Giant tortoises show surprising cognitive powers
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Re: Giant tortoises show surprising cognitive powers
#2I keep getting surprised at the inability (refusal) of humans that we are not the only intelligent (and emotional) life form on this planet. It is extremely annoying.
Re: Giant tortoises show surprising cognitive powers
#3I keep getting surprised at the inability (refusal) of humans that we are not the only intelligent (and emotional) life form on this planet. It is extremely annoying.
Intelligence is a sliding scale and, until someone proves us wrong, we are the most intelligent life form on this planet.
Emotional... well that's something else.
Re: Giant tortoises show surprising cognitive powers
#4I keep getting surprised at the inability (refusal) of humans that we are not the only intelligent (and emotional) life form on this planet. It is extremely annoying.
I think it's a subconscious act of self-preservation. Truly accepting the sentience of animals would be conferring upon them a much more expansive (and expensive) set of rights, which in turn would make the our society seem all the more immoral through how we treat other species. Too much cognitive dissonance.
Re: Giant tortoises show surprising cognitive powers
#5I keep getting surprised at the inability (refusal) of humans that we are not the only intelligent (and emotional) life form on this planet. It is extremely annoying.
We have a tendency to measure intelligence as the ability to communicate well with humans. Our pets are "smart" because they have been practicing for millennia. Our children are smart when they show empathy and strong verbal skills. I'm not sure that we are equipped to measure intelligence in other animals, and I doubt we would even recognize intelligent alien life.
Re: Giant tortoises show surprising cognitive powers
#6When I worked in Central Illinois recently, the home my wife and I rented bordered a field where young cows were raised. The small cows seemed to play some sort of game, running around each other like run after the leader. We thought they were playing. Later my wife found stuff on the web about cows being given beach balls to play with and with each other. Uncomfortable truth for people who selfishly help environmentally destroy our planet with their meat addictions? I would say yes.
My small Meyers Parrot similarly plays games, remembers things for months but does eventually seem to forget things he has learned. His neocortex is probably only one square inch.
My personal belief is that in life in the universe (with about 400 billion galaxies times about 100 billion stars per galaxy) is wide spread, if rare. I think there is also some pressure for life to develop different types of intelligence based on their biology and environment.
Anyway, I am in strong agreement with the people here saying that it is difficult to recognize non-human intelligence as intelligence.
Re: Giant tortoises show surprising cognitive powers
#7Any farm kid can tell you that animals are smart, especially if they've gotten into a battle of wits with a goat.
As Mark Twain said (and I am paraphrasing), "the only distinction between man and the lesser animals is that the lesser animals don't sit around and talk about what makes them different from us."
Re: Giant tortoises show surprising cognitive powers
#8They're still reptiles though. They can't show signs of empathy or affection like many mammals.
Most reptile training is pretty basic, and this experiment fits into those expectations:
Re: Giant tortoises show surprising cognitive powers
#9I keep getting surprised at the inability (refusal) of humans that we are not the only intelligent (and emotional) life form on this planet. It is extremely annoying.
Intelligence is a sliding scale and, until someone proves us wrong, we are the most intelligent life form on this planet. Emotional... well that's something else.
You're assuming it (edit: non-emotional intelligence) is one single unified thing. I'd say there are many kinds of intelligence, and many things that feed into intelligence that, if modified, could affect it (very simple example, anxious people may freeze up during exams which makes them look less good).
Re: Giant tortoises show surprising cognitive powers
#10I keep getting surprised at the inability (refusal) of humans that we are not the only intelligent (and emotional) life form on this planet. It is extremely annoying.
I think it's a subconscious act of self-preservation. Truly accepting the sentience of animals would be conferring upon them a much more expansive (and expensive) set of rights, which in turn would make the our society seem all the more immoral through how we treat other species. Too much cognitive dissonance.
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