Educational Media Reviews Online

As the subtitle denotes, this program attempts to define intelligence in terms of the "information age." Along with some traditional ideas about intelligence, a recurring theme of this video is that intelligence is power and that this power is acquired by learning to collect, analyze, apply, and communicate data using a variety of information technologies. While the creators attempt to cover the topic with great breadth, they do not do so with great depth; in fact, the depth of the content is quite superficial and can be described as series of loosely related vignettes in a stream of consciousness format. These vignettes include the following topics: Language, the use of computers to gather intelligence in the form of data, communication technology, the analysis of data and its use in modeling and forecasting (e.g., marketing, military intelligence), IQ & intelligence testing, networked computers as intellectual systems, brain size, computers as brains & the consequential moral issues, gifted vs. nongifted children, artificial intelligence technology and robotics as an "intelligent" assistant, functional imaging of the brain, security systems and hacking, "smart" products, genetics, and information access.

Brief group discussions are held periodically with progressively older children from elementary school students to college age students. The content is interspersed with images, sound effects, and readings from The Emperor's New Clothing that draw this video out to a long 77 minutes. Its length could have been shortened considerably.

Vignettes include professionals from a variety of disciplines: animal behavior, philosophy, psychology, education, archaeology, and neuropathology.

The overall technical quality is good. The video is clean and crisp but very busy. Often the narration or monologues are simultaneously layered with abstract sounds and abstract images.

It may be that the creators are trying to appeal to a media generation that likes to be entertained by quickly changing sounds and images. This video could be used with middle school students to lower division college students but the content is so sparse that it would best be used as a stepping stone for discussion. Instructors will need to add considerable content and structure for meaningful results. Not Recommended.