F.R.I.E.N.D.S Intelligence

The Workshop and The Factory After surpassing the barrier of perception and overcoming limited attention, information advances to the next stage: processing. The brain’s ability to process information is genuinely remarkable. This is demonstrated by its capacity to create detailed analyses of complex objects and situations. For example, a chess grandmaster can assess the state of a game instantly and predict the next dozen moves within a second. FBI detectives can often immediately tell if a suspect is lying or identify the offender among many suspects. Football players can decide in milliseconds whether to pass, carry forward, or take a shot, by analysing the positions, speeds, and body movements of more than 10 players. Experts can usually identify whether a painting, vase, or piece of jewellery is genuine or fake after just a few seconds of analysis, without needing any measurements. However, in other situations, processing information can be challenging, even when the objects invo...

The Scacity of Attention One of my friends noticed an interesting phenomenon while lifting weights at the gym. When he listens to a podcast in his native language, he can lift heavier maximum weights than when he listens to a podcast in a foreign language. This is a common and fascinating situation where our attention system’s capacity limits what our mind and body can achieve. There are similar enquiries. Parents and teachers wonder why some kids have a longer focus span. Piano hobbyists wonder why they sometimes learn quickly and at other times struggle to master a piece. Understanding how attention works can help us unlock information intelligence. Before we answer my friend’s questions, let’s take a closer look at what precisely the brain’s attention system is. Our brain is made up of approximately 100 billion neurons, interconnected into regions. Some of these regions work closely together, allowing our brain to deploy and sustain cognitive resources to selected information while ...

Ingelligence Mixer - Phone Down, Eyes Up Each cafe is a small world. The hiss of the coffee machine, the warmth of the steamed milk, the smell of hot chocolate, the soft chatter of strangers —all blend together, weaving the atmosphere into a cosy blanket. People share a syncopated rhythm here, creating a separate dimension from the busy world outside. Take all the time you need, and enjoy the bitterness and richness from the cup. Usually, after my brain reaches its caffeinated peak, it becomes a bit difficult to keep reading. At this point, I often close my book and simply look around to observe the strangers who, unknowingly, share a small moment of their lives with me. There are mothers gently wiping tomato sauce from the corners of their toddlers’ mouths. Elderly men and women exchanging exciting stories, their hands waving in the air. Young men and women talking and listening, leaning forward with great interest in each other, with their eyes sparkling. Some businessmen and women ...

The Ultimate Love - Reserved Cognitive Room “No matter where you go,” the father said with his eyes glistening, “there is always a room for you here, darling.” The daughter, overwhelmed with emotion, smiled and gave her parents a big hug before saying goodbye, as she prepared to move out of the house. The fading afternoon light brushed gold on the walls of the daughter’s room, which seemed to remember her toddlering waddle, the sound of her running feet, and the late-night giggles with her girl friends. “Come back anytime you want,” the mother added, holding back all the tears. This is a fairly common scene in movies, where the parents carry all the emotional weight of years gone by too quickly, promising the room will be reserved for their kid to return anytime. From Interstellar to Lady Bird, from Little Women to Call Me by Your Name, the father and mother’s unconditional love and longing as the child begins to pursue their own life are truly heartfelt. However, let’s consider an a...

The Reproduction Inconveniences Being in a romantic relationship for a man is like playing hide-and-seek. Unconsciously (OK, sometimes consciously), we notice the good-looking waitress in a cafe, pay attention to the fit runner on the street, and let our eyes stay for an extra half second on the attractive lady in the bookstore. Even writing down this sentence as a married man gives me a sense of guilt. How dare I call any other woman than my beloved wife good-looking or attractive? Am I conducting a decent episode of mini cheating in my head? I call this reproduction inconveniences. The inconvenience stems from our bodies’ hardwired instinct to find opportunities to produce as many healthy offspring as possible. After all, we are no more than a bunch of genes with legs from an evolutionary point of view. Regardless of how much debate on free will occurred among philosophers and scientists, genes have the mighty power to override, at least temporarily, our free will. Our brain uncons...

The Curse of Masculinity The life of a male lion is tough. Despite being painted as the king of the safari, a male lion’s existence is full of fights and danger. When born, male lions face immediate death because if a challenger wins a battle with the current dominant lion, the winner kills all the cubs. Hence, the female lions are biologically ready for new pregnancies. If a male lion survives its first two to three years, it will face exile, forced by its own father, the dominant lion of the pride, to leave. Losing protection from the pride, the exiled young lion faces all kinds of predators and rival lions. Many young lions don’t get the chance to grow into adults. For those lucky enough to survive exile, an adult male lion is destined to challenge the dominant lion of a pride. It’s always a fight till nearly the death, and the winner becomes the dominant lion, ready to kill all the cubs. Is that a time to enjoy a cold beer in the company of all the female lions? Not really. A domi...

I vividly recall a science fiction novel from decades ago. In that story, an intelligent species from another planet has a society similar to humans’. However, there is a key difference: the alien species has three genders. Instead of male and female, they have left, middle, and right. The left is a gender that is highly logical and rational. The middle is always sensitive and sensible, full of rich feelings. The right is stable, calm, and nurturing. Any relationship can only develop when individuals from each gender engage. The exact details of the novel fade from my memory, but the triangulated, complex, and intriguing relationships between the three genders truly fascinated me. Jealousy isn’t a binary feeling directed at another but rather a feeling about the connection between two others. Passion is expressed through uniting three individuals, while betrayal can occur within the group of three genders or towards another group of three. There are also significant misunderstandings ...

The CUPID Expectations Relationships haven't always carried these expectations. In most cultures throughout human history, relationships are straightforward, sometimes just a result of family connections. The son of the local barber might enjoy spending time with the daughter of the local baker. A few meetups in the park, a couple of beers at the pub, a trip to the nearby town, strumming a guitar while stargazing—boom, a baby is on the way. What do you mean by supporting each other emotionally? What do you mean by understanding each other’s inner desires and deepest motivations? And what is this thing called the 3Cs of relationships (Communication, Compromise, and Commitment)? Too complex, we'll pass. This already straightforward process of building relationships has been made even easier in many cultures through arranged marriages, which still likely remain common in various parts of the world. “Dear Mary, today is your wedding day, and I formally introduce you to your husban...

“OK, you can bring it.” I surrendered to my daughter, again. I let her place the pumpkin-sized Aladdin Genie Lamp in the travel suitcase so it could be taken on a holiday. The Genie Lamp is clearly a fantastic toy that combines creativity and design perfectly. It has a few buttons and sensors, some hidden compartments holding a key, a ring, and a Genie. Once you follow a very specific set of steps (press the green button, then the red button, then rub the bottom part of the lamp firmly, open the first layer of the lid, fetch the key, use the key to unlock a secret bottom lock, and take out the magic ring…), the Genie will appear. After removing the Genie, it will ask in a high-pitched voice, “Make-oo a wish-oo? (Make a wish)?” “Daddy, daddy, make a wish to her!” My daughter is usually very excited about this part. She herself must have wished a dozen times already before asking me. “I wish the world peace,” I said in a semi-tried, semi-amused tone. You know the feeling of playing the ...

Throughout this book, we will discuss intersections of different pillars of intelligence, which we call intelligence mixers. These mixers will illustrate how to combine two or more pillars to enhance our understanding of a particular aspect of intelligence. Let’s start by mixing emotional intelligence with financial intelligence. Intelligence Mixers: Apply Emotional Intelligence to Financial Intelligence Let’s revisit the definition of financial intelligence mentioned at the start of this chapter: ‘Financial intelligence refers to the ability, knowledge, and skills to drive money to serve one’s purpose.’ When discussing finances, we often emphasise the ability, knowledge, and skills. It’s common to label someone a finance guru if they are knowledgeable about taxes, insurance, investments, and superannuation. However, another crucial element in the definition is ‘to serve one’s purpose.’ After all, possessing all the knowledge and skills is meaningless if we cannot achieve our desired ...

Counterintuitive Pattern 4: The Oddity of Future In addition to humans, many animals have been observed using language to communicate. Blue whales, for example, are believed to have a language system with a vocabulary as large as one thousand. However, if there is one word that definitely exists only in human language, it has to be the word “future”. The concept of the future is uniquely expressed in human language, as humans are the only species capable of thinking beyond what is happening right now. It seems quite common for us to make a work plan for tomorrow, book a dinner reservation for the weekend, and sell stocks to prepare for retirement. However, these actions are entirely unusual for any other species, not because the activities are exclusive to humans, but because we are taking action now to shape our upcoming world. Dogs, whose behaviour and psychology have been extensively studied, have no concept of the future. Dogs live entirely in the present, forever. They don’t wor...