Multiple Intelligences: Time to Venture Beyond the Human Kingdom

An introductory note:

We recently received a letter from a retired veterinarian who shared her thoughts on the intersection between the theory of multiple intelligences and the animal kingdom. We felt her ideas might be interesting to a wider audience, so we asked that she write a blog on the topic. We thank her for this generous contribution to MI Oasis!

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© Jane Mussey 2024

Since I was four years old, I’ve expressed opinions about animal behavior and cognition—though I didn’t use words like “cognition” back in 1957. I was told that the animals I loved—dogs, cats and horses—didn’t think or plan; did not form bonds or mourn; and were not considered intelligent in any way. I did not accept that view in 1957. And now in 2024, thanks to the work of many investigators in this field and my own career as a veterinarian, I have a lot of data to support my child’s-eye contentions. 

Everyone reading mainstream media has likely seen reports and videos of experiments on animals’ ability to reason presented with novel situations, usually involving a food reward. (Truth: I’m motivated by food rewards to do actual problem-solving as well.) We’ve seen videos of animals at play, animals rescuing people and other animals from life-threatening situations, animals comforting the dying, protecting the vulnerable, alerting the sick to impending health crises, smelling out drugs, finding living people and dead people, identifying the presence of cancer and other diseases—even lizards becoming our beloved and steadfast companions!

What more do we need to see human beings and other life forms as fellows on a web of intelligences, interconnected by a wide range of overlapping intellectual attributes,  and very little separating us. And if we stretch: A fruit fly can feel regret? A plant can sense danger and communicate it to nearby plants? Wasn’t our part in this so much easier when we were at the top of the intelligence heap, without close contenders, as it allowed us to perceive we have the right to dominate the worlds of plants and animals?

Early in my vet school days, I bought a copy of Howard Gardner’s Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. I was ripe for a new, groundbreaking view of human intelligence, having seen fellow students (and myself) shine in some areas and perform badly in others; having read about college football stars becoming world-renowned in widely unconnected areas; seen otherwise undereducated musicians shine in mathematics and non-communicating autistic people reveal a wealth of perception with a simple letter board.

Howard’s book was an explosion, a revolutionary view not only of intellectual differences but of the great worth of those differences. Instead of a human hierarchy of prized talents of the mind, we could finally consider the John Coltranes and Sarah Vaughans geniuses by dint of musical gifts, worthy of high intellectual regard—up there with Stephen Hawking and Katherine Johnson. And the intelligence of the kinesthetic geniuses and interpersonal geniuses could be equally valued with mathematical/logical giants. We could encourage school kids in their areas of strength and brilliance, and refrain from “pushing them up against their deficiencies,” in the words of the great neurologist, Oliver Sacks. 

Sarah Vaughan

Thanks to Howard’s work, we have a framework of human intelligences to hold in high regard, with new evidence and wisdom to support it. But what about other life forms? Perhaps each species needs to be more completely understood by human beings, and equally valued for the intelligences they bring to the world. Perhaps we need to first concentrate on animals that we see as somehow stupid, such as cattle, or chickens or insects. How do we best assess the responses of animals for whom we cannot easily detect emotions and reactions to novel situations? Human beings are generally very adept at identifying emotions and responses to stimuli based on facial expressions, but what about assessing animals that have facial expressions that are too subtle for us to discern? 

Much work has been done on this since my early ventures and adventures in the animal world. Interpreting animal behaviors has become a science with educated and versatile integrity. I don’t know if we’ve gone further afield than fruit flies, but we’re way ahead of the early days when animals were presumed not to feel pain and therefore weren’t worthy of anesthesia. 

Beyond identifying areas of animal cognition, are we able to identify multiple intelligences in animals we rarely interact with? Are we able to identify and value intelligences that are very unlike those of human beings? Thomas Armstrong, long an advocate of “MI theory” has suggested that we try to perceive animal intelligence as we do our own: What multiple intellectual strengths may we identify in other species, and how may we frame them as worthy of awe, respect and reverence even when we may not fully understand their function?

Accepting the multiple intellectual strengths of other life forms may bring our own species into more colorful relief, accepting both our varied awesomeness and our abject limitations. These insights may help us accept ourselves as a splendid and ineffable product of evolution with the ability to push past prior “strengths” that are now, perhaps, maladaptive (clan behavior, paranoia, and warfare) into a “peaceful kingdom” we’ve always sought, but as a group, never attained. 

This piece was lightly edited for publication by the Offices of Howard Gardner.

Can MI Theory be Helpful in Dealing with Dementia?

 © Howard Gardner and Matthew Call

Note from Howard: 

I recently received a heartfelt letter from Matt Call a veteran dementia practitioner, and Melissa Mirabello a long-time teacher, about their work in Florida, USA. MI theory had sparked in them a creative response to dementia care. They’ve developed a diagnostic questionnaire for dementia sufferers—this instrument can be administered by caregivers. The hope is to discover strengths in different intelligences for better-targeted care; in the best-case scenario, holistic and sustainable practices can improve the lives of those with dementia.

On a personal note, by integrating MI into his diagnostic routine and designing care based on his findings, Matt believes that his work life has been transformed and thousands of individuals have benefited. MI Theory has endless positive ripple effects; Matt’s work testifies to the potential of the framework  ability to instill hope and foster progress in people’s lives.

In a nutshell, MI provides practitioners with a means of identifying suitable activities and materials that keep individuals engaged, providing much needed stimulation that helps to slow  their decline. Currently, Matt and Melissa are developing a comprehensive educational framework, one focused on holistic approaches and strategies for enhancing and improving  dementia care. As is the case with other “Good Practices” entities mentioned on this website, Matt and Melissa seek to apply the theory of multiple intelligences in a thorough and beneficial way. 

The following examples describe how using MI theory to develop care strategies and materials can improve the lives of patients suffering from dementia.

testimony in Matt’s words:

Visual/Spatial

Scenario:  A woman who cannot verbally communicate develops a series of urinary tract infections as she is not able to relay that she needs to use the bathroom or that she has soiled herself. With each infection, she experiences physical pain and exacerbated dementia symptoms, like increased confusion. On one occasion, the woman was hospitalized because the condition spread to her kidneys as it was not treated quickly enough.

Care based on MI results:  Upon meeting with the woman’s family, I learned that she was a children’s book illustrator. After completing an MI survey, which showed a high level of visual/spatial intelligence, I suggested using the Picture Exchange System, an augmentative communication tool where people relay information using pictures. I was able to teach the woman how to use the system and she was then able to request the bathroom by simply pointing to a picture of a toilet, which decreased her incidents of UTI’s significantly. (It’s important to note that those with dementia who do not possess visual/spatial intelligence have a very hard time using this augmentative communication tool.)

Bodily-Kinesthetic

Scenario:

After her husband loses his ability to write, a woman begins contemplating placing him in memory care, as she believes there is nothing anyone can do to help her husband. She decides to contact me before making the decision to place him in a facility. 

Care based on MI results:

After speaking with her, I discovered that the man was a former engineer who learned best through movement. I told her about your MI theory and how we can tap into her husband's strengths to reteach him how to write. For several weeks, the woman and I employed a hand-over-hand technique, which helped him regain the ability to write.

Musical

Scenario:  A woman who lives at home frequently becomes combative toward her caregivers during self-care activities like bathing and toileting. Her doctor prescribes her an antipsychotic to help calm her, but the medicine sedates her so much that she sleeps much of the day. Not liking the affects the medication has on her, the family contacted me to help. 

Care based on MI results:  After conducting an MI survey on the woman, a former music teacher, it showed that she had a high level of musical intelligence. I suggested playing music during these activities, which helped eliminate much of her aggression, without the need for medication and its side effects.

Linguistic-Verbal

Scenario:  A former teacher begins having trouble naming objects and action words.  This ability loss causes her to isolate from others because she didn’t want people noticing her impairment. 

Care based on MI results: While interviewing the family it was obvious that she had a love of words. To help combat her anomia, I suggested activities that aligned with her verbal intelligence, including rhyming, naming synonyms, and word searches. Not only did the woman enjoy engaging in these activities; but she became more sure of herself and her ability to communicate.

Logical-Mathematical

Scenario: A woman who worked as a bookkeeper for over a decade leaves her job to help her

husband run his delicatessen. As time passes, her husband notices that she is becoming increasingly forgetful, e.g., not filling orders and even not remembering to turn off the meat slicer. Because of this, the man tells her that she cannot help him anymore, which devastates the wife. 

Care based on MI results:  After meeting with the husband (who mentions the wife’s sadness of not being able to help him with his work), I suggested that there may be something she can still do. After learning that she was a former bookkeeper, who has always loved numbers, I asked if she’d ever done any number-related tasks at the deli, which she had not. I proposed he have her do things like taking inventory of supplies and counting cash at the end of the day. I informed him that her work would need to be checked, but he should try it since it will help her feel like she's contributing. To his surprise, she did much better than he thought she would and the activities gave her a sense of purpose.

Interpersonal

Scenario:  A man who was an athletic director spends little time at home engaging in therapeutic activities that his wife got for him to keep him busy while she worked. 

Care based on MI results:  After the wife contacted me, I conducted a MI survey which suggested that he he possessed interapersonal intelligence. I suggested that she have him attend a day program where he could be around others which she agreed to. The man did very well there, participating in all of their group activities.

Intrapersonal

Scenario:   A short time after moving to a memory care facility, a woman was losing a significant amount of weight and the staff believed it was dementia-related. This type of weight loss can cause a person to be placed on hospice.

Care based on MI results:   After speaking with the woman’s family, I discovered that this woman had always enjoyed journaling. I also determined that the woman possessed intrapersonal intelligence and may prefer eating alone. The woman spent the next meal away from her peers and ate all of her food. 

Naturalist

Scenario:  A woman residing in a memory care facility suffers from major depression and is unwilling to participate in therapeutic activities, spending most of her time in bed and also neglecting self-care. After antidepressants did little to help the woman and other interventions failed, the family contacted me to intervene. 

Care based on MI results:  While talking with the family, I learned that the woman has a life-long passion for the outdoors. I conducted an MI survey that showed that she possessed a high level of naturalistic intelligence, much more than other intelligences. I suggested the facility implement activities that cater to her love of the outdoors, e.g., creating an outdoor garden and purchasing picture books of animals. These holistic interventions improved her mood considerably more than pharmaceutical interventions. 

Positive outcomes based on MI-inspired strategies:

• Helps people stay in their homes longer

• Helps people relearn skills

• Helps people feel more comfortable and even live longer

• Reduces people’s need for harmful medications

• Helps caregivers with practical, sustainable strategies

• Reduces caregiver stress

• Offers individualized, suitable activities 

Here is a link to a TV news story on Matt’s work: A Woman Says Therapy is Helping Her Husband with his Dementia

Here is a link to Matt’s website: The Center For Holistic Dementia Care

From Chimera to Prometheus: An Application of Multiple Intelligences in Greece

BY Vasileios Zagkotas

Throughout my career in Greek Primary Education, I have encountered many students who struggled significantly with schoolwork. As a result, I would informally label these students as “weak” and try to help them adapt to the classroom teaching framework. I focused the main problem on their inability to respond to the language lessons, as I found that they could not read well and, therefore, were unable to understand texts and explanations. Although I tried to comfort their parents by telling them that “this type of school is not effective for these students because they think differently”, this was something I didn't really believe. I felt like I was chasing the chimera, that just as it was impossible for anyone to locate this mythological creature, so it was also impossible for me to effectively help these students.

The Chimera on a red-red-figure Apulian plate, c. 350–340 BC (Musée du Louvre)
By Lampas Group - Jastrow (2006), Public Domain

When I came across MI Theory, my perspective changed. The Greek educational system’s curricula and textbooks are focused on Linguistic and Logical-Mathematical Intelligence. Therefore, students who perceive the world in different ways tend to fail. MI theory convinced me to change my teaching practices. The first area I tried to help students was homework. I asked them to find musical pieces to accompany a linguistic or a history text, to dramatize a dialogue between historical figures, or to write a diary of emotions of a fictional character. The result was not exactly spectacular, but I gradually saw in these students a new willingness to participate in schoolwork.

A new role of Educational Counselor helped me move to undertake research on the applicability of the MI Theory. At a postdoctoral research level in the Department of Philology at the University of Ioannina, Greece, I designed a research project to apply MI Theory in secondary school homework practices.

I chose the field of homework assignments. I designed the research with a simple idea: teachers should make homework assignments based on MI Theory; students should work on them; teachers should record the students' responses, their comments and progress. Finally, the researcher should record his own reactions.

A significant issue was the relative unfamiliarity of many educators with MI Theory. I, therefore, created a tool that can be roughly translated as a “Toolbox of homework for the cultivation of Multiple Intelligences”. It consisted of eight tables—one for each type of intelligence—which provided educators with suggestions for assigning homework, such as “ask students to write an alternative ending to the story” or “to demonstrate a living picture” or “instruct students to organize a debate”, etc. The Toolbox was used in several educational settings. I identified willing volunteers and trained them informally.

I created a case study. All that was needed now was to train the volunteers, which I did myself by visiting the schools. I decided not to use any initial screening test for the “strong” and “weak” types of intelligence for the students. I was almost certain that the parents would be hesitant. Instead, I decided to use the tasks themselves as a means of assessment. I observed the students' behavior and performance during the activities, and I also collected their work samples. This allowed me to get a more holistic view of their strengths and weaknesses.

In the first phase, students completed a 15-item self-report questionnaire about homework. The results showed that students see homework as a way to understand what they learned in class and to prepare for the next lesson. They also believe that doing their homework makes them more acceptable to their teachers and helps them get good grades. However, they did not agree with the view that homework gives them opportunities to work with classmates, learn from them, and—to a lesser extent—cultivate character in their studies, such as self-discipline or systematic study. The same questionnaire was given after the completion of the research in order to investigate whether exposure to MI Theory changed their views on homework.

The teachers then used the “Toolkit” to get ideas and create worksheets for chapters of their choice. Some teachers chose Ancient Greek History, others Modern Greek Literature, and others Language (Ancient or Modern Greek). In the worksheets, they included tasks for each type of Intelligence. They then asked the students to work on no fewer than four tasks of their choice. I should note here that there were quite a few teachers who asked for my help—which I was pleased to provide.

A few sample assignments:

One teacher introduced “A Night at the Museum”. The students were given the following scenario: “The ancient Greek statues of the Kouros of Anavyssos and the Kore of Phrasikleia are placed opposite each other in a room of the archaeological museum. In a magical way, they can perceive what is happening around them but they cannot speak when there are visitors to the museum”. The students were asked to write a short diary of thoughts for each of the statues for a period of one week. The assignment was made available to the students, with the option of oral or written presentation and in pairs of boys and girls or individually. Additionally, the students could dramatize a dialogue between the statues when the museum is empty of visitors, in order for the representation of the statues' stances to help them understand the need for support of the statue (forward proposal of the foot). With this assignment, the students were asked to put themselves in the shoes of the statues and, through the interpretation of the statues' thoughts and feelings, to come into contact with their own feelings. Therefore, this particular assignment incorporated elements of Intrapersonal and Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence.

Dinos vase. Photo by Jastrow - Public Domain

Another assignment, drawing on Naturalistic and Spatial intelligences, asked students to paint a geometric and an archaic vessel (preferably an amphora, a pithos, or a hydria due to their large size) with scenes from Greek flora and fauna. Subsequently, they could create a small painting exhibition in the classroom. With this homework activity, the students had the opportunity to express their interest in the environment in a creative way. At the same time, they needed to research the characteristics and techniques of ancient pottery, adopting the shapes and patterns of the era. For this reason, this specific activity had a complex character, as students had to first consider the techniques and colors and then the theme of decorating the vessel. In my view students made meritorious creations. Some made videos: here’s one a: http://1gym-ioann.ioa.sch.gr/autosch/joomla15/draseis/502-zografizontas-to-mathima- tis-istorias.

The students' response to this and similar assignments was quite similar: at first they expressed confusion about the new type of homework, then they identified potential difficulties and finally they responded successfully, stating that they enjoyed it and that they would continue to choose such assignments. From interviews, we learned that teachers were able to detect some of the students' inclinations through their preferences. They found the “Toolbox” we created quite useful, but they also expressed the opinion that the new type of assignments does not favor the evaluation of students as it is done now, i.e. with grades in written exams. That point conceded, this research suggests that such a change is feasible and ought to be contemplated for the Greek educational system.

Such interventions continued for three months. The teachers concluded that the students improved their performance as they became familiar with the new type of tasks. The most important thing: several teachers emphasized that these tasks aroused the students' interest and that they participated actively in the process, i.e. they did the homework, even students who normally did not participate in the lesson. It seems, therefore, that the approach through MI constituted a successful path to an individual’s “entry point”.

Another important and unexpected finding: students who showed greater interest in the tasks created within the MI framework seemed to tend towards Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Intelligence. Specifically, they preferred to deal with diaries or to exchange arguments and, in any case, beyond the “paper/pencil” logic of school textbooks, which teachers themselves gradually began to view more critically. These developments pleasantly surprised the teachers. In addition, the questionnaire given to the students after the implementation of the “Toolkit” revealed a small increase in their interest in homework, but mainly a greater belief in cooperation between classmates.

Stepping back, from my experience as an educator, I know that few students like homework. Greek students are burdened with many extracurricular activities and their time is limited. I was encouraged by the results of this modest intervention. At a recent educational conference in Greece, I used some of these assignments to transform some chapters of the school history textbooks into an “MI-friendly” approach. The response of the teachers was touching. Many asked to learn more about the theory and its applications. Additionally, I seek to train as many teachers as I can in MI Theory and the possibilities it offers to get to know their students better.

In this text, I share my own experience and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Howard Gardner for his overall interest, support and editing contribution. For the same reasons, I would like to thank his assistant, Shinri Furuzawa. Finally, the contribution and guidance of Dr. Ioannis Fykaris was invaluable.

As a result of this modest intervention, I feel encouraged. The more I examined the students' work, the more I came to believe in them. I realized, therefore, that the MI applications are not a chimera—rather an act of Prometheus, who gave the gift of fire to humans.

Research details:

Title of post-doctoral research: “The Didactic Contribution of Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences to the Structure and Organization of Homework in the Philological Subjects of the Gymnasium” (2024).

Author: Dr. Vasileios Zagkotas, Educational Counselor, Historian, Phd in Educational Sciences, University of Ioannina, Greece.

Supervisor: Dr. Ioannis Fykaris, Associate Professor, Department of Philology, University of Ioannina, Greece.

Are Actors Smart?

Howard Gardner © 2024

You may find that question provocative! If so, please read on.

For decades, I was quite friendly with Carleton Gajdusek. On almost any definition, he was brilliant. In addition to having received the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology in 1976, he spoke numerous languages, was an expert on several cultures in the South Pacific, and was as well-read as any professor in the arts and humanities. In fact, with his approval, I was writing his authorized biography when something happened that caused me to stop…forever.

I’ll get to that definitive disruption near the end of this blog.

Marilyn Monroe

Once, in conversation, Carleton said to me: “Don’t think for a minute that actors are stupid, they are actually very smart. Marilyn Monroe would not have gotten as far as she did, in the way that she did, if she hadn’t been very smart.”

I probably would not have remembered that comment, except that recently I’ve been involved in discussions with psychometricians who have a quite specific definition of what it means to be smart. In a phrase, it means that you do well on an IQ test—or one of its equivalents, like the SAT from the Educational Testing Service. And if you don’t score well, then you can’t be smart, at least according to what psychometricians call “high intelligence.”

As most readers will know, decades ago, I put forth a different view of intelligence—a pluralistic view called “the theory of multiple intelligences.” And once you have embraced that concept, it’s possible to return to my question in a more thoughtful way.

Dr. Thalia Goldstein, PhD

Chatting with my wife Ellen Winner, I was reminded of the quite original research carried out by Dr. Thalia Goldstein, at one time Ellen’s doctoral student. (Thalia is now a professor at George Mason University). For her first empirical study, Thalia conducted substantive interviews with eleven actors who had achieved some success in their profession. As a comparison group, she conducted similar interviews with an equal cohort of eleven well-established lawyers.

Not surprisingly, the lawyers fit the stereotype of intelligence as it is seen and measured by many psychologists. That is, the lawyers presumptively have a high IQ—they would perform well on IQ tests and other academic measures like the SAT or the Bar Exams.

In my terminology, lawyers typically exhibit linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences. In fact, I sometimes quip that a law professor is the prototype of a high-IQ person, because they are often good with language and can think logically. In contrast, a humanities professor necessarily excels with sensitivity to language; a math professor necessarily is an expert in logical-mathematical thinking—but the respective complementary intelligences are optional, or at least not vital. Indeed, individuals displaying the most extreme examples of linguistic intelligence, or of logical-mathematical intelligence, rarely stand out with respect to the other intelligences.

So, what about actors? According to Thalia Goldstein’s and Ellen Winner’s analysis, what stands out in the case of actors is their personal history. From an early age, future performers observed other people carefully and often sought to imitate them faithfully. These future actors often felt alienated from their family and its surrounds and aspired to lead a different kind of life—often imagining it and trying to enact, readily envisioning alternative (fictional) worlds. Typically, the actors did not like school, where they were expected to follow the norms of the classroom, do the work that was assigned, and not to dream or act out. Put more generally, they sought a different kind of existence and found the stage or the screen a place where—despite typical discouragement from their parents—they could enact different personae, ones unlike their own.

The research confirmed: In all of these respects, the eleven actors differed from the eleven lawyers.

Donning the lens of “MI theory,” what else might one say?

Naturally, if a young person wants eventually to become an actor on the theatrical stage, she or he has to have a good memory for lines—this facility with language is less important in television or movies, where one need not memorize large amounts of text. Still, a person with poor linguistic memory would unlikely be attracted to performance—unless as a mime or as an actor (say, Buster Keaton) at a time when “pictures” were silent. As for logical-mathematical intelligence, that’s fine—but it is an option, rather than a requirement, unless a budding actor should want to be one’s own agent or start one’s own production country or play the stock market successfully.

As for the other intelligences: Depending on what kind of actor a young person aspires to, one would need musical intelligence (to be involved in musicals or the opera), bodily-kinesthetic intelligence with the desired stances, moves, gestures—both of the body as a whole and of particular limbs—and spatial intelligence (if one’s stance vis-à-vis the audience, the other performers, the camera, etc. is critical).

Just as performers need to draw on various intelligences, different performing venues also foreground different configurations of intelligences.

We can look at these configurations in another way: By the age of 10 or 12—and sometimes much earlier—one should be able to predict who is likely to become a performer, and who is likely to become a lawyer. The latter young persons typically like schools, do well in academic matters, and do not have much of a fantasy life—though presumably some of them like to argue!

Getting back to Carleton Gajdusek’s admonition. He would not have been correct if he had claimed that actors need to have the same intellectual profile as lawyers. But if—borrowing the language of multiple intelligences—Carleton had spoken about a combination of linguistic intelligence and personal intelligences, with the option of musical or bodily-kinesthetic or spatial intelligence, he would have been on the mar!

Alas, despite Carleton’s lavish cognitive gifts, he unfortunately behaved abhorrently. He adopted many youngsters—almost all boys—from islands in the South seas and raised them in suburban Virginia. He abused some of them, was arrested and convicted of pedophilia, and after several months in an American jail, spent his last years essentially in exile in Norway.

And of course, Marilyn Monroe came to an equally unhappy fate—at the age of 36, she overdosed on barbiturates.

Whatever form of brilliance you may have, it’s no guarantee that you will lead a long or a happy life. And indeed, the fate of so many television and movie performers—more so women than men, I believe—confirms that depressing ending. Even an abundance of intelligences is no guarantor of a well-lived life—what I would term a “life of good work.”

A more general takeaway

As readers of this blog know, many psychologists and psychometricians believe that the IQ test (with its general factor) can predict success across the vocational landscape (see an example of this I recently blogged about, linked here.) To be sure, no one would readily decline the gifts of linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences. But to simply conclude that actors are smart, or that actors are dull is simplistic. One needs instead to ask what kind of an actor and what configuration of intellectual strengths.

Reference

Goldstein, T. R., & Winner, E. (2009). Living in alternative and inner worlds: Early signs of acting talent. Creativity Research Journal, 21(1), 117–124. 

Existential intelligence: A Traveler in Outer Space?

By Howard Gardner

A recent op ed in The New York Times (link here) caught my attention. Apparently NASA is looking for astronauts for the next phase of space exploration. According to author, Joseph O. Chapa, the hiring committee is likely to look for scientists and engineers. Given the hiring pattern in the past, this is an understandable predilection—or bias.

Photo by NASA

But Chapa believes that tack is a mistake. Now that our species has figured out how to navigate space, we need the expertise of many other disciplines. As he puts it:

“[We] will require thoughtful inquiry from many disciplines. We will need sociologists and anthropologists to help us imagine new communities; theologians and linguists if we find we are not alone in the universe; political and legal theorists to sort out the governing principles of interstellar life.”

As a one time student of Harvard’s Social Relations department, and as a long time wanderer across the disciplinary landscape, I find this vision appealing. But what really stirred me in Chapa’s essay is his contention that such teams of space explorers could benefit from his own discipline—philosophy.

By his account, some of the greatest philosophical discoveries emerged because the authors had encountered very challenging conditions. Stoics had faced slavery; Thomas Hobbes had been trapped in England’s Civil War (of the 17th century); Hannah Arendt’s insights into totalitarianism came from mortal vulnerabilities in the Nazi era, even as her concept of the “banality of evil” emerged as she covered the trial of Holocaust perpetrator, Adolf Eichman.

In this era of increasingly smart machines, I often ponder which of our multiple intelligences can be easily and adequately replicated by ChatGPT and other large language models. It seems clear to me that the standard academic intelligences: linguistic and logical-mathematical, are well replicated by these instruments—as they were even decades ago. I’d probably add musical intelligence to the list as well.

Other intelligences present a more complex picture. I am not confident, for example, that a computational system can exhibit intrapersonal intelligence; and I don’t think that the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence exhibited by even the best designed robot would have interesting or revealing analogues to human bodily-kinesthestic intelligence.

As I have described it, existential intelligence entails the positing and pondering of the biggest questions—the meaning of life, of death, of love, of hatred, of other facets of the human condition. We look not only to philosophers, but also to poets and painters, to visit and revisit these questions and, as feasible, to put forth tentative answers… about which we can and will reflect, debate, and perhaps replace. 

Until this point in recorded history, our thoughts, reflections, questions, and tentative answers were all based on our imaginations—and if we posited such questions to a large language model, it would no doubt come up with the same kinds of answers as our most imaginative human beings have done.

But once astronauts, as “advance-guard human beings,” actually begin to explore the broader expanse of the universe, I suspect—indeed, I anticipate—that members of our species will pose, ponder, and perhaps provide at least provisional answers to a whole new set of puzzles and quandaries. No doubt LLMs will help in this endeavor, but it will be actually experiencing human beings who will be in the privileged position to visit and revisit what it means truly to exist beyond the surface and the experience of our own planet and our own species.

I ask the sponsors of such voyages—be they governments (like the US or China) or billionaires (like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk)—to preserve a few places for philosophers and a few niches for existential intellects.

Cover photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash