Some musings on intelligence
One morning, as I was pulling out quick-growing weeds with mild surprise at their hardiness (at times growing even after being pulled out), I started to think about the main difference between humans and plants (and animals) - intelligence.
What is the purpose of intelligence?
We might find the answer by examining how it arises. In a hyper-competitive ecosystem, such as our planet with its limited resources, intelligence naturally arises and is then selected for, because species with it will out-compete the rest and pass their genes on. Intelligence is far superior to physical size or strength, because one can build tools, such as guns, which strength or speed cannot surpass.
Prolonging survival appears to be one purpose. Intelligence has somewhat solved the problem of premature death - we are now living much longer than our ancestors to the point where cancer is a leading cause of death (in the past, we would have died of starvation or disease). Resource scarcity is also much less of a problem since the advent of agriculture and construction.
I think intelligence is merely an trait that allowed us to out-compete all other species. An artifact of our evolution, to prolong the survival of our species, and nothing more. There is no higher purpose beyond this. Philosophy, science, religion etcetera are side effects of intelligence, not the main purpose.
That is not to say that our pursuits are meaningless, fueled by intelligence though they are. Meaning is a separate question from the purpose of intelligence, and I think meaning is defined by the individual. For someone with an interest in cosmology, intelligence will allow us to build faster spacecraft, and maybe in the further future we will be able to explore places of the universe we cannot yet imagine, and for them, that is meaning enough.