of insecurity, because the manner in which the brain works flips the logical arrangement on its head, unless people are treated as if they are intelligent, in which case it seems to make you smarter, so even the brain isnât sure what itâs meant to do with the intelligence it is responsible for. And the level of general intelligence is essentially fixed by genes and upbringing, except if youâre willing to work at it, in which case it can be increased, maybe.
Studying intelligence is like trying to knit a sweater with no pattern, using cotton candy instead of wool. Overall, itâs actually incredibly impressive that you can even make the attempt.
_____________
* Admittedly, there are some genes that are implicated in having a potentially key role in mediating intelligence. For example, the gene apolipoprotein-E, which results in the formation of specific fat-rich molecules with a wide variety of bodily functions, is implicated in Alzheimerâs disease and cognition. But the influence of genes on intelligence is breathtakingly complex, even with the limited evidence we currently have, so we wonât go into it here.
5
Did you see this chapter coming?
The haphazard properties of the brainâs observational systems
One of the more intriguing and (apparently) uniquely human abilities granted us by our mighty brains is the ability to look âinwards.â We are self-aware, we can sense our internal state and our own minds, and even assess and study them. As a result, introspection and philosophizing are something prized by many. However, how the brain actually perceives the world beyond the skull is also incredibly important, and much of the brainâs mechanisms are dedicated to some aspect of this. We perceive the world via our senses, focus on the important elements of it, and act accordingly.
Many may think what we perceive in our heads is a 100 percent accurate representation of the world as it is, as if the eyes and ears and the rest are essentially passive recording systems, receiving information and passing it on to the brain, which sorts it and organizes it and sends it to the relevant places, like a pilot checking the instruments. But that isnât whatâs happening, at all. Biology is not technology. The actual information that reaches the brain via our senses is not the rich and detailed stream of sights, sounds and sensations that we so often take for granted; in truth, the raw data our senses provide is more like a muddy trickle, and our brain does some quite incredible work to polish it up to giveus our comprehensive and lavish world view.
Imagine a police sketch artist, constructing an image of a person from secondhand descriptions. Now imagine itâs not one other person whoâs providing the descriptions, but hundreds. All at once. And itâs not a sketch of a person they have to create but a full-color 3D rendering of the town in which the crime occurred, and everyone in it. And they have to update it every minute. The brain is a bit like that, only probably not quite as harassed as this sketch artist would be.
It is undeniably impressive that the brain can create such a detailed representation of our environment from limited information but errors and mistakes are going to sneak in. The manner in which the brain perceives the world around us, and which parts it deems important enough to warrant attention, is something that illustrates both the awesome power of the human brain, and also its many imperfections.
A rose by any other name . . .
(Why smell is more powerful than taste)
As everyone knows, the brain has access to five senses. Although, actually, neuroscientists believe there are more than that.
Several âextraâ senses have been mentioned already, including proprioception (sense of the physical arrangement of body and limbs), balance (the inner-ear-mediated sense that can detect gravity and our movement in space), even appetite, because
Studying intelligence is like trying to knit a sweater with no pattern, using cotton candy instead of wool. Overall, itâs actually incredibly impressive that you can even make the attempt.
_____________
* Admittedly, there are some genes that are implicated in having a potentially key role in mediating intelligence. For example, the gene apolipoprotein-E, which results in the formation of specific fat-rich molecules with a wide variety of bodily functions, is implicated in Alzheimerâs disease and cognition. But the influence of genes on intelligence is breathtakingly complex, even with the limited evidence we currently have, so we wonât go into it here.
5
Did you see this chapter coming?
The haphazard properties of the brainâs observational systems
One of the more intriguing and (apparently) uniquely human abilities granted us by our mighty brains is the ability to look âinwards.â We are self-aware, we can sense our internal state and our own minds, and even assess and study them. As a result, introspection and philosophizing are something prized by many. However, how the brain actually perceives the world beyond the skull is also incredibly important, and much of the brainâs mechanisms are dedicated to some aspect of this. We perceive the world via our senses, focus on the important elements of it, and act accordingly.
Many may think what we perceive in our heads is a 100 percent accurate representation of the world as it is, as if the eyes and ears and the rest are essentially passive recording systems, receiving information and passing it on to the brain, which sorts it and organizes it and sends it to the relevant places, like a pilot checking the instruments. But that isnât whatâs happening, at all. Biology is not technology. The actual information that reaches the brain via our senses is not the rich and detailed stream of sights, sounds and sensations that we so often take for granted; in truth, the raw data our senses provide is more like a muddy trickle, and our brain does some quite incredible work to polish it up to giveus our comprehensive and lavish world view.
Imagine a police sketch artist, constructing an image of a person from secondhand descriptions. Now imagine itâs not one other person whoâs providing the descriptions, but hundreds. All at once. And itâs not a sketch of a person they have to create but a full-color 3D rendering of the town in which the crime occurred, and everyone in it. And they have to update it every minute. The brain is a bit like that, only probably not quite as harassed as this sketch artist would be.
It is undeniably impressive that the brain can create such a detailed representation of our environment from limited information but errors and mistakes are going to sneak in. The manner in which the brain perceives the world around us, and which parts it deems important enough to warrant attention, is something that illustrates both the awesome power of the human brain, and also its many imperfections.
A rose by any other name . . .
(Why smell is more powerful than taste)
As everyone knows, the brain has access to five senses. Although, actually, neuroscientists believe there are more than that.
Several âextraâ senses have been mentioned already, including proprioception (sense of the physical arrangement of body and limbs), balance (the inner-ear-mediated sense that can detect gravity and our movement in space), even appetite, because
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