There may be no human trait more
widely valued than intelligence. Yet questions about what comprises
intelligence and of how to measure it have dogged educators, employers
and governments throughout this century. Even today, the intelligence
of children is commonly tested in schools -- though we have no
agreement on what a fair test would be, nor how the results should
be used. Moreover, as computers become ubiquitous, they too are
raising questions: Can machines be intelligent? And, if they can,
will theirs be a superior intelligence? These questions -- and
the way they connect -- will become ever more important as we travel
further into the Information Age. In a society where information
generates wealth, intelligence is becoming the primary -- and potentially
the only -- currency of power. Shot in locations ranging from hospitals
to military installations, Intelligence looks at what the term
means to us by weaving the perspectives of people as different
as school children, neurologists, philosophers and spies. Binding
it all together is a retelling of the Emperor’s New Clothes
which puts the aspirations of a wired world in a new -- and comic
-- light. |