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That's not the conclusion: no one is claiming "as smart as humans". Intelligence is multidimensional, and along some dimensions animals outperform us by a long

by yboris 6y ago

That's not the conclusion: no one is claiming "as smart as humans". Intelligence is multidimensional, and along some dimensions animals outperform us by a long shot. Some birds remember thousands of locations of their stashed food. Some animals have a detailed internal map of many square miles of land on which they live. Pick just about anything a typical 3 year old can do, and we can find an animal to outperform them in that respect. Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? https://www.amazon.com/Are-Smart-Enough-Know-Animals/dp/0393353664 https://www.amazon.com/Are-Smart-Enough-Know-Animals/dp/0393...

treetoppin 6y ago
Glad to see someone else referenced this book. For anyone who wants to learn more about just how difficult it is to peer into the minds of other creatures, I highly recommend this book. Also, it's filled with delightful anecdotes of animal behavior that you would only experience if you spent hundreds of hours observing an individual.
JoeAltmaier 6y ago
Sure they were; that's what the title implies. Else, why the comparison? And I'm curious if those studies of animal intelligence, actually tried a human. Could I remember thousands of place I put stuff? I think I do. I have a whole house full of stuff, and can find most of it quickly. I remember where I kept my socks in an apartment I lived in 30 years ago. So yeah no, animals maybe aren't ahead of us in cognitive function.
- deleted 6y ago
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- EliRivers 6y ago
  Animals certianly aren't ahead of us in human cognitive function, but that feels like a loaded competition. Humans do have a hard time imagining intelligence as anything other than what we have.
  - JoeAltmaier 6y ago
    Not me. I can easily imagine animals having better senses and better integration of those senses. But I have to doubt, when somebody claims (as in the title above) that some animal is cognitively more advanced that a human child. That's linkbait and best, and plain wrong at bottom.

by yboris 6y ago

treetoppin 6y ago

Glad to see someone else referenced this book. For anyone who wants to learn more about just how difficult it is to peer into the minds of other creatures, I highly recommend this book. Also, it's filled with delightful anecdotes of animal behavior that you would only experience if you spent hundreds of hours observing an individual.

JoeAltmaier 6y ago

Sure they were; that's what the title implies. Else, why the comparison? And I'm curious if those studies of animal intelligence, actually tried a human. Could I remember thousands of place I put stuff? I think I do. I have a whole house full of stuff, and can find most of it quickly. I remember where I kept my socks in an apartment I lived in 30 years ago. So yeah no, animals maybe aren't ahead of us in cognitive function.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
EliRivers 6y ago
Animals certianly aren't ahead of us in human cognitive function, but that feels like a loaded competition. Humans do have a hard time imagining intelligence as anything other than what we have.
- JoeAltmaier 6y ago
  Not me. I can easily imagine animals having better senses and better integration of those senses. But I have to doubt, when somebody claims (as in the title above) that some animal is cognitively more advanced that a human child. That's linkbait and best, and plain wrong at bottom.