Reflecting on two significant books in our field here: Self Comes to Mind by Antonio Damasio, and On Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins—both of them brain-based accounts of consciousness. We don’t have to buy their naturalism (i.e. all that we call mind can be reduced to brain activity) to draw enormous value from their insights.
One thing comes clear: A defining (perhaps the defining) characteristic of human intelligence is our ability to work with categories. Because the brain is a pattern-seeking device, we are able to group objects or events with common features. For example, when my papers are scattered all over my desk, I can sort them into piles and place each pile in a labeled folder. This ability is the foundation of language.
Most category formation is spontaneous and takes place beneath the threshold of consciousness. We instantly know that furry creatures with whiskers and a passion for milk belong in the category “cats” and that animals that rush around the house with excitement when we come home belong in the category “dogs”.
There are of course, categories within categories. Dogs and cats belong in the category “animals” and “animals” belong in the category “biological forms” and so forth.
Now here are the practical implications. When we meet a mass of complex information (say in the creation of a new company), spontaneous category formation may not function. We may have to do conscious work to decide what belongs in what category. We may have to form new categories that we aren’t familiar with. The ability to do this well—a skill that I’ve found can be practiced and refined like any other—sometimes produces extraordinary effects. It may be one of the golden keys to effective thinking.