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Within the realm of what many people consider “bugs”, intelligence also exists. For example, jumping spiders have intelligence similar to mammals or birds. Rese

Within the realm of what many people consider “bugs”, intelligence also exists. For example, jumping spiders have intelligence similar to mammals or birds. Research is ongoing with bees and they’re seeming similarly advanced, with some having the capacity to suffer depression. In all likelihood, there exist insects with reasonably high levels intelligence that we’ve simply overlooked for centuries. Basically everyone today knows crows and octopuses are very intelligent animals, but that definitely was not a common sentiment when I was a kid. But nobody was really paying attention to animals then beyond “pest”, “edible”, “pet”, and “looks cool.”

colechristensen 5y ago
I really doubt a spider is as smart as me. Perhaps a contrived problem solving test proves a certain kind of spider is good at solving a certain kind of problem, but I really doubt I’d be the same with a brain as complex as a spider.
- ornornor 5y ago
  We tend to measure intelligence by human metrics so of course humans will be the most intelligent at being humans. Taking spiders for example: humans cant spin spiderwebs for shit while this is a core skill to being a spider. From a spider centric worldview, humans must just be dumb meat factories then.
- bee_rider 5y ago
  Of course they aren't comparable to humans, but some spiders are amazingly clever. For example, Portia spiders, which hunt other spiders, will apparently try different ways of manipulating the target's web, observe the target's behavior, and then adapt their manipulations to trick the target. The link below has a giant picture of a spider, so although it is an adorable Portia, if anyone has arachnophobia they shouldn't click it: https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/10/spiders-are-much-smarter-than-you-think/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/10/spiders-are-much-sma... They describe a bunch of different experiments. An interesting one was: the scientists put one type of prey in view of the spider. Then, they blocked view and either swapped they prey with something else, or left it there. Then they revealed the view again. The spiders pay more attention if the prey is a new type, which is interpreted as 'surprise' and an indication that the spider has some mental model of the world. I mean it is a spider, so bit of a low bar to clear for intelligence, but still interesting that they are thinking about the world.
  - chrisweekly 5y ago
    Speaking of Portia spiders: If you haven't read Adrian Tchaikovsky's award-winning novel "Children of Time", you're in for a treat. Highly recomended.

colechristensen 5y ago

I really doubt a spider is as smart as me. Perhaps a contrived problem solving test proves a certain kind of spider is good at solving a certain kind of problem, but I really doubt I’d be the same with a brain as complex as a spider.

ornornor 5y ago
We tend to measure intelligence by human metrics so of course humans will be the most intelligent at being humans. Taking spiders for example: humans cant spin spiderwebs for shit while this is a core skill to being a spider. From a spider centric worldview, humans must just be dumb meat factories then.
bee_rider 5y ago
Of course they aren't comparable to humans, but some spiders are amazingly clever. For example, Portia spiders, which hunt other spiders, will apparently try different ways of manipulating the target's web, observe the target's behavior, and then adapt their manipulations to trick the target. The link below has a giant picture of a spider, so although it is an adorable Portia, if anyone has arachnophobia they shouldn't click it: https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/10/spiders-are-much-smarter-than-you-think/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/10/spiders-are-much-sma... They describe a bunch of different experiments. An interesting one was: the scientists put one type of prey in view of the spider. Then, they blocked view and either swapped they prey with something else, or left it there. Then they revealed the view again. The spiders pay more attention if the prey is a new type, which is interpreted as 'surprise' and an indication that the spider has some mental model of the world. I mean it is a spider, so bit of a low bar to clear for intelligence, but still interesting that they are thinking about the world.
- chrisweekly 5y ago
  Speaking of Portia spiders: If you haven't read Adrian Tchaikovsky's award-winning novel "Children of Time", you're in for a treat. Highly recomended.