3 ms·

I don't understand what the peak of intelligence means if that is termites, bees, humans? What about dolphins, dogs, not to mention chimpanzees, other great ape

I don't understand what the peak of intelligence means if that is termites, bees, humans? What about dolphins, dogs, not to mention chimpanzees, other great apes are likely smarter then them, but it will take some clever tests and clever categorization of intelligence to understand their sense.

rland 8y ago
The prominence of the peak. Like how Denali is taller than the mountains around it, but Everest is still the tallest. We're quite close to dolphins and killer whales, so the essence of their intelligence is easier for us to understand, because they are more like us. Bees, termites, ants, etc. are really interesting because any individual is pretty stupid, but the entire swarm is complex and intelligent.
- arcticfox 8y ago
  local maxima, in other words. Humans being the global maximum, on Earth at least.
  - PakG1 8y ago
    Wouldn't global maxima simply be local maxima per planet? :)
    - bytematic 8y ago
      Unconfirmed but ya likely
    - wungsten 8y ago
      I mean, the planet is literally "global"
- lucascantor 8y ago
  Tom Scott has a great video on this topic (what counts as a mountain? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8P5a1uqIMw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8P5a1uqIMw)
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
srtjstjsj 8y ago
Peak meaning relative to evolutionarily nearby organisms, by analogy to mountain peaks