Intelligence and Technology

Howard Rheingold's “Smart Mobs: The Power of the Mobile Many” views the effects of new media on social organization. Superficially and without much speculation the author’s argument can be effortlessly rephrased: smart mobs are complex socially-built effects of new media; however, with the help of new media and social networking technologies and experiments Rheingold presents many more hybrid philosophical, technological and social-anthropologic concepts. One of these ideas is what I would like to explore in this post: technology and human intelligence. I would like to embellish upon the role of technology and human intelligence. It is very clear to view artificial intelligence as “the ability of computers to simulate human intelligence” (OED); however, it is less common to understand the human intelligence in terms of computers or new media at large and view the importance of newer new media in human intelligence advancement.
Assuming that we are here because of Darwinian evolution, Proto-humans, 2.5 million years ago, were the first Homo sapiens ancestors to use tools or technology – from then till now the connection between human beings and their technology – be it a laptop or a coffeemaker – remains perhaps stronger than ever. Rhiengold writes: “(1)The knowledge and technologies that triggered the jump from clan to tribe to nation to market to network all shared one characteristic: (2)They each amplified the way individual humans think and communicate, and magnified their ability to share what they know” (181). I would like to analyze this by breaking into two parts – the quotation is so numbered. There is no doubt that Human sustenance goes hand in hand with technology. With better spears earlier humans hunted better, with better computers we can run more complex calculations. However, many times we don’t realize that technology goes hand in hand with knowledge. This knowledge can be specified into two groups: knowledge which creates the new media and knowledge which humans need to use or maneuver the new media. In the second part the author states that it is this technology (and its knowledge backbone) that effectively enhances human cognition and knowledge. The sum of human cognitive abilities describes human intelligence; therefore, it is not illogical to say that the symbiotic relationship between existing knowledge and technology effectively augment and increase human intelligence. Through increased intelligence, new knowledge and newer new media is developed and the cycle continues.
Although I am not trying to argue the following paragraph, I think it is an interesting observation: Psychological tests reveal that average IQ of developed nations (confirmed) is increasing with time – assuming that the IQ measures a type of intelligence – intelligence is increasing with time. Logically, when we compare ourselves, our understanding, our social patterns with those of our ancestors we are technologically ahead. Taking the reverse route, because we are technologically more advanced, we have a greater knowledge base and greater cognitive abilities making us more intelligent.
This was one of the more fundamental realizations that I came across as I read this chapter. Although we are constantly comparing our intelligence to that of our technologies – we should not fail to consider that these technologies are an integral mechanism of our intelligence formation. Our technology almost serves as an output of our intelligence, and as we understand them better and improve them with newer knowledge we also improve our intelligence. Our present day experiment is the “computer-equipped human” and through this we measure, evaluate and improve our social intelligences.