Reading Nick Land's What Is Intelligence with The Dangerous Maybe

The Dangerous Maybe and I read Nick Land’s short piece, What Is Intelligence, and have a two-hourish conversation about it.How one defines intelligence might seem a bit too academic for the average-everyday person to care about, it might seem like it doesn’t really matter because we all, ostensibly, have it, and it’s safe to take it for granted; it’s one of those things about which one could sit around and gather wool and bellybutton-lint all day, but when it comes to the important business of living daily life, there are just so many more important things to worry about! Sure. But also, it kinda matters. A lot.There are a lot of people who take Intelligence for granted, and who are currently developing globe-spanning technologies and tools that are already radically changing the world we live in, and whose effects will only accelerate and intensify as we hurtle deeper into the Dark Future. Many of these people, in fact I’m confident that most, mean well, and genuinely believe that they are doing work to improve the lives of all Humans here on our lovely little Pale Blue Dot. The thing is, without critically investigating the notion of Intelligence, these well-meaning people are actively working to accelerate contact with catastrophe.I’m not saying that Mikey and I have the answers, that we have it all figured out and that people who don’t share our views are evil or dumb or wrong, or at least I’m not trying to say that—what I am trying to say is this—we should probably pump the brakes a bit and reexamine our trajectory, reexamine our presuppositions, and maybe turn the certainty and the utility sliders down a bit, we may not get another chance… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nanceee.substack.com