Reified Randomness…

by Wesley

Reification. The process/reasoning error of which is defined as viewing an intangible, immaterial concept as a tangible, quantifiable, measurable construct. As the human species and our seemingly insatiable curious tendencies develop, we tend to create reified, societal, cultural, constructs and objects, perhaps the most prominent being intelligence, which serves as the focus of this post.

Defined as our collective experience, capacity to learn and adapt mental sets, etc. what truly is intelligence? How can such a truly intangible, reified concept be so ingrained in our society, specifically our education? As I often ponder about this world, our existence, the human capacity, and the abstractions that are so fundamental, yet seemingly  irrelevant (I typically spend much of my “free” time wondering what reality is, how our species collectively has developed, and what truly is the purpose of this reified cyclical “thing” called life, but I digress…) I find intelligence to be specifically interesting. Why has the human species defined intelligence, among other conceptual constructs? It is purely an instrument of distinguish, exemplifying the mental diversity of our species/society? More so, we see the significance of IQ Tests and standardized measures of “intelligence” dwindle, exemplifying, to me at least, that reified concepts are largely unquantifiable despite their integration into our societal organization.

Though, from a computational perspective, have we quantified “intelligence?” Machine Learning, statistical modeling and dynamic, parallel programming would perhaps have support for a different definition, as collection/threshold of information/knowledge, and the dynamism to apply such to presented, experienced-based problems, this definition, reified or not, has no direct, range of quantifiable values, but certainly could explain some of these aforementioned immaterial abstractions, and emphasize the role of the developmental environment in the development our mental capacities.

Overall, as I read over this post, I recognize that this is merely an array of questions, a display of my (some would argue “our”) own ignorance of our species, capacities as an entity, and cannot help but wonder, what does anybody who happens to come across this post think? Are reified concepts legitimate or purely demonstrations of our attempts at justifying, rectifying, and explaining our experiences, natural differences, etc.?