Wikipedia defines intelligence as

"Intelligence has been defined in many different ways such as in terms of one's
capacity for logic, abstract thought, understanding, self-awareness, communicati
on, learning, emotional knowledge, memory, planning, creativity and problem solv
ing."
This definition basically tries to list the things intelligence can accomplish a
nd makes it more imprecise & difficult to understand the essence of intelligence
.
Below I present my views on intelligence which I admit aren't original and has b
een acquired,inherited and shaped by various observations,readngs & discussions.
And i cannot verify the correctness of my views as I feel to truly define intell
igence,one has to be the most
To me,Intelligence is simply "The ability to differentiate"- to discriminate & i
dentify things as distinct or not.For example when someone is emotionally intell
igent,they have the ability to differentiate between emotions.
Or an intelligent engineer can identify plumbing & linear network analysis as no
t distinct.Both can appply KVL & KCL.
Intelligence depends on how we gather & process information.we gather informatio
n by perceiving the world.This can be improved upon by paying more attention to
world around us.There's much more going around us than we actually see.A majorit
y of lapses/foolishness in life are due to the fact that we don't pay close atte
ntion to things.In fact lack of it is the basis of magician's magic.So a magic s
how is where we pay someone to throughly fool us.
Once perceived, next comes processing the information.Processing it is composed
of two parts-examining thoroughly & excluding assumptions.
Assumptions may lead to personal bias & prejudice & leads to a lot of unintellig
ent behaviour including extremes like religious intolerence & racism.Effects of
assumption also show up in daily life.People who are late or sloppy make certain
assumptions about time and quantity of work.Assumptions also fool us into belie
ving that we understand certain things & hence prevent us from examining things.
What is required is a conscious effort to examine & re-examine and exclude assum
ptions.
An example of this interplay of misperception,assumption & failure to examine is
a college lecture.As students we make two assumption which makes learning an di
fficult task that it might not be.The assumptions are:
1.The assumption of being perceived as 'stupid' by teachers and peers by asking
a 'stupid' question.
2.The assumption that if no one is asking anything,then they've understood every
thing.
This along with assumption that we'll be able to cover it later hinders us from
examining thing at that very moment & thus we remain stupid.
[ariely video link]
This definition of itelligence & its components may also apply to happiness.The
more intelligently we think about something(paying attention,examining thoroughl
y & excluding assumptions) the better we understand it & with understanding come
s happiness.So being happy is also a decision and choice to be made rather than
something externally controlled.
Another example would be that of beauty.It's said that "Beauty lies in the eyes
of the beholder".The whole essence of beauty can't be captured in a single word.
Instances of beauty include smell of the first rain,the vibrant colourful view o

f the rainbow,the flowers blooming outside hostel after the winters,the chance a
ppearance of a peacock,watching honey bee sitting on a flower[pic attached],smal
l puppies outside hostel rushing for biscuits,an elegant solution to a problem &
much more.
Some may not find beauty in it.Or even we may miss the beauty of all these at ce
rtain times.Did anything change with the object we consider beautiful?No.Everyth
ing is exactly the same way as it had been always.What changed is that we are no
t paying attention to it.We have decided not to see it.This can be changed by co
nsciously paying attention to things around us.
So beauty is eternally there.It's upto the beholder to choose whether to see it
or not.
Intelligence is less of a inborn thing and more of a skill to think in a certain
way(perceive,examine & exclude assumptions).I would conclude by stating that ev
erything is beautiful if tackled with intelligently.