polytrip said:
...you would not see such a thing for instance as superintelligent behaviour?
By current estimates, humans have been around as a species for about 100,000 years. It took humanity about 80,000-90,000 to develop the ideas of cultivating plants and domesticating animals for food. It took most of the remaining 10,000-20,000 to develop writing, the printing press, and the cognitive process of science.
99,500 years just to get started? I wouldn't call that superintelligent behavior.
All the amazing developments of the last 500 years depended not on superintelligence, but on common intelligence collected and build upon by accrual. Our progress has been mostly based upon a collection of the occasional good ideas of people--the best of whom are lucky to have one or a few good ideas, analyses, or insights in a lifetime--using the very simple tools of experimental science.
Furthermore,
recent work in cognitive science has demonstrated just how poorly put together we are in terms of thinking abilities.
History demonstrates that gory fights over resources are MUCH nearer to our hearts than thinking and analysis. Objectively, it seems we're only just a bit smarter than chimps--plus we possess the additional capacity to formulate concepts in spoken language and, at least for the last 500 years or so, easily store those concepts for others to use. That's about it--I just don't see the superintelligence you allude to...
IMO, the best way for individuals to maximize whatever inherent abilities they may have is to gain an awareness of just how meager our intelligence really is.
