Remember, humans aren’t much more intelligent than our pre-human ancestors.
What made homo-sapiens special was our ability to share knowledge socially; to distribute cognition to others. We aren’t smart because we think, we are smart because we realize that we often do not need to.
Also, because we can write and store knowledge in a physical form, we can accumulate knowledge over time in ways that other mammals cannot.
New essay coming to Risk and Progress soon on this very topic!
Well said—“humans aren’t much more intelligent than our pre-human ancestors” is spot on. Similarly, people in wealthy countries aren’t inherently smarter than those in poorer ones. The real difference lies in how societies connect individual knowledge.
I also loved your line: “We aren’t smart because we think, we’re smart because we realize we don’t need to.” That captures how humanity breaks complex problems into smaller parts, then reassembles them through connecting intelligence. I’m planning to write an essay exploring this idea too!
Very good piece.
Remember, humans aren’t much more intelligent than our pre-human ancestors.
What made homo-sapiens special was our ability to share knowledge socially; to distribute cognition to others. We aren’t smart because we think, we are smart because we realize that we often do not need to.
Also, because we can write and store knowledge in a physical form, we can accumulate knowledge over time in ways that other mammals cannot.
New essay coming to Risk and Progress soon on this very topic!
Well said—“humans aren’t much more intelligent than our pre-human ancestors” is spot on. Similarly, people in wealthy countries aren’t inherently smarter than those in poorer ones. The real difference lies in how societies connect individual knowledge.
I also loved your line: “We aren’t smart because we think, we’re smart because we realize we don’t need to.” That captures how humanity breaks complex problems into smaller parts, then reassembles them through connecting intelligence. I’m planning to write an essay exploring this idea too!