In general, all
questions
boil down to
regurgitation,
analysis, or
synthesis.
"What time is the meeting today?"
"
What's your name?"
are examples of reguritation. To
regurgitate is to bring back from within, and in these cases represents simple
memory retrieval.
"Does it look like
it's going to rain?"
"What do you think happened in that
accident we just passed?"
are questions of analysis. To
analyze is to examine the
evidence present,
combine it with previous
experience or
knowledge, and present a
commentary on the
composition,
cause,
how, or
why of a
subject.
"
How should I end this relationship?"
"What should I
upgrade next to improve
computer performance?"
are questions of synthesis. They are essentially analysis questions taken one step further: Analyze, then determine a further
course of action.
Often what is
perceived as
intelligence is actually a
keen ability to analyze and
synthesize quickly. These two skills require a decent memory, but like the internet - if the information desired can be found or synthesized quickly then regurgitation is not as important.