I recently heard someone say, (paraphrase) “We do not properly assess the true intelligence of many creatures.”
I agree, I think there are many creatures that have intelligence we overlook. Take whales for example. They do things that clearly demonstrate significant intelligence, such as problem solving, communication, and team work. Are whales as “intelligent” as humans?
There is something that differentiates humans from other creatures, including whales. It is not simply our intelligence, but it is our reasoning power coupled with our body form. One of our physical characteristics is dexterity. Combining dexterity with powerful reasoning helps us create tools. We then use our tools to create ever more sophisticated tools. We call this progression of sophistication technology. With our unique combination of body form and reasoning power, with technology, we manipulate our environment more than any other creature on the planet.
In my opinion our unique combination of intelligence and dexterity are an evolutionary flaw! We are very clever creatures, but our cleverness is not tempered by sufficient wisdom. We do amazing things, like travel to the moon and back, but we’re not wise enough to see that our unbridled cleverness threatens the survivability of all creatures… including humans.Our manipulation of the environment, our wanton over utilization of planetary resources, our arrogant dismissal of the harm we bring to other species, these are the glaring evidence of the evolutionary flaw with which we humans are afflicted.
In spite of whatever intelligence whales may have, have they just chosen to live more simply than humans because they’re wiser than we are??? Or is it just that they have not been endowed by evolutionary chance with both the intelligence and the dexterity necessary to manipulate the environment as humans do???
Does greater intelligence make one species greater or better than another???
Does intelligence in one creature necessarily bestow more rights to that creature than other creatures who may have less intelligence???
Does our technology and other achievements make us the supremely “superior” species???
