critical thinking. It manifests itself in a huge variety of behaviour patterns. This latter could vary from hard-wired or instinctive responses to different degrees of earning and even to some sort of awareness of very many things. However, not all scientists agree about where it begins or what even should count as intelligence. To make it even more complicated, intelligence is also connected to consciousness since awareness is essential for problem-solving.

Therefore, all what this means is that intelligence is not all that clear-cut. We can perhaps think of it more like a flexible set of skills: a kind of a toolbox containing a variety of different tools. The most basic tools in this intelligence toolbox are the abilities to gather information, save it and use it to learn. Information about everything around us is gathered through our special senses such as vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch. The gathered information helps us to navigate through life and react to the external world fittingly and properly. However, living things also need to keep track of the state of their own bodies, monitoring things like hunger and fatigue. Information is the basis of action for all living organisms, including humans, and without it we will be at the mercy of our surroundings, unable to react properly or flexibly. Information is extremely important and much more powerful only if we can save and keep it. Therefore, in such a perspective, a second vital tool is memory, which is the ability to save and recall information. It implies that a living being does not have to start from scratch, every time it perceives something relevant. Memory can be about events, places and associations as well as behaviour patterns such as hunting and foraging methods. Some of these like flying an aircraft have to be repeated or practiced over and over, again and again, till they are mastered. This is what is referred to as learning; the process of putting together a sequence of thoughts and/or actions. This process is basically a thread of repeatable behaviour patterns that can be varied and adapted according to needs as well as changing circumstances. It is most important to recognise that these three tools; ability to gather information, memory and learning, enable seemingly stupid creatures to act in surprisingly intelligent ways.

Some examples from other species of animals help to further explain some of these concepts. The acellular slime mould, which is just a single large slimy cell, shows a behaviour pattern similar to an animal with a very simple brain. When put in a maze with food at one end, the slime mould explores its surroundings and marks its path with slime trails; a sort of smearing memories of a path already taken on the ground. As it continues on this venture of exploration, it avoids the marked pathways and finds its way to the food. Thereby, this organism, instead of getting stuck in dead-ends, adapts its behaviour to save time and effort. This behaviour is hardwired and scientists have failed to agree whether it is a manifestation of intelligence although it does give the slime mould a certain advantage.

Bees are an example of more adaptive smart behaviour. Scientists trained bumblebees to move a coloured ball into a goal post for a sugar reward. Not only the bees were very skilful at this behaviour pattern, which really was not a natural phenomenon for them, but they got more and more efficient over time. When several balls were made available, the bees chose the ball that laid closest to the goal, even if it was a different colour to the ball that they were trained with. This was a fine example of learning, followed by appropriate and intelligent behaviour.

For more challenging problems, we need even more flexibility and a higher degree of adaptability, and even fancier tools. Building on the basic tools, the more complex animals have a wider range of problems that they may be able to solve. They can memorise all kinds of associations, connections and even mechanical tricks. We call this tool ‘The Library of Knowledge’. As an example, look at raccoons. Their favourite type of food is the same as human food. Their approach to getting hold of such treats depends upon an admirable assortment of theoretical and practical skills that makes them super master burglars, able to open windows or even pick locks. In a research study, raccoons were given boxes secured with different kinds of locks, such as latches, bolts, plugs or push bars. They actually needed less than 10 attempts to figure out how to open each box. Even when different locks were put together into increasingly difficult combinations that had to be solved in a given correct order and with different amounts of strength, they managed to open them without much of a hassle. Quite surprisingly perhaps, even a year later, the raccoons remembered how to open the boxes and were as fast as when they had first solved the puzzle. These experiments documented assessment, adaptation and useful memory as some of the important components of intelligence in the animal kingdom.

Beyond our library of associations and skills, the most impressive tool in our toolbox is creativity; a kind of mental duct tape. Being creative means producing something new, useful and valuable, from apparently unrelated things. In the context of intelligence, this means making entirely new and unusual connections. It involves pairing input with memories and skills, to come up with a unique and new solution to a problem. In another raccoon study, researchers showed these animals, that by dropping pebbles into a narrow water tank, into which they could not get in, they could raise the water level sufficiently to enable them to reach a marshmallow floating at the top. Quite surprisingly, one raccoon came up with a much better solution: it just tipped the tub over…, an impressive example of innovation.

Another facet of creativity is applying a new resource to a given task, like physical tools and implements. This is like primates that use sticks to fish for termites in trees, or some octopuses which assemble collected coconut shells around themselves as a kind of portable armour to hide from enemies. Collecting materials for later use is connected to an even more advanced dimension of problem-solving, which is planning. This component of planning means considering the activities required for a desired goal and putting them together into a strategy. When unforeseen circumstances and new possibilities present themselves, they need to be assessed according to whether they match the plan or not. A classic example of this type of intelligent behaviour, particularly seen during these Covid-19 days, is hoarding of food to eat it later. This is also an instinctive behaviour in squirrels. However, even though hiding food comes instinctively to them, they still need to use advanced thinking skills to make the best decisions. They examine every nut and weigh the time and effort that would take to hide it, against the benefits they would get from each nut. Damaged and low-fat nuts are eaten right away while those that still need to ripen go into the stockpile. Squirrels also pretend to bury nuts when they feel that they are being watched. Such empty caches distract rivals from their real treasures. This indeed is pretty advanced strategizing because to make a plan to distract another, one has to first be aware that there are others like you who want the same things.

The more complex the problem, more are the tools that would be needed in combination, to solve it. So, the more tools that are there in the intelligence toolbox, the more flexibility an animal or a person has, to solve the problems and challenges that life throws at them. However, even for complex problems and challenges, each animal’s individual situation is what counts. For example, squirrels are omnivores that defend their territories fiercely. For them, it seems to make sense for them to be able to remember where there is food available in different locations and trick their enemies away from food, to improve their own chances of survival. In contrast, sheep do not have any such refined tricks up their sleeves. In point of fact, they do not actually need to have such guiles. They are grazers and live in flocks. The skills relevant to them are social ones. They recognise and remember many different sheep, even humans, for years; a completely different skill. Evolving and retaining a complex set of mental abilities such as safeguarding food security, which they might never have to use, would be a sheer waste of precious resources to them. This is indeed a form of differentiating ability of intelligence which enables the animal to just concentrate on things that matter.

As the most advanced creatures in the animal kingdom, humans have gone in the opposite direction and invested in an unusually diverse intelligence toolkit. While this may have been helpful, we have added another set of tools on top, perhaps by accident. That is the thing called culture. No single person could ever build a space rocket or a particle accelerator. However, thanks to our ability to work together and to share knowledge across even generations, we can overcome challenges beyond the capabilities of any single individual. That is the culture of collaboration. Unbelievable achievements, bordering even on fiction, could be accomplished through such a culture of collaboration. This has also allowed us to shape our planet to our liking. However, in that process, we have also created new problems such as climate change and antibiotic resistance, just to name two. To solve these, we will need to look well past short-term survival and think about the distant future. In such situations, we will be compelled to delve deeply into our intelligence toolbox. We do have a really superb toolbox; we just need to use it judiciously.

Some of the material presented has been extracted from Defining Intelligence Through Science – BabaMail. “What is intelligence? Where does it begin?” Available from https://www.ba-bamail.com/video.aspx?emailid=37761;