--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What is intelligence, anyway It is only a…" description: "\"What is intelligence, anyway It is only a word that people use to name those unknown processes with which our brains solve problems we call hard. But w..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0b4/marvin-minsky-7760_brain_what-is-intelligence-anyway-it-is-only-a_1397246.jpg" --- # What is intelligence, anyway It is only a word that people… ![“What is intelligence, anyway It is only a word that people use to name those unknown processes with which our brains solve problems we call hard. But whenever you learn a skill yourself, you're less impressed or mystified when other people do the same. This is why the meaning of 'intelligence'…” quote by Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0b4/marvin-minsky-7760_brain_what-is-intelligence-anyway-it-is-only-a_1397246.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0b4/marvin-minsky-7760_brain_what-is-intelligence-anyway-it-is-only-a_1397246.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0b4/marvin-minsky-7760_brain_what-is-intelligence-anyway-it-is-only-a_1397246.jpg) > “What is intelligence, anyway It is only a word that people use to name those unknown processes with which our brains solve problems we call hard. But whenever you learn a skill yourself, you're less impressed or mystified when other people do the same. This is why the meaning of 'intelligence' seems so elusive: It describes not some definite thing but only the momentary horizon of our ignorance about how minds might work.” [Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Intelligence is a label for unknown mental processes; learning reduces mystery. **In simple terms:** Intelligence describes unknown brain work; learning demystifies it. Key Takeaway Recognize intelligence as a process, not a fixed trait. Themes intelligence learning unknown processes mind humility Mood inquisitive humble analytical Type reflective educational When to use this quote - teaching - skill acquisition - research - personal development Key Concepts cognitive science philosophy of mind education self-awareness Questions to Reflect On - What assumptions do you make about intelligence? - How does personal learning change your view of others' abilities? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on labels can hinder understanding of underlying mechanisms. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Brain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brain/) [Horizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/horizon/) [Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) [Intelligence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intelligence/) [Killing yourself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/killing-yourself/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Problem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/problem/) [Process](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/process/) [Skills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/skills/) ## Related quotes > [Education is no substitute for intelligence. That elusive quality is defined only in part by puzzle-solving ability. It is in the creation of new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-herbert/education-is-no-substitute-for-intelligence-that-elusive-quality-is/) [Frank Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-herbert/) > [“Intelligence requires first the gift of curiosity.  Without curiosity, who would ask questions?  Second, intelligence is the ability to synthesize.  Facts alone signify little. …](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ki-longfellow/intelligence-requires-first-the-gift-of-curiosity-without-curiosity/) [Ki Longfellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ki-longfellow/) > [“In a sense, and as in melodrama, killing yourself amounts to confessing. It is confessing that life is too much for you or that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/in-a-sense-and-as-in-melodrama-killing-yourself-amounts-to-confessing/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [Passing out while you try to kill yourself is like failing at failing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maddox/passing-out-while-you-try-to-kill-yourself-is-like-failing-at-failing/) [Maddox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maddox/) > [In TV and movies, you kill yourself spending all this time to think up the symbolism or what if that deer that runs across…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-kripke/in-tv-and-movies-you-kill-yourself-spending-all-this-time-to-think-up/) [Eric Kripke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-kripke/) > [If you really want to kill yourself, you get a gun and blow your head off](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorna-luft/if-you-really-want-to-kill-yourself-you-get-a-gun-and-blow-your-head/) [Lorna Luft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorna-luft/) > [If you don't want anyone to know about your existence, you might as well kill yourself. You're taking up space, air.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-eggers/if-you-don-t-want-anyone-to-know-about-your-existence-you-might-as/) [Dave Eggers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-eggers/) > [“Advice for a human. 87. Dark matter is needed to hold galaxies together. Your mind is a Galaxy. More dark than light. But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/advice-for-a-human-87-dark-matter-is-needed-to-hold-galaxies-together/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [“Or take this girl, for example. At a meeting just outside Paris, a fifteen-year-old girl came up to me and said that she'd been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/krzysztof-kieslowski/or-take-this-girl-for-example-at-a-meeting-just-outside-paris-a/) [Krzysztof Kieślowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/krzysztof-kieslowski/) > [Loving, knowing that you are going to get hurt is like living knowing that you are going to die. But, not loving so you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/loving-knowing-that-you-are-going-to-get-hurt-is-like-living-knowing/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [So he was deserted. The whole world was clamouring: Kill yourself, kill yourself, for our sakes. But why should he kill himself for their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/so-he-was-deserted-the-whole-world-was-clamouring-kill-yourself-kill/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [The idea of retiring is like killing yourself. It's almost like Hari Kari. I intend to live to a 100 and go down in history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-richards/the-idea-of-retiring-is-like-killing-yourself-it-s-almost-like-hari/) [Keith Richards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-richards/) > [You can kill time or kill yourself, it comes to the same thing in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elsa-triolet/you-can-kill-time-or-kill-yourself-it-comes-to-the-same-thing-in-the/) [Elsa Triolet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elsa-triolet/) > [It goes Christmas, New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day. Is that fair to anyone who's alone? These are all days you gotta be with someone.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-kightlinger/it-goes-christmas-new-year-s-eve-valentine-s-day-is-that-fair-to/) [Laura Kightlinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-kightlinger/) > [You're killing yourself with cynicism. Your idols got taken away from you one by one and now you have nothing to give your love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/you-re-killing-yourself-with-cynicism-your-idols-got-taken-away-from/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) ## More by Marvin Minsky > [Theorems often tell us complex truths about the simple things, but only rarely tell us simple truths about the complex ones. To believe otherwise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-minsky/theorems-often-tell-us-complex-truths-about-the-simple-things-but/) [Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) > [We wanted to solve robot problems and needed some vision, action, reasoning, planning, and so forth. We even used some structural learning, such as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-minsky/we-wanted-to-solve-robot-problems-and-needed-some-vision-action/) [Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) > [We rarely recognize how wonderful it is that a person can traverse an entire lifetime without making a single really serious mistake — like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-minsky/we-rarely-recognize-how-wonderful-it-is-that-a-person-can-traverse-an/) [Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) > [Each practitioner thinks there's one magic way to get a machine to be smart, and so they're all wasting their time in a sense.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-minsky/each-practitioner-thinks-there-s-one-magic-way-to-get-a-machine-to-be/) [Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) > [To say that the universe exists is silly, because it says that the universe is one of the things in the universe. So there's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-minsky/to-say-that-the-universe-exists-is-silly-because-it-says-that-the/) [Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) > [You don't understand anything until you learn it more than one way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-minsky/you-don-t-understand-anything-until-you-learn-it-more-than-one-way/) [Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) > [ A couple of hundred years from now, maybe \[science fiction writers\] Isaac Asimov and Fred Pohl will be considered the important philosophers of the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-minsky/a-couple-of-hundred-years-from-now-maybe-science-fiction-writers/) [Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) > [All intelligent problem solvers are subject to the same ultimate constraints - limitations on space, time, and materials.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-minsky/all-intelligent-problem-solvers-are-subject-to-the-same-ultimate/) [Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) > [“But there’s a big difference between “impossible” and “hard to imagine.” The first is about it; the second is about you!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-minsky/but-there-s-a-big-difference-between-impossible-and-hard-to-imagine/) [Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) > [But the big feature of human-level intelligence is not what it does what it is works but what it does when it's stuck.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-minsky/but-the-big-feature-of-human-level-intelligence-is-not-what-it-does/) [Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) > [What magical trick makes us intelligent? The trick is that there is no trick. The power of intelligence stems from our vast diversity, not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-minsky/what-magical-trick-makes-us-intelligent-the-trick-is-that-there-is-no/) [Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) > [Everything, including that which happens in our brains, depends on these and only on these: A set of fixed, deterministic laws. A purely random…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-minsky/everything-including-that-which-happens-in-our-brains-depends-on/) [Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) > [I believed in realism, as summarized by John McCarthy's comment to the effect that if we worked really hard, we'd have an intelligent system…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-minsky/i-believed-in-realism-as-summarized-by-john-mccarthy-s-comment-to-the/) [Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) > [By the way, it was his simulations that helped out in Jurassic Park - without them, there would have been only a few dinosaurs.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-minsky/by-the-way-it-was-his-simulations-that-helped-out-in-jurassic-park/) [Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) > [If you just have a single problem to solve, then fine, go ahead and use a neural network. But if you want to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-minsky/if-you-just-have-a-single-problem-to-solve-then-fine-go-ahead-and-use/) [Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) [Explore all 87 Marvin Minsky quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-minsky/) ## More Brain quotes > [The brain abhors discrepancies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vilayanur-s-ramachandran/the-brain-abhors-discrepancies/) [Vilayanur S. Ramachandran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vilayanur-s-ramachandran/) > [In some circles where very heavy people think they have very heavy brains, words like "charming" and "clever" and "pretty" are all put-downs; all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-warhol/in-some-circles-where-very-heavy-people-think-they-have-very-heavy/) [Andy Warhol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-warhol/) > [Let me tell you that atheism has never painted a masterpiece. Atheism has never dispelled fear. Atheism has never healed a disease; faith in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hagee/let-me-tell-you-that-atheism-has-never-painted-a-masterpiece-atheism/) [John Hagee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hagee/) > [down with ought with because with every brain that thinks it thinks nor dares to feel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/down-with-ought-with-because-with-every-brain-that-thinks-it-thinks/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [To explicate the uses of the Brain seems as difficult a task as to paint the Soul, of which it is commonly said, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-willis/to-explicate-the-uses-of-the-brain-seems-as-difficult-a-task-as-to/) [Thomas Willis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-willis/) > [I prefer the word 'musician.' I'm a musician and a composer. I have a problem with the word 'artist.' I don't know if it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stromae/i-prefer-the-word-musician-i-m-a-musician-and-a-composer-i-have-a/) [Stromae](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stromae/) > [Thinking of sex provides enough mental stimulation to reduce risk of diseases that damage the brain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/thinking-of-sex-provides-enough-mental-stimulation-to-reduce-risk-of/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [My writing routine is: get son off to school and sit down at 8 A.M. I read what I wrote the day before, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracy-chevalier/my-writing-routine-is-get-son-off-to-school-and-sit-down-at-8-a-m-i/) [Tracy Chevalier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracy-chevalier/) > [The reason I'm drawn to it is - both the off road racing and the motorcycles on the track - it takes a lot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dax-shepard/the-reason-i-m-drawn-to-it-is-both-the-off-road-racing-and-the/) [Dax Shepard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dax-shepard/) > [Without illusions. I love you because you are fallible and because your poor misguided testosterone-corrupted brain has you doing cartwheels trying not to be.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cindy-gerard/without-illusions-i-love-you-because-you-are-fallible-and-because/) [Cindy Gerard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cindy-gerard/) > [being asked to decide between your passion for work and your passion for children was like being asked by your doctor whether you preferred…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-bevington/being-asked-to-decide-between-your-passion-for-work-and-your-passion/) [Helen Bevington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-bevington/) > [I was told I had brain damage. I always knew it was an unfair label. Now I have a clearer understanding of what's wrong…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-boyle/i-was-told-i-had-brain-damage-i-always-knew-it-was-an-unfair-label/) [Susan Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-boyle/) > [The act of learning to read added an entirely new circuit to our hominid brain's repertoire. The long developmental process of learning to read…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maryanne-wolf/the-act-of-learning-to-read-added-an-entirely-new-circuit-to-our/) [Maryanne Wolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maryanne-wolf/) > [I can't let fear kill my creative brain. Fear is the killer. Your bad choices come from fear. And I'm constantly combating fear. I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-m-chu/i-can-t-let-fear-kill-my-creative-brain-fear-is-the-killer-your-bad/) [Jon M. Chu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-m-chu/) > [I am the way I am. If you like me because I'm glamorous, so be it. If you like me, because I speak well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malaika-arora-khan/i-am-the-way-i-am-if-you-like-me-because-i-m-glamorous-so-be-it-if/) [Malaika Arora Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malaika-arora-khan/) [Browse all 8,465 Brain quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brain/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "What is intelligence, anyway It is only a word that people use to name those unknown processes with which our brains solve problems we call hard. But whenever you learn a skill yourself, you're less impressed or mystified when other people do the same. 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