On Nature Quotient

At a high level of knowledge, learning naturally has to be paired with practice. Kingfisher assigns Field Sparrow a ‘field trip’ to nearby markets to study consumer needs, especially anything that may affect the Bird Village economy, particularly the Pond sub-economy, i.e. Kingfisher’s territory.

[…] Among the sea of information, one worrisome conclusion emerges: The villagers in the region have begun to favor eating small, crispy fried fish paired with beer. This type of fish is about to become the main driver of the surrounding villages’ economic growth! – In ‘Bird Village Economics’; Wild Wise Weird (Vuong 2024)

Humans beyond Intelligence Quotient and Emotional Quotient

Humans have expressed and measured intelligence through various quotients – Intelligence Quotient (IQ), Emotional Quotient (EQ), Adversity Quotient (AQ), Cultural Quotient (CQ), etc. (Mayer et al. 2008; Mackintosh 2011). However, in this time of environmental crises induced by anthropogenic activities such as climate change and biodiversity loss, it leads us to a fundamental question: Why is it that a person with a high IQ or strong EQ can still support or even devise plans that destroy the environment – the very foundation of human life? In reality, such individuals are far from rare.

We believe the answer stems from a missing or incomplete understanding of a crucial type of intelligence, which is broad and essential to survival, that we tentatively call the Nature Surviving/Adapting/Harmonizing Quotient. This form of intelligence enables humans to comprehend the complex, dynamic interactions of nature, position humans within such systems, and live harmoniously with and nurture the natural environment.

Some scholars and organizations have attempted to define the intellectual capacity to process environmentally relevant information through terms such as Environmental Quotient, Ecological Intelligence and Nature Quotient (NQ). Specifically, Environmental Quotient tends to focus narrowly on an individual’s or organization’s environmental awareness, responsibility and impact (Carboni 2023). Ecological Intelligence, on the other hand, refers to the ability to comprehend systems in their full complexity and understand the interplay between natural and man-made environments (McCallum 2005; Goleman 2009). More specifically, it is an intelligence that ‘recognizes that every creature exists within and beyond itself, that an animal is never just that – an animal. A human being is never just that, either. Every species in its own way is poetic, every individual a unique, interacting component in a complex field of life’ (McCallum 2005).

Meanwhile, the NQ has several different definitions. Murphy (2022) refers to it as a measure of a person’s understanding of the natural world, the dynamics at work within it and connectivity to nature, while Adamson (2013) defines it as a person’s degree of exposure to nature – in all its rawness, awe, beauty and terror – which is deemed necessary for living wisely and in balance with non-human neighbors. The latter definition stems from the Deep Ecology philosophy introduced by Arne Naess (Naess 1973, 2005). Deep Ecology emphasizes the intrinsic value and interconnectedness of all life forms and ecosystems, including humans, regardless of their utility to human interests. It promotes an environmental ethos that challenges human dominance and consumerism, calling for a radical shift from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism. To elaborate, Adamson (2013) explicitly noted that the concept of the NQ was informed by Deep Ecology, aiming to move beyond a mechanistic focus on homeostasis or lists of biological components toward a deeper recognition of the intrinsic interconnections and meanings that define the inherent values of each element within nature.

Nevertheless, the Environmental Quotient is too simplistic and fails to capture the intricacies and dynamics of the natural world. Ecological Intelligence, while focused on understanding, does not imply how such understanding can be processed and translated into thought, decision-making and action. NQ appears most aligned with the proposed Nature Surviving/Adapting/Harmonizing Quotient. Still, the definition of Adamson (2013) largely emphasizes exposure to nature, and Murphy (2022) focuses on the knowledge of and connectivity to nature rather than the cognitive and behavioral capacities needed to navigate the complexity of interactions within and between natural and human systems. In other words, despite some degree of alignment, these concepts remain incomplete or insufficient to reflect a quotient that helps humans comprehend the complexity and dynamics of nature and live harmoniously with and nurture it.

NQ

To better explain the distinction and features of the Nature Surviving/Adapting/Harmonizing Quotient – or in short, NQ – we draw on Granular Interaction Thinking Theory (GITT) (Vuong and Nguyen 2024a, 2024b, 2024c), an information-processing framework rooted in the worldviews of quantum mechanics (Rovelli 2018; Hertog 2023), Shannon (1948)’s Information Theory and the Mindsponge Theory (Vuong 2023).

GITT views the human mind as an information collection-cum-processor that constantly interacts with its surrounding environment – a broader information-processing system, such as the Earth system (Vuong and Nguyen 2024a). These interactions are essential for restructuring the internal system in ways that allow it to sustain its existence (Nguyen et al. 2023a). Only systems that manage these interactions effectively are able to survive, grow and reproduce. In other words, successful adaptation to a dynamic environment depends on the efficient management of information: acquiring it, storing it, transmitting it and processing it. This principle aligns with Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution (Darwin and Wallace 1858; Darwin 2003) in that survival is not merely about strength or intelligence but about adaptability – and in the context of GITT, adaptability is fundamentally about informational competence.

One of the main features of GITT that is drawn from quantum mechanics, is relationality, meaning that world events are always interactions and all variable aspects of an object exist only in relation to other objects. This perspective, that emphasizes the interrelations among systems – particularly between humans and the environment – resonates with the Deep Ecology worldview (Naess 1973). These interrelations reflect what Capra and Luisi (2014) describe as ‘the fundamental interdependence of all phenomena and the fact that, as individuals and societies, we are all embedded in (and ultimately dependent on) the cyclical processes of nature’. However, key distinctions set GITT apart. GITT looks at these interrelations through the information processing worldview (i.e. ‘it from bit’ concept of Wheeler (2018) – ‘all things physical are information-theoretic in origin’) and explicitly acknowledges the subjectivity, biological and cognitive limitations, and fallibility of humans as they interact with the ecological and social conditions of the spacetime in which they operate (Einstein 1920). To minimize these inherent uncertainties and fallibility, GITT argues that the mind’s effective information processing is essential.

In the same way that quanta, atoms, molecules and energy form the essential building blocks of cells – the foundation of both nature and human life (Schrödinger 1944; Ernberg et al. 2022; Kurian 2025) – the mental processes within the human mind also exhibit granularity, meaning that information (including energy) is inherently finite. As the number of informational units – or ‘grains of information’ – increases, the entropy (i.e. uncertainty or missing information) within the mind also rises (Vuong and Nguyen 2024c). Shannon defines an information unit as a measure of the number of possible alternatives for something. The concept of informational entropy can be mathematically expressed using Shannon’s entropy formula (Shannon 1948):

Here, H(X) represents the informational entropy of a random variable X that has n possible outcomes {x1, x2,…, xn} with corresponding probabilities {P(x1), P(x2),…, P(xn)}. In this context, X represents the current state of an individual’s mind and each xi denotes an informational unit, with P(xi) representing the probability of that unit being stored and processed. According to the formula, when the number of informational units increases without clear differentiation or prioritization, entropy escalates significantly. Entropy reaches its maximum when all information is perceived as equally important – that is when P(xi)=1n. In such a scenario, the mind faces the highest risk of informational overload and loss. Therefore, to optimize finite cognitive and energetic resources for survival, growth and reproduction, individuals must evaluate, distinguish, compare, combine and assign varying levels of importance to different informational inputs. This prioritization process (i.e. value formation process) allows for more efficient storage and processing of information that is most relevant to sustaining life and adapting to a complex environment (Vuong and Nguyen 2024c).

Here, values are subjective constructs that emerge from interactions among information units originating from diverse sources, such as innate tendencies (e.g. biophilia), personal experiences, education, social interactions, access to cultural media and direct engagement with nature. Such value emergence is probabilistically determined but not unequivocally, reflecting the third main feature of GITT (besides granularity and relationality): indeterminacy. Through these interactions, the mind assigns a higher probability of being retained and processed to insights that are perceived to benefit the mind’s survival, growth and reproduction (i.e. values), while information deemed irrelevant or costly is assigned lower probabilities – or filtered out entirely – to minimize cognitive entropy and conserve energy. These insights are no longer only genuine information about specific attributes (e.g. the smell, color, size or shape of a plant or animal) but synthetic information derived from interactions with other kinds of information (e.g. ‘planting trees improves health,’ ‘interacting with animals relieves stress and enhances well-being,’ ‘primary forests are more vital to the future of our children than monoculture plantations,’ or ‘the market value of biodiversity credits may rise but extinct species we care about or our children never have the opportunity to see can never return.’). Such synthetic information units and other existing information form information-value nexuses within the mind, serving as benchmarks for subsequent mental processes, including subjective cost-benefit evaluations and decision-making.

It is important to note that the term ‘value’ here differs from the ‘inherent/intrinsic values’ referenced in Deep Ecology. From the perspective of GITT, such inherent or intrinsic values should be understood as configurations of information and information-processing capacities embedded within a system (wildlife, ecosystem or climate system), existing independently of human subjectivity (or their perceived usefulness). Only when humans recognize this information do they begin to assign significance to it by attributing probabilities based on its perceived relevance or usefulness, thereby forming values related to wildlife, ecosystems or climate systems. This limitation of the human mind can help explain why many people are often mentally disconnected from nature, despite their existence being deeply interconnected with and dependent on natural processes (e.g. provisioning and regulating ecosystem services) (Nguyen et al. 2023b). In some cases, this disconnect can lead individuals to degrade the ecosystems that sustain them and their families, for example, by harvesting local forests for timber to earn market income, even at the cost of long-term environmental and livelihood security.

Following the GITT perspective, we define NQ as the human capacity to perceive, process and organize information about the interconnections and dynamic interactions among complex information-processing systems – such as humans, wildlife, ecosystems and climate systems. This capability enables individuals to manage, organize and construct a perceived optimal order that fosters harmonious development between humans and nature – and even further, to sustain and nurture the overarching ecological systems through serendipity and creativity (Vuong et al. 2025).

As such, the tentative mathematical form of NQ can be defined as follows:

of which,

Q1 = total knowledge of nature useful for survival needs, innovations and improved life experiences.

Q = total knowledge gained from interactions with nature, life actions and society.

Here, Q1⊂Q.

How to determine Q1:

A combination of all sources of information absorbed from interactions with nature, with corresponding probabilities of occurrences, that decide if a specific piece of information is adding to the value-forming process, based on GITT. A relatively more familiar treatment could refer to the choice of a probabilistic combination in choosing the probability measure in determining a value-generating trading strategy in discrete-time asset markets. In such market models, we can theoretically identify and subsequently choose, a risk-neutral martingale probability measure Q for Q to have minimum entropy in Π(S,P) or Q is as near P as possible (P represents the probability that things actually happen in reality). Following Van Huu and Hoang (2007), Π(S,P) the set of probability measures Q such that Q~P and that {Sn} is {FnS}-integrable square martingale under Q. For the sake of clarity, we must declare that this only serves as an analogy to some other better-defined measures, i.e. not necessarily that of a capital market model. However George Pólya writes in his book How to Solve It (Polya 1945):

Analogy is a sort of similarity. Similar objects agree with each other in some respect, analogous objects agree in certain relations of their respective parts.

[..]

Analogy pervades all our thinking, our everyday speech and our trivial conclusions as well as artistic ways of expression and the highest scientific achievements. Analogy is used on very different levels. People often use vague, ambiguous, incomplete, or incompletely clarified analogies, but analogy may reach the level of mathematical precision. All sorts of analogy may play a role in the discovery of the solution and so we should not neglect any sort.

Thus even a seemingly ‘vague’ suggestion could hint at something useful in further development and even when the first idea turns out to be a falsity, the pursuit of a better alternative can still benefit from the ’reductio ad absurdum’ procedure.

Although the mathematical form above may provide a sense that NQ is simply the total number of discrete nature-related knowledge units stored in the mind, it is not merely a matter of quantity. NQ is also determined by the mind’s ability to process nature-related knowledge and its interactions with other types of knowledge, reflecting the systems perspective that ‘the whole is more than the sum of its parts’ (Von Ehrenfels 1960/1890; Capra and Luisi 2014). This process enables the formation of structured, meaningful, applicable knowledge combinations that can be utilized in real-world contexts.

Central to this process is plausible reasoning – a form of reasoning that operates under conditions of uncertainty, aiming for conclusions that are likely and reasonable rather than absolutely certain. Given the inherent biological and cognitive limitations of the human mind, this capability is particularly important when processing knowledge related to nature that is often dynamic, complex and interconnected. At the core of plausible reasoning lie three foundational heuristic strategies (Polya 1954): generalization, specialization and analogy. While analogy has been discussed above, generalization refers to the ability to extend a principle or pattern observed in a specific set of objects to a broader set that includes them. For example, insights gained from the reintroduction of a species in Gunung Leuser National Park can be generalized to guide similar efforts in other tropical rainforests. In contrast, specialization involves narrowing the focus from a general set to a more specific subset – for example, shifting attention from chevrotains in general to the silver-backed chevrotain, a species endemic to Vietnam.

Moreover, the fact that NQ is defined as the ratio between Q₁ and Q reflects a type of quotient that is dynamic and context-dependent, varying relative to the mind’s boundaries and the specific spacetime in which the mind operates. Specifically, for an individual possessing high Q₁ that approximates Q, they are highly likely to employ their knowledge of nature to guide their decision-making and actions. However, if their overall knowledge (Q) is limited, their ability to apply nature-related insights for survival, innovation or meaningful life experiences in reality remains constrained. Conversely, someone with a vast knowledge base (high Q) but minimal nature-related knowledge (low Q₁) may fall into the kind of scenario that knowledge of nature is applied in manipulative ways within ecosystems, such as exploiting natural systems more efficiently without regard for sustainability.

The commodification of nature through carbon credits can be viewed as a manipulative application of nature-based knowledge for driving growth. This mechanism allows businesses to continue profiting from environmentally damaging activities – such as deforestation for renewable energy projects or the extraction of raw materials for electric vehicle production – while consumers are encouraged to continue buying and consuming more, being assured that they are not harming the environment with the ‘carbon neutrality’ label. Meanwhile, biodiversity continues to decline, despite the reality that biodiversity loss and climate change are ‘two sides of the same coin’ (Fulton 2017; McElwee 2021).

From NQ to eco-surplus culture

NQ is fundamentally different from other forms of intelligence, such as IQ (analytical capabilities) and EQ (emotion regulation capabilities) (Mayer et al. 2008; Mackintosh 2011), as it reflects people’s capabilities to move beyond anthropocentric desires and shortsightedness to foster ways of holistic thinking, behaving and living that are harmonious with and nurturing toward nature. While IQ and EQ help reduce natural stupidity – humans’ inherent flaws or limitations to acquire, process and apply knowledge – NQ helps reduce what we might call natural absurdity – humans’ failure to process knowledge across different perspectives, systems and contexts (Nguyen 2024a). Aviary bird-keeping, that can harm avian biodiversity but is often justified as an expression of nature love, is a typical example of such natural absurdity (Nguyen and Vuong 2025).

In this sense, NQ not only serves as a form of ecological awareness, understanding and skill but also as a corrective force against the potential hubris associated with elevated IQ or EQ. While cognitive and emotional intelligence can foster innovation and empathy, they may also contribute to a sense of human superiority or detachment from the natural world (Diamond 2011; Marques 2020; Nguyen 2024a). In contrast, NQ embeds intelligence within a framework of humility, interdependence and systems thinking. NQ reorients personal and collective intelligence toward more grounded, ethical and sustainable behaviors by anchoring knowledge and emotional insight in a deep awareness of ecological interconnection.

Cultivating high NQ lays the groundwork for a broader sociocultural transition – from an ‘eco-deficit’ culture to an ‘eco-surplus’ paradigm. The former treats the environment as an external resource to be controlled and consumed for anthropocentric desires, while the latter positions ecological health as foundational to human survival, well-being and generational continuity (Vuong 2021; Vuong and Nguyen 2024d). An eco-surplus culture recognizes that environmental protection and regeneration are not peripheral moral choices but existential necessities. In this view, ecological responsibility becomes not only a scientific or policy concern but a deeply ingrained cultural and humanistic value that reshapes how societies define progress, success and legacy.

In a society shaped by an eco-surplus culture, solutions that prioritize economic goals at the expense of ecological degradation are deprioritized in favor of those that uphold ecological sustainability. For example, through the provision of useful nature knowledge – including technical training, business development support, and reforestation planning – by international organizations such as the Green Climate Fund and United Nations Development Programme, along with governmental support, community-based projects to restore mangrove ecosystems have enabled coastal communities in Vietnam to achieve better livelihoods by partnering with nature. Instead of converting existing mangrove forests into intensive monoculture systems, these communities are engaging in sustainable practices such as mangrove beekeeping and silvo-aquaculture that align economic activity with ecological restoration (GCF/UNDP Viet Nam 2023; Linh 2024). Moreover, mangrove ecosystems offer vital protection against storms, coastal flooding and erosion. Beyond the domains of livelihood and well-being, the connection between a high NQ and an eco-surplus culture also extends into political, geopolitical and conflict-related domains. Individuals with high NQ are less inclined to weaponize climate change or biodiversity conservation agendas for political or economic gain and more attuned to the necessity of de-escalating geopolitical tensions to preserve ecological stability. Thus, a society with many high-NQ individuals is less likely to be drawn into conflicts that deplete vital resources and human capacity needed for environmental protection and restoration (Franta 2022; Vuong et al. 2023). Ultimately, such a society understands that – regardless of who claims righteousness in war – the destruction and lasting consequences inflicted upon the environment are sinful to Mother Nature and our future generations (Vuong et al. 2024).

NQ has actually existed within humanity for generations – though often at a local scale – deeply rooted in traditional community-based knowledge and cultural systems – often recognized as Indigenous Knowledge Systems (Bohensky et al. 2013). These knowledge and cultural systems embody an accumulated wisdom passed down through generations, encapsulating profound and well-tested insights into sustainable living and ecological balance. Indigenous communities worldwide have long demonstrated the practical application of this intelligence, living harmoniously with nature and wildlife, and showcasing remarkable resilience and adaptability in the face of environmental challenges. Their knowledge encapsulates not merely an abstract understanding but a holistic and experiential grasp of ecosystems, resource management and sustainability principles (Ulluwishewa et al. 2008; McAllister et al. 2023).

For an eco-surplus culture to emerge and flourish, it needs to begin at the level of individual cognition through cultivating NQ. Information from the external world – whether from nature, other people, cultural media or digital spaces – enters the mind as input and triggers internal cognitive interactions. These mental processes shape values, influence decisions and ultimately lead to actions. When these actions, in turn, serve as informational inputs for others, they contribute to broader social mechanisms of reinforcement or rejection of shared values and norms (e.g. knowledge exchange, peer-to-peer learning, parental education, science communication, activism influencing public policy or the role of regulatory systems in shaping corporate behavior). These interactions form a dynamic web of information flows – constantly interacting, adapting and co-evolving – linking individual cognition with collective behaviors and broader ecological and cultural systems.

Among various forms of social interaction, cultural products can serve not only as tools to cultivate an individual’s NQ but also as effective media to shape and reinforce the significance of nature in human life – ultimately fostering a form of collective intelligence (or collective NQ), understood here as a shared capability to generate useful nature knowledge. Across cultures, natural elements such as mountains, rivers, trees, birds and fish have long inspired stories, folktales, songs, paintings, languages, metaphors, belief systems and symbols. Folktales often begin in forests or along riverbanks, where humans encounter spirits, sacred forces or animals bearing moral lessons. Poets turn to the changing seasons and flowing waters to express love, loss and eternity, while landscapes become living monuments to historical heroes and cultural memory. These enduring connections reflect deep cognitive and cultural interactions with nature – not as a backdrop but as a source of knowledge and wisdom, and a ‘co-creator’ of human values, moral frameworks and cultural identities.

For example, the Daodejing by Laozi (Lao Tzu, 老子) – the foundational text of Daoism – and later works by Daoist thinkers such as Zhuangzi (Zhuang Zhou, 莊子), have profoundly shaped the cultural values and artistic expressions of East Asian cultures, including China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. These philosophical traditions have influenced a wide range of cultural products – literature, painting, architecture, calligraphy, music, martial arts and medicine – all of which emphasize the harmonious relationship between humans and nature. They also reflect key attributes of NQ, particularly in the mindful interaction with other species and the pursuit of understanding their ‘true inborn nature’ (Laozi 1868; Cooper 2014). Another notable example of such cultural products in Europe is De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), a philosophical and didactic poem composed in the 1st century BCE. Rediscovered in 1417 by Poggio Bracciolini, the work played a pivotal role in advancing human understanding of the natural world and the universe. It significantly influenced the artistic and intellectual currents of the Renaissance, inspired a wide array of cultural and literary works – including the poetry of William Shakespeare and the essays of Michel de Montaigne – and inspired the thinking of major scientific and philosophical figures such as Isaac Newton, John Dalton, Baruch Spinoza, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein (Gots 2011; Greenblatt 2011; Rovelli 2017).

Following this line of thinking, it resonates with the foundational principles outlined by Soulé (1985) as the guiding framework for conservation biology: (1) ‘the diversity of organisms is good’; (2) ‘ecological complexity is good’; (3) ‘evolution is good’; and (4) ‘biotic diversity has intrinsic value.’ The inherent value of diverse organisms and complex ecosystems lies in the fact that each organism or ecosystem embodies a more or less distinct set of information units and information-processing capabilities that have been refined through the (co)evolution processes from the perspective of GITT. Through interactions with humans, these systems contribute to discoveries and innovations that are vital for human survival and well-being. Notable examples include Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin from the mold Penicillium rubens, Tu Youyou’s development of anti-malarial therapy from sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua) and numerous biomimicry-inspired inventions, such as parasitic wasp-inspired needles, gecko-inspired surgical glue, peacock feather-inspired biosensors and fiddler crab-inspired artificial vision systems. Additionally, such interactions also foster the creation of cultural products that reinforce social cohesion and cultural continuity.

However, increasing biodiversity and complexity also elevate informational entropy, thereby requiring more energy and time to maintain systemic order. A prevalent human tendency, when with low NQ, is to reduce this entropy by simplifying complex informational systems – compressing the vast interconnections of an organism, plant or species into a limited number of information units that can be understood and operationalized by the cognitive, knowledge and cultural boundaries of the human mind. Employing the market mechanism of supply and demand, operating on the assumption of price equilibrium, is a typical demonstration of humans’ simplification in dealing with complex, interconnected and multi-disequilibrium natural systems. In contrast, individuals and collectives with high NQ are able and more willing to reduce entropy not through simplification but through the creation of organized, synergistic systems. These systems not only serve human needs but also sustain – or even enhance – other life-supporting systems, as illustrated by the difference between intensive monoculture and silvo-aquaculture.

In this sense, ecological restoration, environmental protection and biodiversity conservation are core manifestations of an eco-surplus culture – practices that can be meaningfully leveraged by individuals and societies with high NQ. Accordingly, these efforts should not be viewed solely as domains of empirical science; rather, they represent collective endeavors in which community-based and citizen science play vital roles – contributing to and complementing formal scientific knowledge production, while simultaneously fostering the cultivation of individual and collective NQ (Berkes 2007; Bennett and Watson 2011; Fraisl et al. 2022; Vuong and Nguyen 2023; Nguyen 2024b).

Foresights on the operationalization of NQ

Cultivating NQ requires a reliable measurement system to inform research, policy-making and educational efforts. As previously discussed, NQ is a multidimensional construct that depends on both the acquisition of nature knowledge and information-processing capabilities. Therefore, it necessitates the integration of multiple assessment approaches – such as self-assessments, behavioral observations, physiological responses to nature and cognitive tests of ecological understanding – applied flexibly depending on the context and measurement objectives.

It seems to us that a comprehensive measurement of NQ should comprise two key components to ensure both accuracy and real-world applicability: nature knowledge and information-processing capabilities. The nature knowledge component aims to assess all sources of information acquired through interactions with nature, along with the associated probabilities of their occurrence as perceived by the mind in relation to survival needs, innovation and life enrichment. Where possible, it should also reflect the relative proportion of nature-related knowledge compared to other domains of knowledge. This component will likely require multiple tailored versions to suit different population groups based on their backgrounds, experiences, areas of expertise and the ecological characteristics of their living environments, and the measurement objectives.

Meanwhile, the second component – designed to assess the ability to process information about nature and its interactions with other forms of knowledge to form a perceived optimal order that fosters harmonious development between humans and nature – will likely exhibit less variation across populations. In this component, we propose five core information-processing capabilities to be measured:

In addition to measurement, developing appropriate analytical tools is essential for advancing research on NQ. Bayesian updating and Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics are particularly well-suited for this purpose due to their high operationalizability (Csilléry et al. 2010; Gill 2015; Vuong et al. 2022). Grounded on Bayesian inference and Mindsponge Theory, BMF analytics offers several features that align closely with the relative and multidimensional nature of NQ (Nguyen et al. 2022). Specifically, BMF analytics can assess the processes of information absorption and filtering by evaluating the probabilistic states of information before and after new inputs are integrated, interventions are introduced or environmental conditions change. It is designed to function effectively in complex, dynamic informational environments and supports multi-level or hierarchical analysis, making it a promising tool for studying the formation, development and manifestation of NQ.

In addition to efforts aimed at operationalizing NQ, an equally important question worthy of future exploration is whether NQ is a capability exclusive to humans or if it also exists in other biological systems. If other organisms possess some form of NQ, how does it manifest, to what extent and in what ways might it differ from the human expression of this capability? This line of inquiry emerged as we reflected on the origin of the proposed NQ concept (see Fig. 1), prompting us to consider whether similar abilities might be present in other species. Indeed, humans frequently rely on certain animals as ecosystem sentinels due to their heightened sensitivity to environmental changes – an indication that these species possess advanced abilities to process and respond to ecological information. For example, the greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis) has been monitored in China as a reservoir for infectious diseases with spillover potential; the Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) in Chile serves as a sentinel for oceanographic conditions; and elk (Cervus canadensis) is one of several species used to assess the ecological health of the Yellowstone ecosystem (Hazen et al. 2024). Another particularly compelling example is a recent observation of a male Sumatran orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) actively treating a facial wound with a biologically active plant, demonstrating both ecological awareness and self-care, and suggesting a non-human manifestation of NQ (Laumer et al. 2024). Such cases invite deeper exploration into the existence and diversity of NQ across species, potentially expanding our understanding of intelligence and ecological consciousness beyond a human-centric framework.

Fig. 1.

Bird nests in Justicia gendarussa shrubs. (a) Photograph was taken in 2009, and (b) in 2013 (Source: Q-HV). During a recent trip to Ninh Binh Province, the author (Q-HV) was observing a plant reminiscent of the plants shown in the pictures. The author wondered why the bird had chosen this particular plant for nesting in rather than another species. This question led to investigation and the discovery that the plant was Justicia gendarussa, a medicinal shrub (Đỗ 2005). The idea of NQ emerged as the author connected this observation with accumulated knowledge.

In general, our work represents an initial step in conceptualizing NQ, grounding its definition within the GITT and offers some insights into the operationalization and test battery for measuring NQ. Further study, development and application of this concept can be a promising direction for advancing biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and global ecological sustainability. It holds significant potential to reshape research, policy-making and educational paradigms in environmental and conservation domains. Nevertheless, the development of a comprehensive theoretical framework and measurement instrument for NQ constitutes a complex, demanding endeavor. It will require sustained interdisciplinary collaboration, methodological rigor and iterative cycles of testing, refinement and validation to ensure conceptual robustness and applicability across varied ecological, cultural and socioeconomic contexts.