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Morphing Intelligence: From IQ Measurement to Artificial Brains
What is intelligence? The concept crosses and blurs the boundaries between natural and artificial, bridging the human brain and the cybernetic world of AI. In this book, the acclaimed philosopher Catherine Malabou ventures a new approach that emphasizes the intertwined, networked relationships among the biological, the technological, and the symbolic.
Malabou traces the modern metamorphoses of intelligence, seeking to understand how neurobiological and neurotechnological advances have transformed our view. She considers three crucial developments: the notion of intelligence as an empirical, genetically based quality measurable by standardized tests; the shift to the epigenetic paradigm, with its emphasis on neural plasticity; and the dawn of artificial intelligence, with its potential to simulate, replicate, and ultimately surpass the workings of the brain. Malabou concludes that a dialogue between human and cybernetic intelligence offers the best if not the only means to build a democratic future. A strikingly original exploration of our changing notions of intelligence and the human and their far-reaching philosophical and political implications, Morphing Intelligence is an essential analysis of the porous border between symbolic and biological life at a time when once-clear distinctions between mind and machine have become uncertain.
Malabou traces the modern metamorphoses of intelligence, seeking to understand how neurobiological and neurotechnological advances have transformed our view. She considers three crucial developments: the notion of intelligence as an empirical, genetically based quality measurable by standardized tests; the shift to the epigenetic paradigm, with its emphasis on neural plasticity; and the dawn of artificial intelligence, with its potential to simulate, replicate, and ultimately surpass the workings of the brain. Malabou concludes that a dialogue between human and cybernetic intelligence offers the best if not the only means to build a democratic future. A strikingly original exploration of our changing notions of intelligence and the human and their far-reaching philosophical and political implications, Morphing Intelligence is an essential analysis of the porous border between symbolic and biological life at a time when once-clear distinctions between mind and machine have become uncertain.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published February 12, 2019
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About the author
Catherine Malabou
61 books127 followersCatherine Malabou (b. 1959) is a French philosopher. She is a professor of philosophy at The European Graduate School / EGS and professor of modern European philosophy at the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (CRMEP) at Kingston University, London. She is known for her work on plasticity, a concept she culled from Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, which has proved fertile within contemporary economic, political, and social discourses. Widely regarded as one of the most exciting figures in what has been called “The New French Philosophy,” Malabou’s research and writing covers a range of figures and issues, including the work of Hegel, Freud, Heidegger, and Derrida; the relationship between philosophy, neuroscience, and psychoanalysis; and concepts of essence and difference within feminism.
Born in Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, Catherine Malabou began her advanced studies at the Université Paris-Sorbonne before attending the prestigious École normale supérieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud, where, in 1994, she submitted her dissertation on G.W.F. Hegel under the direction of Jacques Derrida. Her thesis was published in 1996 under the title L’avenir de Hegel: Plasticité, temporalité, dialectique (The Future of Hegel: Plasticity, Temporality and Dialectic, 2005) with a long preface by Derrida, whom she would later co-author La Contre-allée (1999; Counterpath, 2004). Before arriving at Kingston University, Malabou became assistant professor at the Université Paris Ouest Nanterre in 1995 and, as a frequent lecturer in the USA, has taught at UC Berkeley, The New School in New York City, New York State University at Buffalo, the University of Wisconsin in Madison, UCLA, Johns Hopkins, and, most recently, UC Irvine.
Catherine Malabou’s philosophical work forges new connections and intellectual networks that imaginatively leap across existing synaptic gaps between, for example, continental philosophy and neuroscience; the philosophy of neuroscience and the critique of capitalism; neuroscience and psychoanalysis; and continental and analytic philosophy (notably Kant). As well, her work is explosive and iconoclastic, shattering perceived understandings of Hegel, feminism and gender, and the implications of post-structuralism.
Starting with her 2004 book, Que faire de notre cerveau? (What Should We Do With Our Brain?, 2009), Catherine Malabou has argued passionately and provocatively for a connection between continental philosophy and empirical neuroscience. She centers her argument on a highly original interpretation of the concept of plasticity, an interpretation that she first uncovered in her reading of Hegel’s dialectic. Plasticity refers to the capacity both to receive form and to give form. Although the concept of plasticity is central to neuroscience, Malabou’s work shows that neuroscientists and lay people often misunderstand the basic plasticity of the brain, succumbing to an ideology that focuses solely on its capacity to receive form, that is, the capacity of the brain to be shaped in and through its experience of the world to the exclusion of its creative, form-giving power. In other words, the reigning ideology that governs both the neuroscientific community and the broader culture substitutes flexibility for plasticity, and flexibility, Malabou warns us, “is plasticity minus its genius.” The emphasis on flexibility also fits all too neatly with the demands of capitalism under neoliberalism, which demands efficiency, flexibility, adaptability and versatility as conditions of employability in a post-Fordist economy. The creative, form-giving power of the brain—its genius—consists in its explosive capacity, a capacity that unleashes new possibilities, and herein also lies the capacity for resistance. In her conclusion, Catherine Malabou writes: “To ask ‘What should we do with our brain?’ is above all to visualize the possibility of saying no to an afflicting economic, political, and mediatic culture that celebrate
Born in Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, Catherine Malabou began her advanced studies at the Université Paris-Sorbonne before attending the prestigious École normale supérieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud, where, in 1994, she submitted her dissertation on G.W.F. Hegel under the direction of Jacques Derrida. Her thesis was published in 1996 under the title L’avenir de Hegel: Plasticité, temporalité, dialectique (The Future of Hegel: Plasticity, Temporality and Dialectic, 2005) with a long preface by Derrida, whom she would later co-author La Contre-allée (1999; Counterpath, 2004). Before arriving at Kingston University, Malabou became assistant professor at the Université Paris Ouest Nanterre in 1995 and, as a frequent lecturer in the USA, has taught at UC Berkeley, The New School in New York City, New York State University at Buffalo, the University of Wisconsin in Madison, UCLA, Johns Hopkins, and, most recently, UC Irvine.
Catherine Malabou’s philosophical work forges new connections and intellectual networks that imaginatively leap across existing synaptic gaps between, for example, continental philosophy and neuroscience; the philosophy of neuroscience and the critique of capitalism; neuroscience and psychoanalysis; and continental and analytic philosophy (notably Kant). As well, her work is explosive and iconoclastic, shattering perceived understandings of Hegel, feminism and gender, and the implications of post-structuralism.
Starting with her 2004 book, Que faire de notre cerveau? (What Should We Do With Our Brain?, 2009), Catherine Malabou has argued passionately and provocatively for a connection between continental philosophy and empirical neuroscience. She centers her argument on a highly original interpretation of the concept of plasticity, an interpretation that she first uncovered in her reading of Hegel’s dialectic. Plasticity refers to the capacity both to receive form and to give form. Although the concept of plasticity is central to neuroscience, Malabou’s work shows that neuroscientists and lay people often misunderstand the basic plasticity of the brain, succumbing to an ideology that focuses solely on its capacity to receive form, that is, the capacity of the brain to be shaped in and through its experience of the world to the exclusion of its creative, form-giving power. In other words, the reigning ideology that governs both the neuroscientific community and the broader culture substitutes flexibility for plasticity, and flexibility, Malabou warns us, “is plasticity minus its genius.” The emphasis on flexibility also fits all too neatly with the demands of capitalism under neoliberalism, which demands efficiency, flexibility, adaptability and versatility as conditions of employability in a post-Fordist economy. The creative, form-giving power of the brain—its genius—consists in its explosive capacity, a capacity that unleashes new possibilities, and herein also lies the capacity for resistance. In her conclusion, Catherine Malabou writes: “To ask ‘What should we do with our brain?’ is above all to visualize the possibility of saying no to an afflicting economic, political, and mediatic culture that celebrate
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 1, 2023
Áhugaverð og jafnvel skemmtileg nálgun á gervigreindarrökræðuhefðina. Ekki sammála öllu, svona við fyrsta lestur, en það var margt gott og eftirtektarvert sem ég tek með mér frá þessari.
December 19, 2019
Morphing Intelligence is a pungent book, full of great ideas. It offers a refreshing perspective on the AI debate, setting aside the old terrifying stories of robot revolt and encouraging us to think more clearly about what 'intelligence' really is and how we can live together in a world of intelligent beings. I must say I found the book a little sketchy and half-baked in places, but then again it is based on a series of lectures, rather than years of concentrated effort. I look forward to whatever treatise eventually develops out of Malabou's project to reimagine the intellect in the age of data.
January 1, 2025
El libro escrito por Catherine Malabou aborda un problema actual y de un peso filosófico importante: la inteligencia. A partir de tres metamorfosis estudia la historia de este concepto: (1) conflicto entre intelecto e inteligencia, y la subsiguiente reacción filosófica ante la eugenesia y la genética de los comportamientos; (2) surgimiento de la epigenética, entendida como la relación del cuerpo y el medioambiente, que da lugar a la noción de desarrollo individual y la creatividad de la vida; (3) la dialéctica del automatismo y la inteligencia como un aspecto colectivo, no individual. Según la autora estamos viviendo esta última, por lo que no ha adoptado una forma clara, ya sea como condición de posibilidad de la democracia o como un dispositivo más de poder normalizador. Malabou ayuda a desnaturalizar y no esencializar la inteligencia, la cual entiende como la unión entre biología y psicología, o cuerpo y mente. No obstante, en mi opinión este texto deja más preguntas abiertas que respuestas, por ejemplo: ¿las máquinas con plasticidad tienen historia, pasado, medio? Si es así, ¿cuál es?, ¿qué lo constituye?, ¿por qué llamamos «smartphone» o «smartTV» a máquinas que no cometen errores ni se pueden reparar a si mismas?, ¿qué noción de inteligencia cristalizan? Finalmente, si la inteligencia ya no depende de un cuerpo biológico (pues las máquinas no lo tienen evidentemente), ¿cómo pensar la relación que plantea la autora entre biología y psicología, y su intersticio: la inteligencia? La autora hace demasiado énfasis en la inteligencia humana y deja sin abordar aspectos fundamentales de la inteligencia de las máquinas.
Con todo, recomiendo su lectura.
Con todo, recomiendo su lectura.
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February 8, 2023suuuuper french
June 5, 2023
Eerste filosofieboek in een lange tijd. Mooi geformuleerd. Kijk weer helemaal anders tegen intelligentie aan na het lezen.
June 10, 2024
Un recorrido científico, conceptual y filosófico por el concepto de "inteligencia", recorriendo tres metamorfosis sucesivas. Otro gran aporte de Malabou al pensamiento contemporáneo, esta vez desechando su tecnofobia previa para pensar en paralelo la plasticidad cerebral y la IA. Creo que esperaba un poco más de reflexión sobre esto último, pero las discusiones teóricas en sí hacen valer la lectura.
February 28, 2019
Much rambling, nothing of consequence. Esoteric and weird analogies like 'Testudo' drawn which have no bearing on anything in the subject.
At the end, you're left frustrated because all you've read is something you probably already know. It's little more than a survey of the scene of AI and cognitive psychology.
The only reason it deserves 2 stars is because of the nice Bibliography and the list of authors and books it refers to, so that you can instead read those and extract insights from those, because there aren't any here.
Avoid.
At the end, you're left frustrated because all you've read is something you probably already know. It's little more than a survey of the scene of AI and cognitive psychology.
The only reason it deserves 2 stars is because of the nice Bibliography and the list of authors and books it refers to, so that you can instead read those and extract insights from those, because there aren't any here.
Avoid.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews