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Intelligence

Intelligence is what you use when you don’t know what to do.
Jean Piaget

Intelligence is about how we judge. It is the potential to acquire and apply knowledge. It can alternatively be thought of as the ability to learn and decide.

The way the brain acquires information and the way the brain makes decisions is now understood to be genetically derived. This is pretty consistent over the lifetime of an individual. The architecture of the brain is similar to the architecture of a CPU of a computer. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) suggests 16 generic brain architectures.

Brain power is determined by a person’s capacity — also genetically determined — similar to the speed of the CPU of a computer combined with memory (RAM) capacity.

When we learn over time, we collect, analyze, classify and store information in a way similar to filing data away on a hard disk of a computer. We use the CPU and RAM to acquire, process, store and retrieve information. Our classification processes provide the necessary integration of the knowledge.

Intelligence, ultimately, helps us develop our ability to make better decisions — improve judgement — over a lifetime.