How to Create a Mind

The Role of Intelligence

Futurist Ray Kurzweil cites intelligence as “the Intelligence." As “the most important phenomenon in the universe,” intelligence lets humans reach beyond their biological limits, transform the world and change who they are. Human intelligence, Kurzweil says, exists as it does because the universe’s foundational laws enable people to encode information. That is a far-reaching, almost revolutionary concept. 

Biological evolution produced simple organisms, then more complex organisms with nervous systems. Finally, says Kurzweil, it produced mammals, which differ from earlier organisms because they can think hierarchically. The part of the brain known as the neocortex is responsible for hierarchical thinking. All mammals have neocortices, but the human neocortex is the most complex. It enables people to embrace abstract thought, use tools and develop language. It also means that humanity has been able to amass more knowledge than any single person could learn.