Intelligence, Artifice and Education

Starlight Rays in Darkened Times: Seminars on Contemporary Topics

with Cedar Oliver

This session will explore the development of the idea of “intelligence” with an emphasis on implications for Waldorf high school education.

Before “intelligence” became an adjective telling us whether or not to feel good about ourselves, it was a noun meaning important information. The idea that some races and classes are inherently superior at gathering and interpreting intelligence led first to 19th century eugenics and from there directly to 20th century “intelligence tests” to sort people and determine who gets access to education.

Access to information and the ability to interpret its veracity have always been central to education. Direct interaction with the natural world and direct interaction with other human beings have both been largely supplanted by interaction with human-built artifacts as the source of our everyday “intelligence gathering.” This has profound implications, not only for educational methodology, but for the health of individuals and communities.

Waldorf schools promise to be a bastion of nature-centered and human-centered intelligence in a world of media-centered artifice. Are we delivering on this promise? Are we prepared, and can we imagine ways to prepare our students, for the oncoming biblical flood of information from generative artificial intelligence systems?

Dick “Cedar” Oliver
A science, math, technology, digital arts and design teacher in Waldorf high schools and middle schools for over 20 years, Cedar is also the author and co-author of numerous books and software titles and has worked with scientists, mathematicians, engineers and artists around the world. He attended the University of Maine and the University of Michigan in addition to the HiStep Waldorf Teacher Education program and 5-year Spacial Dynamics training. He currently serves as a visiting teacher and faculty mentor at several U.S. Waldorf schools and is a faculty member at CfA’s Waldorf high school teacher education program.