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It's certainly the case that our ability to aggregate and compound knowledge is unsurpassed, but I think you aren't giving individuals enough credit either. If
by munificent 4y ago
It's certainly the case that our ability to aggregate and compound knowledge is unsurpassed, but I think you aren't giving individuals enough credit either.
If you were stranded on a desert island and managed to survive, you could probably start a fire, build shelter, collect rainwater, build tools to fish, and possibly even create a raft (with stored food) to try to get away.
No animal would ever do that.
You might argue that that's only because you already knew about fire and rafts before getting stranded, but you couldn't even teach any of that to an animal no matter how hard you tried. Animals can definitely learn tools, but even when actively taught by humans the level of intelligence and problem solving they have is dramatically lower than any single typical human.
- fleddr 4y agoUnless said island has a vast amount of easy food (say, berries) most modern urban people would simply die and do none of the things you mentioned. Nobody knows how to hunt or fish and you won't have time to figure it out. Further, the "innovative" solutions you use as examples might as well be used to realize how very useless we are without tools, whereas almost every other species survives without them. The reason animals won't learn human things is because they're human things. I imagine dolphins trying to learn you how to swim would conclude that you suck at it.
- munificent 4y ago> Unless said island has a vast amount of easy food (say, berries) most modern urban people would simply die and do none of the things you mentioned. I mean... most animals would drop dead on a desert island. Wolf, giraffe, turtle, pigeon, etc. All toast. Desert islands are, by definition, inhospitable. But a human would show a greater level of adaptability and resourcefulness than any other animal.