In a YouTube discussion, biologist Michael Levin, drew from William James’s pragmatic observations on intelligence, which we have paraphrased- intelligence is the ability to arrive at the same destination by many means. If we draw from another pragmatist, John Dewey, it is possible to glimpse how having many routes to the same destination is of significant functional benefit.
Dewey (1922) remarked that life is a series of interruptions and recoveries. If our route to a destination is interrupted, then being able to develop or recall an alternative route, is the recovery. We get to arrive at the same destination by other means. The key is how to develop a variety of alternative routes.
Returning to Vervaeke and Ferraro (2013) provides illumination. Vervaeke has produced four types of knowing which are linked to the development of wisdom. These are briefly outlined below
Propositional- knowing facts and having beliefs. For example, the question- How tall is Everest? Is a proposition (even if it is a disputed one, it is testable)
Procedural- knowing skills. For example, how to drive a car or fly a plane require procedural skill.
Perspectival- Situational Awareness, what is relevant in specific situations. For example, are you wanting something to eat, in a hurry and the place you walked into looks very busy. Certain details in this situation will stand out as most relevant based on your current preferences and priorities.
Participatory- How to fit into different situations most effectively. For example, how to effectively negotiate the sale of a house; are you flexible or unyielding based on your perception of the circumstances.
How could we expand our types of knowing for specific and general applications? Each type of knowing requires a level of connection with the external environment. This includes people, objects, and nature. Discussing alternatives to our preferred ways of arriving at destinations with other people can expand our repertoire of routes. We may uncover new facts; we may learn about a skill which could be useful to us. Actively discussing alternatives with another person provides insight into their perspective, what realizes itself to them as most relevant in specific situations. It can also provide insight into how to participate more effectively, for example- have you tried being more assertive in this type of situation?
Doctor et al (2022) recently wrote a cross disciplinary paper discussing the role of Care. The authors observed
“Tell me what you care about—what you actively spend energy on trying to achieve despite perturbations and novel situations—and I can immediately gauge your degree of sophistication”
Thompson (2014) drew on a similar approach, where they discussed how a bacteria cares about its environment at the level of local sucrose. Based on these levels, the bacterium will swim towards an attractor, swim away from higher temperatures, and choose between competing concentrations of sucrose. In other words, the bacterium has a cognitive and sense making capacity, just not at a sophisticated level (Thompson, 2014, Doctor et al, 2022).
Human beings have a far greater degree of sophistication. Human beings care for things which extend beyond their own life span such as family and the environment. There are also a variety of objects which a human being can care about in the short, medium, and long term. This level of variety makes our existence sophisticated and complicated. Individual goals can compete, and the interconnectivity of all activity means the satisfaction of one group goal can interrupt the satisfaction of another group’s goals bringing them into direct and indirect conflict.
Doctor et al (2022) argue that the role of all organisms, from the bacteria to human beings and beyond is to pursue goals, reduce stress and make anticipations to reduce surprises. This ensures that the organism is not overly taxed expending energy at the extremes of existence. The level of sophistication which is human existence provides us with limited control of surprises. However, our ability to reduce stress by reducing our recovery time from interruptions is greatly enhanced by connectivity
“Expanding one’s space of possible goals to face outwards, exhibiting compassion toward other agents’ goals, potentiates the increase of intelligence and thus the potential to identify better, more global solutions” (Doctor et al, 2022).
This means that seeking to expand our four types of knowing by engaging in dialog with others will enable us to reduce stress and recover more quickly from interruptions. In other words, it will provide us with more means to arrive at the same destination, which brings back to the start of this article.
Reading
Doctor, T.; Witkowski, O.;Solomonova, E.; Duane, B.; Levin, M. (2022) Biology, Buddhism, and AI: Care as the Driver of Intelligence. Entropy 24, 710.
Dewey, J (1922). “No separate instincts,” Human Nature and Conduct: An Introduction to Social Psychology. New York: Modern Library: 172-180.
Vervaeke, J and Ferraro, L, (2012) ‘Relevance, Meaning, and the Cognitive Science of Wisdom’ in in Michel Ferrari and Nic Westrate (eds) The Scientific Study of Personal Wisdom: From Contemplative Traditions to Neuroscience, pp. 21-51, Springer.
Thompson, E (2014) Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind. Harvard University Press.
