Ecosystemic Intelligence (Does Killing and Domination Really Make Us Smarter?)

“Man has come to dominate the planet thanks to two essential traits. One is intelligence. The other has been the absolute willingness to kill anyone and anything that gets in his way.” ~Stephen King

We humans tend to believe that we are the most intelligent, powerful and evolved species on this planet and often the entire universe. Our belief about our superiority is often arrogant, anthropocentric and measured by our ability to kill and dominate other species. We also support the belief of our superiority by our capacity to problem solve, extract resources from nature and repurpose them into machines, chemicals and products that are frequently adverse to human health and often destroy the earth’s ecosystems and her ability to continue to provide life-affirming services and material resources.

Does our ability to kill, dominate, manufacture and destroy really support superior intelligence? What is meaningful intelligence and how do we measure it? What does it really mean to be intelligent, powerful, and evolved?

We humans have employed this same belief system of destruction, killing, war and domination for millennia — committing genocide on indigenous tribes, destroying nature and conquering nations. We are now at the threshold of foolishly extinguishing ourselves as a species. With rampant pandemic infections, diseases caused by pollution and toxicity, and an increasing number of life-threatening climate disasters, we are seeing the consequences of our arrogance, greed, fear and lack of intelligence. While we have built a wondrous and amazing modern society, have we really evolved from our core ignorance?

Bacteria, viruses and fungus actually are the most dominant, resilient and adaptable species on this planet. Because they can make us sick and kill us does it make them smarter? For every 1 human cell in our body, there are 1.3 microbes, so the microbes also dominate us. Does that make them smarter?

The definition of “Human Intelligence” [i] has been debated almost as much as the definition of love, but a commonly accepted definition is one’s capacity for understanding, self-awareness, logic, abstract thought, communication, learning, memory, emotional knowledge, creativity and problem-solving.

David Weschler, psychologist, expert on intelligence and researcher, defined intelligence as, “The aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment.”[ii]

Robert Sternberg, a prominent figure in the research of human intelligence, defines human intelligence as a “mental activity directed toward purposive adaptation to, selection and shaping of, real-world environments relevant to one’s life.”[iii]

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence[iv] consists of 3 forms of intelligence, as follows:

1. Practical Intelligence is a person’s ability to react to his or her environment and adapt to it or change it to suit their needs. Practical intelligence is the ability to thrive in the real world.

• “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” ~Stephen Hawking
• “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

2. Experiential (Creative) Intelligence relates to the way a person approaches new information or circumstances and is able to develop solutions based upon prior experience or create a new solution based upon innovative approaches.

• “In order to change an existing paradigm you do not struggle to try and change the problematic model. You create a new model and make the old one obsolete.” ~Buckminster Fuller
• “There is now evidence that certain lifestyle and environmental factors can serve as immunoadjuvants.” “Potentially modifiable social factors include things related to structure and behavior, such as housing, transportation, communication, health care systems, politics, and economics.” “A more panoramic view would include personally modifiable biological factors that decrease the susceptibility to viral infections and the reduction in their virulence by the improvement in immune response, and a greater emergent understanding of immune mechanisms by these variables to help reduce the number of serious cases of infection”. ~Jeffrey Bland, PhD

3. Componential (Analytical) Intelligence refers to a person’s ability to analyze information and use logic, knowledge and strategy to develop solutions.

• “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting” ~Sun Tzu
• “How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?” ~ Arthur Conan Doyle

In addition to the types of intelligence discussed above, below are 12 types of intelligence to consider with the first 9 being inspired by the Multiple Intelligences Theory of Howard Gardner, Ph.D., a renowned developmental psychologist:[v]

1. Logical-Mathematical — Provides the facility to engage in logical problem solving, deductive reasoning and critical thinking, as well as to see relationships between shapes, symbols and concepts and use mathematical operations to provide support scientific and logical reasoning.

2. Musical-Rhythmic — The ability to understand and distinguish between music patterns (e.g., melodies, harmonies and notes), pitch, tone, instruments and rhythms.

3. Verbal-Linguistic — One’s proficiency to acquire, understand and speak and write in different languages and express oneself by using words to effectively communicate and achieve certain goals.

4. Visual-Spatial — The awareness of, and competence to utilize, patterns and designs in various dimensions and spaces.

5. Interpersonal — Sensing and understanding the intentions, feelings, motivations and desires of others which often requires a level of empathy, compassion and the capacity for awareness, listening and reading another.

6. Intrapersonal — The understanding and conscious utilization of one’s own emotions, feelings, desires, conditioning and states of being for the betterment of one’s life.

7. Naturalistic — The instinctual understanding of nature, ecosystems, living things and living systems with the ability to coexist, communicate and thrive with nature.

8. Existential-Cosmic — The capacity to utilize universal and whole systems intelligence to better understand, perceive, promulgate and utilize philosophies, constructs and theories about how the universe works, why and how we exist. This intelligence is often used by quantum physicists, philosophers and theologians.

9. Mechanical — One’s ability to understand and manage machines, objects and physical technologies.

10. Academic — Generally referred to as IQ or Intelligence Quotient representing one’s ability to manage formal school education and the ability to learn, process and repeat information.

11. Emotional — Regularly referred to as EQ or Emotional Quotient includes the capacity to identify, understand, express and guide emotions and behavior resulting therefrom, as well as to related empathically to others.

12. Spiritual — Intuitive — Often referred to as SQ or Spiritual Intelligence is the capacity to access, understand and utilize that which is multi-dimensional and often outside of the realm of space, time and reason including the ability to access intuition, co-creative manifestation and the reflexive interconnected nature of the universe.

In furtherance of the foregoing, I would like to add for consideration what I believe is the most important intelligence — “Ecosystemic Intelligence.” I define Ecosystemic Intelligence as the ability of species to use the least amount of energy and resources to create the greatest amount of evolutionary thriving for itself and its environment.

No other form of intelligence matters if we’re extinct. Ecosystemic Intelligence is the essential form of intelligence that maintains the ability of a species to live and thrive. In using the definition of Ecosystemic Intelligence above, we are arguably the stupidest species on the planet because we actually use more energy and resources than any other species to harm ourselves and our environment.

Even though humankind has created many wondrous things, we have also created, and continue to perpetuate, a world full of untenable levels of war, toxicity, injustice and over-consumption leading to disease, poverty, irreversible damage to our biosphere and increased risk of human extinction.

It is generally agreed that the growth of the neocortex has been responsible for the evolution of human intelligence. In 2014, it was shown that a species of dolphin, the long-finned pilot whale, has more neocortical neurons than any mammal studied to date, including humans. Dolphins engage in problem-solving, including understanding numerical continuity, participate in complex play, interact with other species (e.g., saving human swimmers and beach whales), engage in creative behavior, can communicate concepts, have long memories, the ability to learn including human sign language, are self-aware and use sonar.[vi] So why do we believe we're more intelligent than dolphins, who have been on earth for about 5 million years compared to our estimated 200,000 on earth? Because we can kill and dominate them.

Throughout history, humans have celebrated the “good” vs. “evil” scenario where the good guys “win” by warring against, killing and dominating the bad guys. The celebration of good guys killing and dominating the bad guys has become foundational to our ethos as a society and has been perpetuated in social conditioning by the media (e.g. Star Wars, Avatar, Wizard of Oz, Superman and just about every Disney Fairy Tale) and education systems. “His-story” has largely been written by the victors, conquerors and colonizers from their ethnocentric perspective and often been adopted as historical fact.

The conqueror narrative and ethos have substantially influenced our approach to problem-solving and building our civilization — we regularly war against, fight against, destroy and eradicate that which we perceive as bad rather than creating that which is good, loving, beautiful and thriving. For example, rather than killing bacteria and viruses with antibiotics, vaccines and medications full of toxins that compromise our immune systems and typically result in more virulent strains of bacteria and viruses, we could create strong immune systems, so that sickness from bacteria and viruses would largely be rendered obsolete.

Another meme we have been conditioned to believe is that our industrialized and weaponized “civilization” is progressive and far superior to that of hunter-gatherers. The popular view of hunter-gatherers, as promulgated by Thomas Hobbes in 1651 is that their lives are “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” But have we really made progress? Have we really created a higher quality of life with greater health and ecosystemic thriving?

According to Marshall Sahlins, anthropologist and professor emeritus at University of Chicago, hunter-gatherers only worked about 15–20 hours a week in order to survive and devoted the rest of their time to leisure. In his “original affluent society” theory, Sahlins shifted the anthropological view of hunter-gatherers from primitive savages to practitioners of refined modes of subsistence. According to Sahlins, “the hunter-gatherer societies were able to achieve affluence by desiring little and meeting those desires with what was available to them. In the industrial society “man’s wants are great, not to say infinite, whereas his means are limited.”

The appearance of “affluence” in modern society has resulted from natural resources being extracted and exploited without restoring and replenishing them and the damage to our biosphere has rendered the once unrecognized and undervalued work of natural capital unable to keep up with human demand, consumption and destruction. According to WWF’s “Living Planet Report,” we exhausted the carrying capacity of the planet in 1979 while our population and consumption continue to increase. Our society has the illusion of affluence, yet there are billions of humans suffering to support this illusion. For instance, over 3.5 billion people live in extreme poverty ($2.50 or less per day) and another 1.5 billion people live in poverty (less than $10 per day) while 8 of the wealthiest individuals control more resources than 3.5 billion of the poorest.[vii]

Additionally, research of animal behavior has evidenced that animals in the wild appear to be relatively free from eating disorders, depression and addiction, whereas laboratory, caged and domesticated animals do have these disorders.[viii] In our supposedly affluent society, we have become disconnected from nature and each other, a majority of humankind is living in or near poverty, and the metropolitan cages we create for ourselves are leading to widespread behavioral disorders and sociopathy. Nature has 4.5 billion years of wisdom and provides us with everything we need to live abundant and thriving lives. Yet, we have the arrogance to think that we are smarter than nature and that our man-made systems are superior to nature.

For example, it is a generally accepted meme that due to scientific and medical advancement, we are able to live longer, more healthy lives, while our poor ancient ancestors were lucky to live past the age of 35. The studies that support this view, however, skew the results with infant mortality rates and statistical averaging. According to Satoshi Kanazawa, when infant mortality rates were removed from the studies, the life span of hunter-gatherers was calculated to between 70 and 80 years, the same rate as that found in contemporary industrialized societies.

The domination, killing, destruction, increased work and effort of modern society are not the hallmarks of intelligence, but rather stupidity. How can we use our mental capacity more intelligently and effectively? Here are a few ideas:

· Create a world of peace, abundance and thriving

· Develop a regenerative economy with meaningful and fulfilling work devoted on ecosystemic and economic thriving and regenerative abundance

· Restore, respect and serve the planet

· Reallocate war spending to projects that benefit people & planet with clean renewable energy and materials, reforestation, water infrastructure, proliferation of permaculture farms, edible landscaping and “Wise, Regenerative and Resilient Cities and Communities.”

· Implement “Living Technologies” that regenerate resources and improve planetary health

· Localization of needs “living microgrids” that provide water, food, energy and materials within cities and communities to minimize reliance on a centralized supply and

· Utilize true cost accounting to acknowledge the value of natural capital and the costs of externalities such as war, ecological destruction, social injustice, cultural genocide and bad health.

· Share more, consume less

· Use circular economy and durable manufacturing processes

· Create a balance between profits, growth, social responsibility and ecosystemic thriving, where the social and ecological imperative is superior to the economic imperative

When we can cast aside our arrogance and give reverence to the superiority of nature and live in a regenerative, value-adding and co-evolving relationship with nature that creates true thriving for people and planet, we might start using our mental capacity and potential in a truly intelligent way and can then claim we are intelligent, powerful and evolved.

[i] Sources consulted include https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence; https://psychologydictionary.org/?s=mathematical+intelligence; https://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Howard+Gardner; https://www.chabad.org/blogs/blog_cdo/aid/821678/jewish/Emotional-Intelligence-vs-Academic-Intelligence.htm

[ii] Wechsler, D (1944). The measurement of adult intelligence. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wechsler

[iii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sternberg; Sternberg RJ; Salter W (1982). Handbook of human intelligence. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

[iv] Sources consulted include https://www.thoughtco.com/triarchic-theory-of-intelligence-4172497; https://nrcgt.uconn.edu/newsletters/spring002/

[v] Sources consulted include https://infed.org/mobi/howard-gardner-multiple-intelligences-and-education/; https://study.com/academy/lesson/logical-mathematical-intelligence-definition-examples-quiz.html; https://blog.adioma.com/9-types-of-intelligence-infographic/; https://thesystemsthinker.com/spiritual-intelligence-a-new-paradigm-for-collaborative-action/#:~:text=SQ%2C%20or%20spiritual%20intelligence%2C%20underpins,richer%20and%20more%20creative%20lives.

[vi] Sources consulted include https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cetacean_intelligence#:~:text=The%20brain%20to%20body%20mass,second%20in%20place%20of%20humans).

[vii] https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/just-8-men-own-same-wealth-half-world

[viii] Sources consulted include https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_psychopathology; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3351502/