Human brains on average have 86 billion neurons. If we didn’t have any we’d be a sponge which have zero… Interestingly we were taught different until someone questioned it? In 2005 Dr Suzana Herculano-Houzel discovered that although 100 billion was used in all the science text books and journals they were all wrong. None of her colleagues knew where that figure came from so she set upon discovering the true figure. After liquefying human brains she then counted the neurons using a formula.

It’s the same with intelligence – with so many different definitions what we actually have are educated opinions. Intelligence is a formally recognized, organized and categorized structure of human perception. “Catching on, making sense of things or figuring things out” are three characteristics most experts agree on. “Reasoning, learning from mistakes and abstract thinking” are some others. Then there’s the ability to make sense of it all and translate that. The time it takes between individuals is of course taken into account.

Age and its association with either intelligence or wisdom are misleading and constrained understandings of both. After all Einstein was a 25 year old patent clerk when his “Theory of General Relativity” created shockwaves around the world. He was quoted as saying: “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” He also said: “A person who has not made his great contribution to science before the age of 30 will never do so” however the heyday of the twenty something physics genius is gone… Today’s average age for Nobel Prize winners in physics is 50 and over 65 for writers.

As with all good mainstream science we can dissect it, wrap it in a multitude of statistics, facts, figures and BS – then stick it into our textbooks. Now really much of the knowledge we retain is on a need to know basis not overcomplexity. Do most of us need to know what a synapse, a neuron or quantum tunneling is? Tesla said: “Today’s scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality.” Tesla was hands on – believing much of theoretical physics lacked observed reality. It’s the reason why we can read dozens of different theories on its nature with none being real.

Speaking of real, the WAIS-IV, is the current test by which we measure IQ but it has many critics who say the tests are easy to manipulate. Much of this is done in the US as a means to a predetermined outcome. If I asked you why electrons don’t fly out of their orbits of the nucleus of an atom what would your answer be? This issue alone is too complex for the scope of this article because it indicts the entire educational system. How all tests are structured determines the outcome. Determines steering allocations of educational resources including federal discretionary funds. Besides there are plenty of books on the subject.

So then that aside, how smart are you in actual mind power? As of this writing the top three richest people in the world are each worth upward of 70 billion US. If we based intelligence on income most of the rest of the world would be mental microbes. If artistic talent were our measure, we would come to the realization that some of history’s finest artists died paupers.

Most top scientists will never win a Nobel Prize and live otherwise ordinary lives outside of being extraordinarily smart. The same can be said of many religious scholars like St Augustine whose writing is thought provoking and meticulous. In fact some of the most brain draining reads I’ve ever experienced involved philosophy which uses language to transcend mortal thought.

Above: ENIAC was 8.5 by 3 by 80 feet and weighed 27 tons.

Now here’s something I was thinking about: Arguably the first computer unveiled on February 14, 1946 was the ENIAC aka “The Big Brain.” The IBM-701 went public in 1953 and could do 16 thousand OPS (Operations Per Second). Today Intel’s fastest desktop CPU can do over 300 billion OPS. Today’s fastest supercomputer is the Sunway TaihuLight which has a speed of 93 petaFLOPS or 93 quadrillion OPS. So we’ve gone from 16 thousand to 93 quadrillion OPS in around 60 years. We might then conclude that these increases will continue exponentially and computers will shortly surpass the entire human collective in processing power.

While web searching even my most obscure concepts I came to an epiphany. We – the human race have unknowingly taken the next step in our evolution. Where in the past we could work on problems or ideas collectively, we couldn’t do it in real-time. Now we can almost instantly access and filter trillions of ideas and bits of data contributed by hundreds of millions of minds working virtually as one.

What also struck me is how rapidly “AI” (artificial intelligence) is advancing. Autonomous AI internet search bots will soon understand the content they gather using “AC” (Artificial Consciousness). Entire libraries will be read in seconds on quantum scales. These synthetic entities will be our greatest thinkers, inventors, designers, physicists, philosophers, physicians… They’ll access databases containing all the knowledge from the history of human existence. Only, as it may take humans years to go from concept to result, for AI we may be talking minutes.

Somewhere around here a metaphoric event horizon occurs as was predicted by Dr. John Lilly in his 1978 book “The Scientist” talking about “Solid State Intelligence.” Our machines will become self-reliant eventually controlling human thought through timeline manipulation. They’ll guarantee their own creation, evolution and man’s dependency on them. This for me was incredible – we came to the same exact conclusion years apart.

Philosopher Nick Bostrom suggests that if one were living in a virtual world it would be indistinguishable from a “REAL” one. Elon Musk like many others agree and fears we may already be living in a simulation meaning the change event already occurred. Contrary to popular belief this idea of reality being an illusion predates antiquity. It did not start with Bostrom nor with the Lillys of the world – everyone’s in on this game. Science or theology as in the Christian “Omphalos” hypothesis which presents that God created the world ten thousand years ago. The universe was already complete with stars, planets, Adam and Eve. Much like a well written simulated world program.

So now here we are in a simulation? However we exist, it’s real enough to us. Speaking of what’s real, we’ve touched upon wealth, talent, religion, philosophy, science… but the question was: “How smart are you?” The truth is that it doesn’t really matter because the quotient is an illusion. It measures what a committee decides intelligence is at any given point in time. This usually involves political and cultural interpretations. It doesn’t mean you’ll suddenly be good at math or will now create a great symphony. It means that like millions of others you’ll pass or like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg all University dropouts you can still go on to change the world…

Written by the author Robert Torres. http://RTR-Publishing.com https://about.me/towers3

Bill touches on human consciousness and how it may not be as unique as we previously thought since animals demonstrate that they also feel emotions even without the ability to speak.  Science is paving the way for us to better understand both animal and human emotions.

Learning more about empathy and getting in touch with our emotions could have a great impact on society.  We could create beneficial new laws or help someone who needs our help because of empathy.

Watch the video below to learn more about that Bill Nye said about empathy or check out the transcript below.

Video Transcript:

Trym: Hi Bill. This is Trym from Norway. I was wondering how come us humans have empathy? Is it normal for species to have empathy — I was just starting to read about Richard Dawkins’ take on it. I was wondering how you would explain it? I love the way you explain things by the way. Thanks.

Bill Nye: You said your name with an accent that I will interpret Trym — I believe your name is? Trym, takk for your question. Thank you for your question. This is cool. So why are we empathetic? Just consider what a tribe of humans would be like without empathy, without ability to feel what someone else is feeling, without an ability to see it from another person’s point of view. It probably wouldn’t be a very successful tribe.

You wouldn’t take care of each other. You probably wouldn’t divide up tasks. You do this and I’ll do that. I know that’s hard for you; I’ll do this. I know you’re good at that, so you do that and I’ll do this. Imagine a tribe without empathy.

So my claim, which is extraordinary at first, is not only are size and shape determined by a process of evolution, but so are our feelings. And empathy is part of that. Our ancestors without empathy were not as successful. And furthermore, while you’re on Richard Dawkins, look into primate behavior. Our ancestors — gorillas, bonobos, chimpanzees — they exhibit empathetic behavior.

They mourn. They take care of each other. They interact in a way that’s very much like and very similar to the way we interact. So check them out. Check out our primate buddies and you’ll see that I think empathy is deep within us. And as to its origins, that’s a great one. I’m not sure where it came from.

Like dogs like to hang out together. I’ve seen gerbils, mice, and hamsters hang out together or seem to prefer each other’s company. So I think whatever that thing is that makes you — leads you to prefer one another’s company must be connected with the ability to feel what someone else, another organism is feeling.

It’s a great question and it gets back to this deep thing, the nature of consciousness. Are we that different from other animals that we seem to be able to know that we are aware of our surroundings. We seem to be able to know that we’re going to die. We seem to be able to know what another one of our fellow humans is feeling or thinking. Where did that come from?

These are deep neurological questions that perhaps you will be the neuroscientist who answers this problem and we could then create ways to help each other live better lives. And I’m not kidding. If we pass laws consistent with our understanding of empathy, our understanding of how the human brain works and then ultimately if you made artificial intelligence computers that had this empathetic quality, it really could do great things.

Now in science fiction, you know, whenever you create anything artificial and things go bad, but that’s science fiction. We don’t have to do everything badly. We can make things great. That’s a great question, man. Takk. Tusen takk.

More About Bill Nye

Bill Nye is an engineer, comedian, scientist, inventor and author with a mission to help make society more scientifically literate.  He wants everyone to be able to see and appreciate this world through the adventurous eyes of a scientist.  By making science entertaining, he has reached the minds and heart of countless people.  

While living in Seattle Nye combined his love of science and his talent for comedy.  After winning a Steve Martin look-alike contest, he started a duel career as an engineer by day and a comedian by night.  After a while, he quit his day job and became a full-time comedy writer performing on the show  “Almost Live.”

This is the same timer period that the famous TV show that many US children watched in school growing up called “Bill Nye the Science Guy®” which aired right before Saturday Night Live.  Bill won 7 national Emmy Awards for performance, production and writing while working on that show.

Bill has also written 5 science children books such as his latest one called “Bill Nye’s Great Big Book of Tiny Germs.”  He now spends his time running a Science Channel TV show called “The 100 Greatest Discoveries” and another called “The Eyes of Nye” on PBS.  

Bill is incredibly entertaining and has a running competition with a neighbor of his named Ed Begley where they compete to see who can save the most energy while leaving the smallest carbon footprint possible.  Currently, Nye has 4,000 watts of solar power and a hot water system that is solar-boosted.

Let us know in the comments below about your thoughts on empathy and Bill Nye.

Sources: bigthink.com

It seems that no one wants to talk about self-deception these days.  I believe that one of the reasons for this is that we feel embarrassed when we are wrong especially when we find out that we have been lying to ourself.

When we lie to ourselves and we decide that we want to grow beyond the lie we have to look into life’s mirror metaphorically and face the truth behind our lies.  This type of truth seeking can leave us feeling naked, vulnerable and a bit scared of what we are going to find.

Owning your Creation

Self-transparency is taught in many different spiritual circles today.  They talk about owning your own creation.  What they often mean is that if you feel that your life is bad, then that is your fault.  Conversely, if you feel that your life is good then that may also be your fault.

Though a lot of our reality is determined by an optimistic or pessimistic perception it is good to learn how to accept our reality and find peace in the present moment.  The truth of the matter is, there are many things that appear to be outside of our physical control.

For example other people’s thoughts and actions.  Those are elements that can add insight into our world, but we cannot and should not control others.  But enough about consciousness, we can dig into the realms of thought and self-mastery at a later time.  What about Hans Christian Andersen?

Was Hans Christian Andersen awake?

Hans Christian Anderson lived between 1805-1875 and wrote many different stories, poems, and fairy tales that have shaped our thought more than we probably realize.  He wrote many different classic stories such as  “The Little Mermaid“, “The Snow Queen“, “The Nightingale“, “The Ugly Duckling“, and “The Emperor’s New Clothes“. 

If you want to influence people in a way that doesn’t offend them, and often will plant important thoughts into their subconscious then try what many of these great people did and tell stories.  Metaphors, symbolism, and stories allow us to observe or experience an idea without our emotional bias getting in the way.  This keeps self-deception at bay.

If you haven’t had a chance already, take a moment to read the profound short story from Andersen and see if any of the concepts remind you of modern society or the news media today.

The Emperor’s New Clothes

Many years ago there lived an emperor who loved beautiful new clothes so much that he spent all his money on being finely dressed. His only interest was in going to the theater or in riding about in his carriage where he could show off his new clothes. He had a different costume for every hour of the day. Indeed, where it was said of other kings that they were at court, it could only be said of him that he was in his dressing room!

One day two swindlers came to the emperor’s city. They said that they were weavers, claiming that they knew how to make the finest cloth imaginable. Not only were the colors and the patterns extraordinarily beautiful, but in addition, this material had the amazing property that it was to be invisible to anyone who was incompetent or stupid.

“It would be wonderful to have clothes made from that cloth,” thought the emperor. “Then I would know which of my men are unfit for their positions, and I’d also be able to tell clever people from stupid ones.” So he immediately gave the two swindlers a great sum of money to weave their cloth for him.

They set up their looms and pretended to go to work, although there was nothing at all on the looms. They asked for the finest silk and the purest gold, all of which they hid away, continuing to work on the empty looms, often late into the night.

“I would really like to know how they are coming with the cloth!” thought the emperor, but he was a bit uneasy when he recalled that anyone who was unfit for his position or stupid would not be able to see the material. Of course, he himself had nothing to fear, but still he decided to send someone else to see how the work was progressing.

“I’ll send my honest old minister to the weavers,” thought the emperor. He’s the best one to see how the material is coming. He is very sensible, and no one is more worthy of his position than he.

So the good old minister went into the hall where the two swindlers sat working at their empty looms. “Goodness!” thought the old minister, opening his eyes wide. “I cannot see a thing!” But he did not say so.

The two swindlers invited him to step closer, asking him if it wasn’t a beautiful design and if the colors weren’t magnificent. They pointed to the empty loom, and the poor old minister opened his eyes wider and wider. He still could see nothing, for nothing was there. “Gracious” he thought. “Is it possible that I am stupid? I have never thought so. Am I unfit for my position? No one must know this. No, it will never do for me to say that I was unable to see the material.”

“You aren’t saying anything!” said one of the weavers.

“Oh, it is magnificent! The very best!” said the old minister, peering through his glasses. “This pattern and these colors! Yes, I’ll tell the emperor that I am very satisfied with it!”

“That makes us happy!” said the two weavers, and they called the colors and the unusual pattern by name. The old minister listened closely so that he would be able to say the same things when he reported back to the emperor, and that is exactly what he did.

The swindlers now asked for more money, more silk, and more gold, all of which they hid away. Then they continued to weave away as before on the empty looms.

The emperor sent other officials as well to observe the weavers’ progress. They too were startled when they saw nothing, and they too reported back to him how wonderful the material was, advising him to have it made into clothes that he could wear in a grand procession. The entire city was alive in praise of the cloth. “Magnifique! Nysseligt! Excellent!” they said, in all languages. The emperor awarded the swindlers with medals of honor, bestowing on each of them the title Lord Weaver.

The swindlers stayed up the entire night before the procession was to take place, burning more than sixteen candles. Everyone could see that they were in a great rush to finish the emperor’s new clothes. They pretended to take the material from the looms. They cut in the air with large scissors. They sewed with needles but without any thread. Finally they announced, “Behold! The clothes are finished!”

The emperor came to them with his most distinguished cavaliers. The two swindlers raised their arms as though they were holding something and said, “Just look at these trousers! Here is the jacket! This is the cloak!” and so forth. “They are as light as spider webs! You might think that you didn’t have a thing on, but that is the good thing about them.”

“Yes,” said the cavaliers, but they couldn’t see a thing, for nothing was there.

“Would his imperial majesty, if it please his grace, kindly remove his clothes.” said the swindlers. “Then we will fit you with the new ones, here in front of the large mirror.”

The emperor took off all his clothes, and the swindlers pretended to dress him, piece by piece, with the new ones that were to be fitted. They took hold of his waist and pretended to tie something about him. It was the train. Then the emperor turned and looked into the mirror.

“Goodness, they suit you well! What a wonderful fit!” they all said. “What a pattern! What colors! Such luxurious clothes!”

“The canopy to be carried above your majesty awaits outside,” said the grandmaster of ceremonies.

“Yes, I am ready!” said the emperor. “Don’t they fit well?” He turned once again toward the mirror, because it had to appear as though he were admiring himself in all his glory.

The chamberlains who were to carry the train held their hands just above the floor as if they were picking up the train. As they walked they pretended to hold the train high, for they could not let anyone notice that they could see nothing.

The emperor walked beneath the beautiful canopy in the procession, and all the people in the street and in their windows said, “Goodness, the emperor’s new clothes are incomparable! What a beautiful train on his jacket. What a perfect fit!” No one wanted it to be noticed that he could see nothing, for then it would be said that he was unfit for his position or that he was stupid. None of the emperor’s clothes had ever before received such praise.

“But he doesn’t have anything on!” said a small child.

“Good Lord, let us hear the voice of an innocent child!” said the father, and whispered to another what the child had said.

“A small child said that he doesn’t have anything on!”

Finally everyone was saying, “He doesn’t have anything on!”

The emperor shuddered, for he knew that they were right, but he thought, “The procession must go on!” He carried himself even more proudly, and the chamberlains walked along behind carrying the train that wasn’t there.

———-

Have you ever caught yourself agreeing with somone because it feels easier or safer than speaking your mind?

Just like in the story above I feel that often times when someone is expressing an opinion it becomes easier to just nod and agree then it is to calmly state that we do not see it the same way.  When we do this we aren’t allowing others the oprotunity to grow or ourselves the ability to express our ideas about the topic.

We are a new generation of truth seekers that will not rest until we understand what is really going on with the government, wars, media, big energy companies, technology and consciouness.

Do you see people you know pulled into the fear games of the news media?  Do you ever wonder what they are being disctracted from?

Perhaps the distraction is just as simple as keeping us focused on the past or in fear of the future instead of rooted in the present moment.

“Root yourself in this present moment now. Sight, sound, smell. What do you feel?” -Will Smith in After Earth

If we are being distracted, fooled, and continue to allow self-decpetion to rule then we loose and give away all of our power.  Our power to act is where it has always been, in the present moment.

From the Mouth of a Child

Children are great at pointing out the flaws of society.  They are new to the earth, have a fresh set of eyes and are often bold in their observations.  Just like in the story above it was the child that shined a light on the kingdom’s self-deception.

We can learn a lot from the bold actions of children.  We are a new generation, a conscious generation and it is our time to find our voice and shine the light of truth in this world.

What do you think about the lessons behind The Emperor’s New Clothes and how it relates to our modern world?  Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Sources–

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type1620.html#andersen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor%27s_New_Clothes

Image source: patheos.com