ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, NATURAL INTELLIGENCE AND PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE.

Artificial Intelligence seems to be on everyone’s mind right now - but are there other forms of intelligence that can serve humanity equally as well, or even better?

The answer is “Yes”. Personal Intelligence or Natural intelligence - that existed long before the term Artificial Intelligence was ever used - has helped humans make substantial discoveries across the globe, investigate the ocean depths, and help us to travel high into the atmosphere.

It is a sad fact that of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for only 268 of them - just 8 percent of recorded history. At least 108 million people have lost their lives in wars during the twentieth century. So why have humans been making such “dumb” decisions? Natural intelligence was, and is, positioned exclusively in our brains - and somewhat surprisingly in the brains of birds, animals, and fishes that share the planet with us.

Aesop's Fables, written by a former Greek slave in the late to mid-6th century BCE, is perhaps the world's best-known collection of morality tales. The 725 stories were originally told from person to person to entertain, but also to make us think - long before the term Artificial Intelligence ever existed.

The main characters in Aesop’s stories are animals, and each story provides much ‘food for thought’.

The fable of “The Thirsty Crow” tells us how the intelligence of the crow helped it to find a solution to a problem. The “Eagle and the Beetle” and “The Goose and the Golden Eggs” reveal more about natural intelligence.

“The Boy Who Cried Wolf” and “The Fox and the Monkey” are about truthfulness.

“The Two Frogs” and “The Cormorant and the Fishes” urge us to adapt to the environment, remain curious, and learn from each other to apply new-found knowledge and skills.

There are many different ways that Aesop shows us how animals use their natural intelligence to communicate and survive. Historic records tell us that Socrates knew the tales of Aesop “by heart” and Socrates has been quoted as saying “I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.”

Many years later Einstein believed that “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”

More recently Daniel Goleman outlined his five components of Emotional Intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. Natural intelligence seems to have become very subjective - with its definition becoming more confusing with advancements in humans and technology.

When the father of computer science, Alan Turing, posed the question “Can machines think? and “Will computers ever be able to outsmart humans?” he was pressured to develop a “Turing Test” to respond to his question. The test was criticized for its validity and it was thought that increasingly machines were becoming better at imitating humans.

Would Personal Intelligence, or Natural Intelligence ever triumph? It is becoming clearer that Artificial Intelligence cannot address questions such as whom to spend time with, whom to work with, and whom to ask for support.

We urgently need to understand Natural Intelligence more than ever because our future and the peaceful future of our world depend on it.

Although humanity has gained tremendously from technological discovery and innovation, we also need to understand personality and social influences better than at present.

We need to support the idea that we can live together in peace and that we can enjoy the results of what our brains - and our bodies - can provide for us.

We need to develop our Natural Intelligence so that we can take full responsibility for appreciating and respecting human differences.

We need to use our Natural Intelligence to better select the opportunities we take and lower the risks we live with.

Although all aspects of intelligence are important, they are certainly not the same.