Open the Future: Augmented Fluid Intelligence
http://www.openthefuture.com/2007/04/augmented_fluid_intelligence.html"
"Our ability to handle simultaneous complexity is governed by what cognitive scientists call 'fluid intelligence,' commonly defined as the ability to find meaning in confusion and to solve new problems. Fluid intelligence can be exercised, and in fact appears to be increasing. If Steven Johnson's argument in Everything Bad is Good For You is right, we're seeing this gradual increase in intelligence precisely because our cultural and social expressions are increasingly taking forms that are stimulating to our fluid intelligence.
"But this process will inevitably have limits. Eventually, we'll hit a ceiling in the ways in which we can improve our fluid intelligence naturally. At that point, we'll face a hard choice: make major changes to our work and social cultures, so as to reduce the degree of simultaneous attention-grabbing activity; or develop augmentation systems that enhance our natural fluid intelligence by recognizing, from moment to moment, what needs our actual focus, and what can be handled by proxies. The wise choice would be the first one. It should come as no surprise, then, that I suspect that we'll do the second.
"As it happens, we're already working on devices that will do just this. The problem is, these systems aren't quite done – and at present, actually tend to make matters worse.
"If you haven't heard of Twitter, count yourself lucky.....
