Intelligence ?

What is Intelligence ?

Intelligence of a mind is an Idea, a construct which we all believe to exist, yet would find very difficult to define or pinpoint.
To start with let us take one of the widely accepted definitions,
From "Mainstream Science on Intelligence" (1994),

    "A very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience."

Going by the above, for an mind to be intelligent we need a mind which is not at all having a fixed or rigid approach. It should be able to see any problem or situation ideally from a 360° sweep, It should be fast, it should evolve and it should learn quickly. In short it should be flexible, it should be open.

Why does a child learn computers or smarrphone easily, which defeat all effort of many elders. Because, a child has a mind, that is relatively empty. No ideas of right and wrong, better or worse, Good or bad. A clean slate, just like a freshly formatted computer. However, With time and age, the mind gets crammed to the hilt with time, with education, teachings, preachings and social customs. Finally the mind is so rigid, one dimensional, so hard anchored to his textbooks, his beliefs, his faiths that he also looses his learning skills and adaptability.  The same child who once imagined super powers and flying trains will skoff at any new idea at his twilight end. What has happened in between ? With every concept he was taught in class and told to remember and believe, he lost some of his imagination and creativity. Learning starts from questions, why, why not, what if and so on.  Stop the questions and mind ceases to evolve. Intelligence goes south. Finally you will have a mind crammed chokeful of data, with heaps of information, a little knowledge and zero wisdom.

Who would have known Newton, Galileo, Einstein, if they had believed everything they had been told.

Knowledge comes from proofs, proofs are recived from experiments, experiments come from hypothesis, Hypothesis are born when someone starts to differ from his textbooks , from  one question!

Intelligence is adaptability, creativity, imagination, observation, experimenting and some courage, the courage to question.
To summarize, what we believe to be intelligence, which helps a man to survive, to evolve and to be successful is nothing but a fluid Mind, a mind that sees every new issue and new problem as a child would, as if seeing for the first time, with curiosity,with eagerness, with imagination, without any burden of teachings, preachings and customs and that is all it is.
So, go forth and explore, the universe is all yours!