Human intelligence

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Rodin Thinker, Kyoto
Some people may suggest this as the one fundamental resource that really is in short supply...

We just haven't been using it as efficiently as we could be. Currently with activities such as design and engineering we have only relatively small groups of people collaborate in any meaningful way. The development of most things whether they be products, services, utilities or modern agricultural processes tend to be done behind closed doors. This means that compared to what is possible, progress is sporadic and slow. With the involvement of all interested parties and using open and transparent development processes, progress could be far quicker and more efficient. The entire aggregate of the intelligence of humanity could be brought to bear on a problem. This would also significantly reduce the huge duplication of effort that happens today.

As well as potentially increasing the effectiveness of our current intelligence, total intelligence is growing constantly:

  • Worldwide education is becoming more pervasive and of better quality, meaning that a much larger percentage of the world's population can effectively participate in developing solutions. The bulk of the world's population has, up until now, been in a situation where the sophisticated information gathered by humanity was inaccessible to them. Now, if cheap computers and wireless Internet can be spread to the 85% of humanity living in these countries, we open up a massive goldmine of ideas, invention, and innovation to advance humanity.
  • Time-binding is an idea championed by Alfred Korzybski which state that humans have the unique ability to compound their knowledge generation after generation. Each generation inherits the knowledge of the previous one, adds its own and passes it on. In this sense, each generation has more sophisticated ideas to operate on than the previous one. Buckminster Fuller had a similar idea, which he simply called "know-how".
  • The world population is still expanding which increases the pool of intelligence and the rate of time-binding
  • The proposed advanced automation will result in freeing a greater percentage of the population to work on solutions to significant problems if they so wish.
  • Nootropic drugs and nutrients that increase intelligence are continually being researched and developed and popularized. These effect the brain, often facilitating the pathways by which it produces its juice, leading to an increase in mental performance measures such as memory, concentration and IQ. There are also plants (such as Bacopa Monnieri, Withania Somnifera and many others) that can increase intelligence, but these tend to be called adaptogens, with the name 'nootropics' being reserved for synthetic and semi-synthetic substances.