Today on Big Think, I found this article on the differences between animal and human intelligences:
http://bigthink.com/think-tank/we-profoundly-underestimate-animal-intelligence
This article seems reminiscent of the Einstein quote: "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." Only in this case, the metaphorical fish is a real fish (and any other animal species), with the tree-climbing ability representing the ability to function in human society. Because animals can't. Heck, plenty of people can't. Frankly, to animals, we must seem like idiots. An orca whale would laugh at us because we can't kill walruses. So what if we can calculus? How would that help us in a chimpanzee's world, where the only thing that really matters is the ability to tell plants you can eat from those that can kill you? And there's the fact that we kill each other in droves for what would seem like stupid reasons to animals. Most species are too interested in their own survival to even consider killing each other off. Our cousins the chimps are the only real exception, as clans sometimes go to veritable war with their neighbors. But in any other species, such conflicts rarely end violently. Sure, wolves will fight over territory, or the right to lead the pack. But these fights generally end with the weaker side fleeing with the victors nipping at their heels to reinforce the message. Even among lions, tigers and bears (oh my!), territorial battles, among the most brutal in the animal kingdom, rarely end with anything more serious than a few scratches and bruises. To animals, we must seem like pathetic weaklings with a penchant for self-destruction, who just happen to know the chemical formula of glucose. And they couldn't care less about that.
You can view the battle between human and animals in terms of physical strength or cognitive ability. In terms of physical strength, humans are quite pathetic. We can only practically survive in warm environments that had no large predators.
ReplyDeleteThe strength that we do have is our ability to create tools that compensate for our lack of physical ability. This has proven more useful to us than any kind of physical strength because it means that we are highly adaptable. Sure, orca whales can kill walruses, but what do they do when all the walruses are dead? What if the only food they can get lives on land? Not a good situation for the orca.
Although we cannot live in a directly wild environment, we have developed the survival skills to put us on the top of the food chain. We are surviving right now, but we barely even notice because we have so many tools, we are completely isolated from the food chain. Our power comes with being a jack of all trades, while many of these animals are kind of one trick ponies.