If all life was truly random, then what happened that allowed humans to it's current intelligent state, do you think non humans could and will reach that in the future?
Do you think any animals will ever reach human intelligence?
by EndofMysteries 24 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
Simon
I think some animals are already more intelligent than some humans.
-
OneEyedJoe
Other animals will reach human intelligence if there's sustained evolutionary pressure to that end. If smarter animals have a greater chance of reproduction, then the population will evolve to become smarter. There are some hurdles, though. About a quarter of the energy used by our bodies is consumed by our brain. Think of that - the brain is roughly 1-2% of our weight and consumes 25% of our energy. That's a HUGE penalty to overcome if food is scarce or if conservation of body heat is important. That immediately reduces the area of the planet where intelligent life is likely to evolve by a large factor.
In the history of evolution, things like vision, flight, echolocation, opposable thumbs, and many other features have evolved multiple times along distinct lineages. Human levels of intelligence, though, has only evolved once. This indicates that it probably requires some pretty specific circumstances to develop. It is also possible that having one species with high intelligence dominating the planet (humans) will in some way prevent another species from developing similar intelligence. It may be that intelligence fills a niche that once full prevents other species from being able to successfully exploit the advantages of intelligence without being overwhelmed by the disadvantage of having to support a large brain.
Of course primates are the most likely animals to evolve intelligence, but since they share a pretty recent ancestor with us that's not a very interesting case. Dolphins have a shot, perhaps, but I think that's probably fairly unlikely due to a lack of flexibility in their bodies - they are much more limited than primates in their ability to manipulate their environment (though there are some indications that they've learned to use tools to catch food without human influence) so I think their ability to take advantage of increased intelligence is limited. Some birds are very intelligent as well, but I suspect evolutionary pressure will force them as a species to maintain the ability to fly in most cases where intelligence might be selected for - so the increased brain mass would come with a great penalty that might not be something that could be overcome. Obviously there are flightless birds, but they've evolved largely in environments that offer other obstacles to the evolution of a large brain.
In any event, evolution has proven itself capable of creating some pretty surprising things, so who knows what'll happen.
-
flipper
I was going to say exactly what Simon said . " Some animals ARE already more intelligent than humans. " I mean if we need proof of that- look at the two clowns mainly running for president in the U.S -
Heaven
Chimpanzees are estimated to have the intelligence of about a 13 year old human.
Corvids (species of bird including magpies, jays, crows, and ravens) are highly intelligent too. Checks this out (if you don't have time to watch the whole thing, just watch the first 2 and a half minutes):
-
Twitch
Once saw a documentary on animal intelligence where dolphins and crows had the highest brain to body mass ratios, next to primates. The problem solving skills of crows was fascinating actually; who would've thunk it...
Biological and environmental factors aside, I've little doubt that other species could develop higher intelligence, given enough evolutionary time
-
Wild_Thing
Do you think any animals will ever reach human intelligence?
It's happened before ....
-
cofty
No
-
Carol1111
I think they are already very intelligent. Could you build a nest just using your mouth? They don't have the option of discussing techniques or reading up on the subject.
-
DATA-DOG
What do you mean? Dolphins are extremely intelligent, they just haven't had to evolve any more to survive. They have what they need, so there is no reason for them to come on land and build towns and cars.
How do we know they aren't pondering the mysteries of life among themselves? After all, we aren't smart enough to figure out what they are saying.
We think we're so smart, because we are specialized. Sure, we're the top primates, but we sure do some really stupid things as well. We are almost a parasitic organism, in terms of what we take from the ecosystem. What are giving back?
DD