// intelligence, the brain, mind and self

  • Intelligence (Wechsler) = The aggregate, or global capacity to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment.
  • Intelligence (Encyclopaedia Britannica) = "a combination of many mental processes directed toward effective adaptation to the environment."
  • Brain (Damasio) = constantly evolving, physical community of recursive processes for reaction, self-regulation and activity
  • Mind (Bateson) = constantly evolving community of recursive processes for detecting, transforming and adapting to messages within a system
  • Self (Bateson) = constantly evolving community of historical recursive processes for detecting, transforming and adapting to messages within a system

"(A)s we develop from infancy to adulthood, the design of brain circuitries that represent our evolving body and its interaction with the world seems to depend on the activities in which the organism engages, and on the action of innate bioregulatory circuitries, as the latter react to such activities. In other words, we cannot understand the brain as an isolated, immutable structure; rather, it is part of a larger, constantly evolving feedback loop of individual activity and circumstances, reaction and self-regulation." (From Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain by Antonio R. Damasio)

In Steps to an Ecology of Mind, biologist and anthropologist Gregory Bateson refers to ìmindî as an aggregate of processes of detecting and responding to messages (news of difference) that transforms the system in a self-corrective manner regarding its goals.

Given this definition, messages within the system are transformed, the system (which requires the application of collateral energy to transform the messages) is transformed and the rules by which the system transforms the messages are also potentially transformed. These transformations produce the self-corrective or adaptive behaviors that drive the processes of learning and evolution and, in turn, distinguish ìmindî from other systems.

An ecological ìmindî is one in which these self-corrective transformations result in balance, harmony and homeostasis. ìWisdomî is then the effective use of these self-corrective transformations to achieve the desired goal(s).

Bateson defines ìselfî as the aggregate of historical processes for detecting, transforming and adapting to messages within a system. In Steps, Bateson argues that the notion of ìselfî is actually ìa false reification of an improperly delimited part of (a) much larger field of interlocking processesî (p. 331).

Unlike a system of physical connections, the motivation for interaction in human systems is a belief in the value of this interaction. For example, if I donít believe that sharing an idea with you and receiving your response is valuable, I will not initiate the interaction. ìTrustî may then be a meta-thought regarding oneís confidence about the belief about perceived value.

An important question is: Does participation in a system predispose inclusion in that system? If so, does that inclusion in a larger system transform oneís sense of (the boundaries that define) ìself?î I am suggesting oneís sense of self is determined by higher level frames that linguistically (and thereby artificially) define boundaries. If these boundaries are indeed artificial, then participation of any two or more people presupposes inclusion in a larger mind that arises from those interactions. Within the context of this larger mind, ìusî versus ìthemî is an illusion sustained by symmetrical and complementary relationships that blur (if not eliminate) the ìlinesî between the ìopponents.î

In other words: During any interaction, each "mind" participates in a larger self. Perhaps when we are interacting, the more we are one "mind," the more productive the experience.