1. Survival
2. Happiness.
3. Questioning.
Intelligence is the will to survive. Intelligence is defined as superlative survival ability. The better you are at surviving, the more intelligent you are. Likewise with the secondary component of intelligence: happiness. The happier you are, the more intelligent you are. Intelligent people are happy, or more precisely I should state intelligent people act in a manner to ensure their eventual happiness. To survive a life-form must often struggle strenuously, and some die, thus the weak (poor-survivors, stupid life-forms, evolutionary failures) are winnowed out. Likewise with happiness, the route to happiness can often be a tremendously sad route but on balance an intelligent being will find all struggles and sorrows are eventually outweighed by the extreme intensity of their ultimate happiness-heights. A low capacity for survival and happiness means a low capacity for intelligence. High intelligence is determined by the greatest capacity for and actualization of survival and happiness.
Obviously to survive and be happy a being must be capable of reasoning, questioning. To ensure unquestionable clarity it is important to highlight how questioning is a part of intelligence. Some things can be utterly clear therefore the question doesn't need to be asked, or more precisely the answer to the question is self-evident therefore questioning is honed to mere affirmation of correctness, yes? The ability to ask questions regarding your survival and happiness, for the purpose of increasing your survival and happiness, this is intelligence.
It's all about purpose
Typical dictionary definitions of intelligence miss the crucial point. The purpose of intelligence is missed. The purpose is the definition. The purpose is the core meaning of intelligence because learning or reasoning without valid purpose entails futility. Empty learning isn't true learning, directionless reasoning isn't true reasoning, it is stupid. Intelligence without purpose is not intelligence. Here is one typical dictionary definition of intelligence, which you can see misses the key meaning of intellect because the issue of "why" is absent, there is no explanation of purpose:
1. capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.
Intelligence is all about meanings, it is about the perception of value, it is the ultimate meaning, it is a determination of truth, but perceptual problems occur because people frequently fail to correctly ascertain value or truth, therefore the pivotal meaning of intelligence is overlooked or corrupted. People grasp backward (distorted) values therefore a corruption or meaning occurs, which means people cannot see the ultimate value-truth (definition, meaning) of intelligence, namely survival and happiness. Consider how values can change. For example a politician could initially be deemed honest but subsequently the politician is deemed corrupt, therefore what is the true definition of a politician?
It is very helpful to question perspectives, thus what was erroneously deemed "right" can, when viewed in a clearer light, be revealed to actually be "wrong," which is how Gay marriages become legal. This is how we progress, we progress via questioning assumptions. Questioning is good. Redefining is good. It is a refinement to redefine, the sentiment is honed. Survival and happiness (intelligence) depend upon questioning. All three points are interconnected, interdependent, they are disassembled synonyms constructing the word intelligence.
Instead of politicians being defined as "leaders" perhaps they should be redefined as "aimless self-serving morons," but maybe there has been no redefinition, maybe this is how politicians were always defined, it depends on your perspective. The words "red" and "eight" are simpler concepts than the concept of a "politician," "honesty," or "intelligence." The definitions of "red" and "eight" are less liable to "corruption" (distortion). Politicians are "mediators of scarcity," they deal with issues pertaining to allocating scarce resources to people. The allocation level of resources is determined by the social level of the resource-recipient, which means a minority of "superior people" receive the largest amount of resources. Politicians mediate greed, thus their mediation of greed within a world of scarcity entails management of the social dysfunction arising from scarcity. Politicians are stupid because the fail to realize their purpose, they fail to grasp awareness thus they act in ways harmful to survival and happiness. They succumb to the greed of stupid animals unable to engage higher brain functions.
Intelligent people are exceedingly sensitive; they are highly aware, endowed with immense perspicacious due to their deep appreciation of survival and happiness. Expressed concisely, intelligence is the will to live.
Extreme intelligence entails having the greatest will to live. The greater your intelligence, the greater your will to live will be. A low capacity for survival and happiness means a low capacity for intelligence. A highly intelligent will to live is the indomitable will to survive in a state of extreme happiness. The intelligence of humans will ensure we live forever; this is the ultimate survival. We will create utopia, the ultimate happiness. This will happen via the intelligence explosion.
Powerful consciousness
Superlative survival and superlative happiness (extreme survival and extreme happiness) require potent consciousness, potent awareness. It all hinges upon the configuration of the brain. Human brains allow us to experience life more potently than life-forms with lesser brains. Some humans have poorly configured brains thus they are stupid, dumb, insensitive, unaware. Some people are deluded; they are stupid. They act in ways contrary to survival, contrary to happiness (they act in ways contrary to ensuring a speedy arrival of the intelligence explosion), but they think they are making themselves happy and they think they are ensuring their survival in the best possible way. Masochists for example think they are happy when they make themselves feel unhappy. Stupidity is an intrinsic aspect of capitalism thus Post-Scarcity is key aspect of the intelligence explosion.
PART TWO
Here is part two of my intelligence definition, which augments the above definition. I have more information to impart regarding the definition of intelligence but our world is very depressing therefore my complete definition of intelligence will probably not conclude until year 2018 approximately. See the bottom half of this page for additional info.