The Gift of Difficulty

Today I’d like to talk to you about what intelligence is good for and why you shouldn’t avoid difficult things. I’ll spare you a detailed analysis of my preferred definition of intelligence. Suffice it to say, I don’t think the popular definition of intelligence as “problem solving ability” is satisfactory. The reason is that life is not a series of finite problems to be solved, yet intelligence can clearly be applied to life to live it better. Life is, as James P. Carse says, an “infinite game”. It has ups and downs to be navigated, but it’s not something you win. The point is to keep things in play and to do so well. Intelligence is for playing life well.

My aim with The Euv0ia Project is to develop a means of systematically and reliably increasing my own intelligence and to share the process for others to follow along. I want to get smarter to better investigate fundamental reality, but you might have different reasons. I’ve said before that I think it is possible to increase human intelligence, and I think there is some scientific evidence in favor of this claim. Even if it’s not true, we must hope and try to believe that it is. Such a belief will spur us into taking action along certain paths of human achievement, whose end result will be lives better lived, no matter what test scores say.

Getting what you want out of life is the ultimate measure of intelligence. If you’re not getting what you want, your intelligence is either misapplied, or you’re not as smart as you think you are. This is not a judgment. It is truth, plain and simple. I’m not saying getting what you want out of life means getting everything you want. Getting what you want comes in degrees. It’s relative to alternatives. Just as life could be better or worse off according to circumstance, so intelligence is greater or lesser in proportion to one’s ability to direct actions toward relatively better paths. Getting more of what you want is better than getting less of what you want, and intelligence is for getting more.

Some people may balk at this idea, thinking external barriers make efforts to increase intelligence irrelevant to living well:

But we are oppressed! How can we be expected to succeed when we are so put down?

That is a limited mindset that thinks in absolutes. You may well be oppressed. The mark of an intelligent person is the ability to obtain a better lot in life, even amidst oppression. This might mean devising a clever plan to overthrow your oppressors and take your fate into your own hands. Or it might mean accepting the overall state of things and realigning your purpose to live within the constraints put upon you in a better way. I’m not going to tell you which should be your choice. I’m not here to moralize or gather allies for a crusade of struggle.

I’m simply trying to live a better life, and I think living intelligently is the way to do it, because intelligence is the capacity to efficiently contend with constraint. That is my definition of intelligence. Constraints are simply any type of limitation. Rules are constraints. The laws of physics are constraints. The present demand for your services is a constraint. The number of keys on the piano is a constraint. And so on. Intelligence is the capacity to contend with these to overcome them or achieve goal-directed outcomes in the face of them. The test of this capacity is getting more of what you want out of life. Intelligence comes in degrees, as measured by the degree to which you get what you really want.

You may or may not agree with my definition of intelligence, but let me highlight a few additional points or caveats pertaining to it.

1. Everyone has some level of intelligence.

This follows from the fact that intelligence is a capacity that comes in degrees modified by efficiency. If you and I both solve a math problem but my solution is tortured, ad hoc, and involves many more steps, whereas yours is elegant and concisely discovers the solution from first principles, your solution is more efficient. I don’t think it would be a stretch to say yours is the smarter solution. If you are generally better at producing such solutions than me, or you reliably produce them more frequently, I think there’s a good case to be made that you are simply more intelligent than me.

2. There is no such thing as absolute intelligence.

This is for two reasons. First, nobody knows exactly what they want. Second, even if you knew what you wanted completely and precisely, an absolute capacity to contend with constraint is impossible except as relative to some constraint or other. You can become maximally good at counting cards (where the rules of Blackjack are among the constraints of the game), but being maximally good at card counting won’t make you maximally good at doing your taxes. Nobody could be maximally good at every constraint, because life involves an unending series of such constraints, and mastery of one opens up new views. Just as the more you know, the more you will discover you don’t know, so the more intelligent you are the more constraints you will be able to notice. The unintelligent person does not realize he is constrained. The highly intelligent sees constraints left and right. His intelligence consists in his capacity to deal with these.

3. Intelligence can be increased.

This follows again from the capacity notion. Intelligence is an ability directed at working within or around constraints. Functionally speaking, any means of increasing one’s probability of succeeding in the face of limitations counts as increasing one’s intelligence. This doesn’t have to be a biological notion. Using heuristics or even external aids such as certain technology counts as increasing intelligence in this sense.

Get smart through difficulty

What follows from all this? If intelligence is the capacity to efficiently contend with constraint, and if intelligence can be increased, then as a first step toward becoming more intelligent, I think we should try seeking out difficult things instead of avoiding them. Learning to notice the difficulties that bound our experiences is the first step toward overcoming those boundaries. Or if they cannot be overcome, perhaps they can be worked within.

That’s a hopeful result, and I aim to take action on it.

Here’s how you can start taking action as well. Grab a pen and paper, or open up a word processor. Take a few minutes to think about some area of your life you want to improve. Write down just one clear goal for now. Next, take five minutes to list all the constraints keeping you from achieving your goal. (Don’t forget about psychological constraints. Those are sometimes the most durable chains.) Get super clear about what’s holding you back, precisely. Now, see if you can reframe these constraints as opportunities. Try to notice that they are tests of your creativity and intelligence and to see this as a positive. Know that you’re smart and can figure it out.

Just meditate on this for a while. You don’t have to problem solve. The point here is to develop a positive relationship with your constraints. Try to develop the habit of noticing your limitations and cultivating the inner feeling that you will be able to succeed despite them, or even because of them.

Often during this process, I’ve discovered that I am unconsciously avoiding one of the constraints in my life. There is something difficult I don’t want to do, or which is uncertain, and I end up avoiding it. This is a common issue, and it’s likely you’ll face it as well. Remember, difficult things are opportunities to exercise intelligence, and in a certain way, approaching them may even increase your capacity to act intelligently in the future.

Don’t avoid the difficult things, the constraints or limitations. They’re gifts in disguise.

-euv0ia

P.S. I’m working on implementing a five-step process for increasing my own intelligence based on the idea of seeking out difficulty, and I’ll be sharing it soon. Stay tuned.