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mULTIPLe INTeLLIgeNCe THeORY
models, he did allow for the development of
other intelligences. In the epilogue of Multiple
Intelligences: Theory in Practice (1993), Gardner
foresaw “The mental landscape [of the future]
might be reconfigured in light of accumulated
knowledge. I have every reason to believe that
the map would be drawn in a somewhat differ-
ent way” (p. 260). Possibly the future is not as
distant as the year 2013 that Gardner chose for
prediction. In the year 1965, it is estimated that
knowledge doubled every five years. By the year
2003, it was predicted that knowledge will doubled
every two months. One can only wonder at the
rate knowledge is growing today. Gardner may
have figured time on the 1965 scale.
Gardner's own definition of intelligence as “the
ability to solve problems or fashion products that
are of consequence in a particular cultural setting
or community” (1993, p. 15) sets criteria allowing
for the emergence of a digital intelligence. Our
society is increasingly becoming McLuhan's and
Powers' “global village” (1989). Digital technolo-
gies have truly become an extension of man and the
external neural network McLuhan and Zingrone
describe is under construction (1995). This new
digital intelligence is a response to the cultural
change brought about by interaction with digital
technologies which takes into account the skills
and talents possessed by the 'symbol analysts'
and 'masters of change' recently recognized in
Gardner's own revision of Multiple Intelligences
Theory, Intelligence Reframed (1999).
Artists often describe their ability to create
art as if the information or knowledge about their
particular art exists in a multi-dimensional state in
their environment. Their talent lies in their ability
to decode this information and transfer it into a me-
dium that others can more easily appreciate. This
is the artists' own description of the talent or intel-
ligence that Gardner terms Musical Intelligence.
We have developed this type of phenomenon with
information of all descriptions. We have moved it
into multi-dimensional digital space. Information
is no longer arranged in linear fashion but is now
In his original multiple intelligences classification
system, Gardner defines the criteria for distinction
of intelligence classes. He states: “each intel-
ligence must have an identifiable core operation
or set of operations. As a neurally-based com-
putational system, each intelligence is activated
or 'triggered' by certain kinds of internally or
externally presented information” (1993, p. 16).
An additional criterion is described that “an intel-
ligence must also be susceptible to encoding in a
symbol system--a culturally contrived systems of
meaning, which captures and conveys important
forms of information” (1993, p. 16). Gardner
contends that intelligence takes on seven domains
or modes of operation. He chooses to liken intel-
ligence to talent and outlines the following seven
domains in which talent or intelligence functions:
musical, bodily-kinesthetic, verbal-linguistical,
interpersonal, intrapersonal, spatial, logical-
mathematical” (1993, p. 16).
Gardner additionally contends that these seven
intelligences reflect the way the nervous system
has evolved over the millennia to yield certain
discrete kinds of intelligence” (1993, p. 8). He
claims that it is irrelevant whether intelligence is
either inborn or learned.
It is not supposed that any of the original seven
intelligences nor the two additional intelligences
of Gardner's theoretical framework are invalid;
it is merely observed that yet another intelligence
has emerged. A different intelligence, resulting
from human interaction with digital computers
and communication technologies, has emerged.
Digital Intelligence: The Argument
for a New Intelligence
Classification systems are constructed around be-
liefs of what knowledge is worthy of transmission.
Gardner may not have held digital knowledge in
the same esteem as other knowledge structures
when creating his framework. As with all strong
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