Intelligence is a Network

At an anatomical level, the brain creates memories by having a set of neurons fire together in a given sequence whenever a given event occurs. A single neuron is pretty inconsequential, or perhaps useless, insofar as intelligence and cognition are concerned. Billions of these tiny brain cells have to stay connected in a never-ending dance, firing bits of data among themselves.

Creativity happens in much the same way as neurons form new and unique connections to constitute new patterns, and hence resulting in new and novel ideas. These connections between neurons usually resemble networks of cooperation transmitting information across the brain.

Therefore, at its most basic level, intelligence is, in fact, a network.

This can also be said to be true beyond the microscopic level. In the same manner that brain cells can only produce intelligence and creativity when they cooperate, so do brains need to rub against other brains to be truly effective. Neurons have to form novel connections with other neurons in the network to spark new ideas. Equally, creativity and innovation benefits from the convergence and cooperation of brains. Lone-genius moments may occur at times, but the truly transformational ideas are usually possible when minds meet, dance together, and bounce thoughts off of each other. I will give an example.

In the 1920s, the American research organization, Bell Labs, was founded with the mission to spur innovation and achieve breakthrough inventions for the American Telegraph and Telephone Company (AT&T). The invention of the telephone had proven to Alexander Graham Bell, and the Western world, that there remained unchartered frontiers to be explored in a then-nascent field of computing technology.

Although Alexander Bell had almost single-handedly invented the telephone, he understood that the next challenge in the frontier could only be met by a network of minds, and not a lone genius. Therefore, the idea for Bell Labs was simple: bring together the brightest and most creative scientific minds in the Western world under one roof, give them access to an unlimited budget, and let them invent stuff.

Here, as Walter Isaacson describes in the book The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, "Abstract theories intersected with practical problems…, and in the corridors and cafeterias eccentric theorists mingled with hands-on engineers, gnarly mechanics, and businesslike problem-solvers, encouraging the cross-fertilization of theory with engineering."

Even more interestingly, the buildings were constructed with long corridors and open spaces to maximize contact among scientists in different departments. By simply walking from one end of a Bell Labs campus to another, an electronics engineer, for instance, would be sure to chance upon a theoretical physicist, a computer scientist, a quantum scientist, a radio astronomer, and more.

Ultimately, it was here at Bell Labs that the digital age was born: the transistor, the integrated circuit, the microprocessor, information theory, the first operating system, lasers, and most of the early computers were all invented at Bell Labs. What was the secret to this wave of ingenuity, creativity, and invention? It was simple: brilliant people were put in the company of equally brilliant and creative people, allowing genius to be in contact with genius, and creating a dense network of intelligence which changed the world.

The way to truly make impact in this age, therefore, is to learn to leverage this intercourse of brains. If we can learn to identify talent whenever it may be, bring brains together with a common vision, and learn to manage the resulting cooperation, then we have a high chance of making truly significant impact in our world.

There is only so much that a lone genius can get done, but a network of brains never fails to push society a step ahead.

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Keepers of the Quo

As we grow up, we begin to be presented with reality and society as they are, or as those who have been here before us have made them to be. One thing about this form of old reality is that it works. It works imperfectly, but society as it is, as it has been built to do certain things and to keep doing them for as long as possible, is certainly not perfect.

Some societies tend to do this better than others - whether it is in sustaining the economy, keeping families safe, educating kids et cetera. No matter how good or broken a society’s normal is, a lot of effort and attention is expended to sustain it.

That seems to be the whole duty of public service – to protect the status quo and prevent anything from breaking. Naturally, a lot of people are sucked into this system which keeps things running as they always have - but not necessarily as they should. Societies inherently have a lot of inertia which makes use of talent and resources to maintain what has always been.

However, within societies are individuals who tend to be naturally inclined to neither accepting nor sustaining that status quo. Despite the constant pull of the norm, they always seem to be caught in a constant friction with what is and has always been.

They are rebels. They adamantly refuse to accept that the way that they found things going is the way they shall always be. As a result, they irrationally obsess over a future that looks nothing like the present. These individuals are fierce enemies of the status quo. They are averse to the standards of the day and are desperately bend on reinventing them.

Therefore, to those who are simply dedicated to the preserving the status quo – the humble public servants and the gatekeepers of traditional industry - these rebels may seem like mad men.

And so society has become a continual frontline between the keepers of the status quo and those rebels who seek to change it. The former may win a great percentage of the time, and thanks to them we tend to live in a relatively stable society. But the latter group – those rebels mad enough to dare challenge what is and to dream of what could be – they do not win all the time, but when they do, society takes a leap forward, and everybody wins because of what they did.

In an age like this we’ve inherited, each one of us needs a little of the rebel spirit in them.

And it does not have to be that nihilistic attitude which only seeks to abolish everything that is. Instead, we should have a genuine and insightful sense of how things could be not only different but also better. Our imperfect, Third World, societies desperately need young people who can dare to see things as they could be; perhaps we should all be rebels.

But how do we even begin to envision what could be? What will keep us from the strong arm of the status quo and the alluring charm of the norm?

This is wherein personal insight and knowledge come in. Committing to continuous learning centers us rightly in the larger story of humanity. Furthermore, an awareness of history is inevitable as it gives our endeavors a sharper edge with which to dissect what is, and a firmness with which to build what could be, nay, what should be....