📘 Part 3: Intelligence

This episode's vocabulary

Contingenton sth - depending on something else in the future in order to happen.

Engage (verb) - to become involved, or have contact, with someone or something.

Tailor (verb) - to adjust something to suit a particular need or situation.

Doubt (noun) - (a feeling of) not being certain about something, especially about how good or true it is.

Willingness (noun) - the quality of being happy to do something if it is needed.

Overlap (noun) - the amount by which two things or activities cover the same area.

Calibration (noun) - the process of checking a measuring instrument to see if it is accurate.

Assembly line (noun) - a line of machines and workers in a factory that a product moves along while it is being built or produced. Each machine or worker performs a particular job that must be finished before the product moves to the next position in the line.

Mainstay (noun) - the most important part of something, providing support for everything else.

Spatial (adj.) - relating to the position, area, and size of things.

Alienate (verb) - to cause someone or a group of people to stop supporting and agreeing with you.

-

Questions and Answers

M: Rory, are you ready to rock and roll?

R: Yep.

M: Okay, let's talk about intelligence in children. What kinds of games can help children become more intelligent?

R: Well, that's probably contingent on the aspect of intelligence you want to develop. But let's take general knowledge as one example. So quizzes and team games can be useful as KEN-crosswords. strategy games like chess can help develop planning if we look at that. Some video games are useful for getting students to engage more with numbers, if we want to improve the grasp of mathematics.

M: Do you agree that talking to children is the best way to develop their intelligence?

R: Oh, absolutely. I think there might be no better way indeed. Discussions allow us to scaffold and develop ideas for young people when we can tailor them to their level. Moreover, they need to be able to communicate their ideas effectively, and talking is beneficial for them.

M: Does spending lots of time on computers make children less intelligent?

R: Well, I'm not sure about that, although it seems to affect their emotional intelligence in the real world as they become addicted to the machine and more absorbed in the online or the virtual experience. And that can cause problems when they have to deal with the real world. In terms of hard intelligence, though, I don't think there's any evidence to suggest what the case is either way.

M: Who plays a more important role in the child's development, teachers or parents?

R: Probably without a doubt is the parents. They provide the foundation for socialization, or they should, the willingness to learn confidence, genetic predispositions, and so on. Teachers can provide a guiding light in certain directions, but kids spend most of their time with their parents in general, and they're more likely to share in their values and attitudes towards the world.

M: What's the difference between the role of a teacher and a parent in the education of children?

R: Well, there's some overlap. But in general, we can see that teachers deal with hard knowledge and support cultural and personal development, while parents deal with culture and personal development while supporting hard knowledge. This is the ideal of course, sometimes we trade on each other's toes and share responsibilities.

M: Let's talk about intelligence at work. In what jobs is intelligence particularly important?

R: Well, any that involves some sort of complex calculation or calibration to specific situations like the aid of a computer, or even with the aid of a computer if you have to program it. If you look at teaching, for example, that requires you to predict what students will engage with and design activities to achieve the most effective result on those terms. By contrast, if you work on an assembly line fixing components together in a regular manner, I don't think complex intelligence is required for that.

M: What ways do people use to assess someone's intelligence?

R: Well, I think IQ tests are still the mainstay mode of testing, using a series of ways to test spatial and mathematical abilities, and maybe linguistic as well. You could also do direct observations of how people deal with certain situations.

M: Should managers use intelligence tests when employing new stuff?

R: I think that depends on the job, doesn't it? Do you need to test an employee if they're going to be applying to be a janitor, for example?

M: Do you agree that being intelligent can sometimes be a disadvantage in the workplace?

R: Oh, absolutely not. It will almost always be either useful or neutral. It's a disadvantage if you just deliver an intelligent idea in a way that alienates people around you. But that isn't a problem of intelligence. That's a problem of socialization and boundaries.

M: Let's now talk about artificial intelligence. In what areas of life will artificial intelligence play an important role in the future?

R: Well, it will probably have some sway over most complex aspects of life. People think that means everything but you don't need an AI in a coffeemaker. A few complex algorithms can handle that. It's more likely to be things like surgery, or perhaps teaching, though I'm dubious about that, actually,

M: Will artificial intelligence be able to match human intelligence?

R: Well, in terms of communicating factual information or complex decision making, it seems likely, though, if we're speaking in terms of convincing people to do things like how a human leader would, then I'm less certain, though if the computing power extends to mimicking people effectively, then this hurdle could be overcome.

M: Are there any risks to humanity if we rely on artificial intelligence?

R: Well, the most articulated fear is AI is turning on us, though, this seems unlikely. Maybe the lose interest but outright malevolence doesn't seem like it's going to happen with any certainty. Still, like if your traffic system is overseen by an AI and it just stops caring about people then that could be a problem. Some people have expressed fears about the loss of human independence. But we already rely on machines for so much of our daily lives. I'm not sure if that's such threat to be honest, or at least such a future threat.

M: Rory, thank you so much for your answers!

R: Hopefully they were intelligent. Oh, it's a pun. And if you like puns, you should check out our Podcourse on puns for success. I'm just kidding. There are no puns for success. There's only puns for failure.

-