On Intelligence
Intelligence is knowing when to quit I used to participate in debate competitions in high school. They were the traditional parliamentary style debates where the effort was to convince an audience (or panel of judges) of your proposition. Imagine my surprise when I saw a U.S.-style debating competition where participants were speaking so quickly you could barely understand what they were saying, much less be convinced of their position. Here's an example . We are told the style helps debaters "squeeze long arguments into tight time frames." Maybe. But arguably, the essence of debate has been lost in this academic exercise. I think something similar has happened over a much longer time frame to our understanding of intelligence. The concept is relatively new, but draws from older and related terms: inter= between, within + legere =to bring together, gather, pick out, choose, catch up, catch with the eye, read; intellegere = to see into, perceive, understand That could m...
