5 ms·
Honestly, though the ethics are certainly dicey, I do wonder whether recreating a bridge intelligence between man and animal would raise appropriate societal qu
by patcon 6y ago
Honestly, though the ethics are certainly dicey, I do wonder whether recreating a bridge intelligence between man and animal would raise appropriate societal questions that we've chosen not the think about all of modern history (lacking any sort of Neanderthal cohabitant).
It might help us all be in more relation with the world. Our lack of relation feels to me to be part of what's driving us into this extinction event. A "monstrosity" that convinces us to rethink the moral rights of other living creatures would perhaps be welcome...?
Maybe it ends up being the unasked-for bastard creature that saves all the others (incl us) from us, just by making us slow down and go "hold on hold on hold on. what THE FUCK?"
- plutonorm 6y agoNeanderthals had larger brains in proportion to their body mass than we do. They were possibly smarter than we were.
- ben_w 6y agoWe don’t know enough to know if that’s a good measure; if it is, ants would be at the top of the list for all animals, and treeshrews for mammals: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-to-body_mass_ratio https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-to-body_mass_ratio
- salty_biscuits 6y agoThe scaling power coefficient matters, they are so far off our mass that the coefficient might just be wrong. Neanderthals are about the same size so an error in the coefficient won't matter so much.
- edgyquant 6y agoThat is widely attributed to them having a much greater sense of smell than us. They are thought to be equally as intelligent if not less so.
- bredren 6y agoI would guess such information would be preferred by many to remain unillustrated. I suspect we have more to answer for in the scale of animal suffering than we could possibly imagine. An awakening to the truth of how cruelly indifferent we are to animals would threaten power structures at a magnitude that makes #metoo look small.