Adaptable Fluid Intelligence

On page fifty eight of Fluid Concepts, by Douglas Hofstadter there is a substantial point made about the process of problem solving. One must organize perceptually the individual elements that are recognizable first, and then step by step move towards other familiar patterns. Hofstadter then shows the reader a direct representation of this concept in his mountain sequence of numbers. This distinct organization of his mountain chain sequence number pattern into a visually relative grouping of plateaus, up runs and down runs is quite helpful in understanding the full concept. Personally, I learn a great deal through visual methods and this optical extrapolation which Hofstadter constructs further cements his idea of the power of perceptual regrouping. Hofstadter then mentions the concept of perceptual glue, or the grouping of like patterns through a common element visible throughout individual segments. Again re-solidifying the conceptual importance of perceptual regrouping, Hofstadter makes a clear point that pattern recognition and fluid reassembling is a vital aspect to intelligence. Another important concept expressed in this book pertaining to perception, is the aspect that we humans usually first recognize the most aesthetic pattern. Hofstadter then eloquently defines mathematics as the art of choosing the most elegant generalization to an abstract pattern. I certainly have never heard mathematics explained so surreptitiously, but it makes logical sense. Mathematicians are not mainly interested in how a problem is solved, but in what they can accomplish and create with such a solution. The ability to alter and sculpt a previous contribution into a greater and more powerful concept is what most mathematicians seem to be interested in. Again, making the unmistakable assertion that the power to reorganize ideas and adapt ones knowledge to emerging problems is a vital part of intelligence.
As I read more and more of this text I realize that Hofstadter is quite the wordsmith, and such phrases as bubble up, plateaus, fluidifying, perceptual glue, and variabilizations add an undeniable active quality to his book. These choice words make the concepts and numbers almost fly of the page and land directly in the mind. One receives a very live and vivid association of such concepts conveyed through this particularly active and colorful language.