on 16-Jun-2019 (Sun)

The skin is one of the largest organs of the human body. It serves a multitude of purpose

Intelligence prescription

The above reasoning leads to a simple formula for high intelligence:

To maximize intelligence, we should focus on maximizing the acquisition of high-quality knowledge

The term high quality stands here primarily for coherence and applicability (see: Abstract knowledge).

The above formula is universal and hermetic. It dispenses of the problem of the starting point, which will often differ vastly between individuals. It carries an important optimistic message that accelerates progress: there are few innate obstacles to high intelligence.

Immense progress could be achieved if adults could eliminate only two factors: (1) stress and (2) sleep problems.

How does aging affect intelligence?

In a healthy adult, domain-specific problem solving capacity will usually follow a curve in which there is an ascent in youth and a decline at older ages. The shape of that curve is determined by the balance of gains and losses. Gains are usually associated with learning, esp. learning via problem solving. Losses are mostly associated with health, esp. metal health, or neglect. As intelligence is a self-perpetuating quality, those who gain intelligence early may continue thriving into a very old age. On rare occasions, the effects of aging can be entirely compensated by lifelong learning, even in octogenarians and beyond.

There is also a subset of knowledge that is characterized by high stability and high retrievability. Such pairing is for example a norm in spaced repetition after a review. This knowledge is stable, but can also power the learn drive and creativity. It has been reactivated and brought back to a high retrievability level. Some of the pleasure of judicious spaced repetition comes from knowing (see: Pleasure of knowing). However, even more pleasure comes from the associative power of refreshed knowledge which can creatively contribute new ideas in the learning process. This is particularly noticeable in incremental reading, where new knowledge (reading) is combined with old knowledge (review) to produce new qualities (creativity). The boost to creativity and creative learning is one of the key advantages of incremental reading.

The creative power of incremental reading rests in part in the randomized interleaving of new knowledge with old knowledge

Memory coherence is the degree of meaningful connectedness of knowledge. If you visualize knowledge as a semantic network, coherence will reflect the quality of connectedness between proximal nodes of the network.

Even if you decide to spend only 3 minutes per day on learning! You will see how it triggers a positive feedback loop of efficient learning, growth of knowledge and the joy of further learning.

Try experimenting with "the three most important things I learned today"! If you add just three nuggets of knowledge daily, it will cost you just a few minutes of thinking, and it will transform your life over decades!