( Guy, I saw this post, checking out what was up in here and trying to talk a little, like... Making a first post after registering. I saw this thread and was like "owh... Yeah." Took a machinegun on the rack, put on black glasses and went in with an explosion behind.
So first thing first: hello.)
First, you have to consider that intelligence is nothing. It doesn't exist at all if you do not consider it from a human perspective since it's a concept invented (and not even well defined) by humans.
We barely know what intelligence is (we don't, actually, we're still talking about it) and if we apply it the way Rickster said
Intelligence: it’s not that complicated: the ability to posess and apply knowledge.
It's making things simpler but lead us to ask ourselves: how do we know when something posess knowledge ?
Can we say a computer posesses knowledge ? It contains datas for sure, but it applies it following a simple (well. Kinda simple) pattern. You can obviously say the same thing for humans at another level of complexity but then there's the Consciousness Issue.
Finarfin, that guy said:
We may think of humans as intelligent or conscious and some might say humans have more consciousness or are more intelligent then other beings.
I think you can't split intelligent and consciousness. If you take the root of the word "Intelligence" you find the latin "Intelligere", which means "to understand" so if we admit intelligence has a non subjective meaning, we gotta say it's not only a computer work of APPLYING pre-introduced datas (and by the way a process of which the consequences can be seen) and that this work of appliance of the datas - the informations, actually- is only a consequence of the intelligent condition which is based on one thing:
understanding or thinking about understanding what is going on. Even a will of understanding can be that because it demonstrate that you have the capacity to conceptualize ideas that are not designed to produce a concrete effect on reality.
Some wise guy said that what makes human intelligence superior (or at least particular) is the ability to use abstract ideas. (the perfect example to demonstrate that is the concept of TIME as a dimension and not as a suite of causes and consequences which lead humans to picture time travel and even to approach it theoretically. Boom, your move, dolphins.)
So, Intelligence.
Is the Universe intelligent ?
It's a really religious debate, actually. Because if it is, it means there's a consciouness out there. Or IN THERE actually.
Jung made up a theory about conscious creating conscious by the link. Basically, the point was: if there was as much humans in a precisely designed space as there are neurons in a brains (the space was earth but I think we could calculate a more accurate thing), a superior conscience could be imaginable. The equivalent of the human mind for the neurons, using humans as neurons. That's to say not as individual calculator (which we are right now) but as a relay for ideas which would travel from humaneurons to humaneurons and form a giant thought.
We already do that under the form of debates. We've got the power of calculation but not the processor. That's the missing point: GOd. If we try to imagine a being called God as the one thinking the giant thoughts, the idea of universe being intelligence begins to make sense.
But the universe as we see it. As current humans see it, is theoretically nothing but a place. A place WE have to fill with our intelligences, and create a brighter one which will create even brighter ones after. THAT is evolution.
And
You are only smart when you use your abilities to its best.
Which we don't (general)
Man, we do. We just don't always use it the right way. Say you've got a gun and shoot all the bullets in the air. You've used it at it's best and still that was useless. (or you did it for the beauty and that was art but it's another story)
