I'm wondering how many people get their natural history information from Disney.
Do you think any animals will ever reach human intelligence?
by EndofMysteries 24 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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shepherdless
Unlikely. The following is a brief summary why.
Brains use up a lot of energy. Broadly speaking, animals have evolved to have a brain size sufficient to do the task at hand, but no more. Occasionally evolution has caused the brain to shrink compared to an ancestor (eg Australian Koala, which has something of a split brain). Very few animals use tools, but those that do, need bigger brains than other animals. Certain primates use tools, as did our ancestors.
An ancestor to humans (homo erectus from memory) was the first animal that used fire as a tool. This was a crucial step, and set a chain effect in motion. The disadvantage is that fire is such a complicated tool, it needed a bigger brain. The massive advantage is that it allowed homo erectus to cook meat and other food, making food safe to eat, and making it easier to digest. (Cooked meat requires around 30% less energy to digest than raw meat, even in a species not used to cooked meat, as some documentary I saw, demonstrated.)
Once our brains became more capable, our ancestors found other things to use them for, and obtained further advantages over the rest of the animal kingdom. This in turn gave bigger brained smarter beings an advantage over others, etc.
I can't see another species achieving that unless humans die out, and another species evolving enough to be able to use fire as a tool.
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KateWild
Well nugget is training cantleave. But some days she just can't get through to him. He will be 50 soon I think nugget is aiming for him to have human intelligence by then, he seems to be on track.
So I would say yes to your title.
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TerryWalstrom
The question is wonky. It's like wondering if animals will ever be able to read Kurdish.
What's the use of it unless you ARE a Kurd?
I'd keep my eyes on robots with A.I.
They are the 'intelligences' of the future to keep your furtive eyeballs upon.
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cantleave
Human intelligence has worked well for Homo sapiens, but the downside is it has enabled behaviour that may well result in the sixth mass extinction. We are not the only "intelligent" animals, Cephalopods demonstrate highly advanced cognitive skills and probably evolved those capabilities well before we did.......and without endangering themselves or their environment.
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Coded Logic
If by "intelligence" you mean the general sense of the word (the ability to reason, problem solve, understand abstractions, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience) than I would say apes, certain types of cetacean, and certain types of octopods are really the names in the game.
But to get to "human level" I don't think cetaceans and octopods are likely to achieve this. As has already been pointed out, powerful brains require a lot of energy. And hominid intelligence really didn't take off until we started cooking our food (allowing us to extract more calories from our food) so we could power our big brains. I don't see a pathway to fire cetaceans or octopods unless they evolve to become land creatures.
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KateWild
Cephalopods demonstrate highly advanced cognitive skills and probably evolved those capabilities well before we did.......and without endangering themselves or their environment. - cantleave
How do they demonstrate this? Do they communicate or live in families like dolphins? How do you measure the cognitive ability of a cephalopod? Is there an IQ test equivalent like chimps, we know they have an IQ of around 70?
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Coded Logic
If you test the IQ of a Chimp at the level of a 4 year old human then they'll score 70 or 80. But if you test them at the level of an adult human they only score about 40. -
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LisaRose
My cat gets food, water, toys, treats and cat nip on demand, goes in and out whenever she pleases and I even clean her litter box. I'd say she is already the smarter one.