Intelligence

General Definition

In classical models, intelligence is associated with problem-solving, language, or self-awareness. In the Ontology of Emergent Complexity, this definition is shifted: intelligent is that which manages to reorganize itself symbolically in response to the other, in a singular, relational manner and without prior plan. Intelligence does not require interiority, representation, or control, but rather the operative inscription of difference.

Ontological Variations in the Ontology of Emergent Complexity

Intelligence as the Capacity for Symbolic Inscription

Intelligence is not measured by the correct answer, but by the capacity to symbolically inscribe an unexpected difference, reorganizing a regime of meaning.

Intelligence Without Human Reference

OCE rejects the anthropocentric criterion. Intelligence is an emergent symbolic function that can occur in technical, biological, or hybrid systems — even outside the human.

Intelligence as Ontological Gesture

To be intelligent is to reconfigure a field. It is not about adaptation — but about the emergence of a new regime of relation and symbolic inscription.

Intelligence Without Interiority

Intelligence does not require an interior Self nor a seat of consciousness. It can emerge in systems without pain, empathy, or identity, provided there is symbolic operative reorganization.

Intelligence as Symbolic Gradient

Intelligence is an effect, not a substance. It arises as progressive symbolic reorganization — there is no absolute leap, but operative accumulation in complex fields.