5 ms·
“For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars
by prox 4y ago
“For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.” - Douglas Adams
- xen2xen1 4y agoThis quote is always in the back of my head anytime brain size or intelligence is discussed, and is especially when dolphins are mentioned. And, he has a point.
- prox 4y agoAs I reflect on the quote more and more, I believe the dolphins have the right idea.
- hutzlibu 4y agoBut apparently the dolphins in hitchhikers guide to the galaxy did a bit more, than just having a good time in the water - because unlike the humans, they managed to find a way to leave the earth, when it was destroyed. (Book 4) And this is not further explained in the book, but it likely sounds like technology. And when you want to have and use technology, you have to do more than just splashing around..
- prox 4y agoSince dolphins evolved a couple of times, they might had that tech lying around just in case. The point stands, dolphins use their tech so they can muck about in the water. Humans to compete in a rat race and for survival in its essence. Which come to think of it, is absolutely absurd if for any intelligent species. So we aren’t that smart.
- hutzlibu 4y ago"So we aren’t that smart." Well, when you consider that we react to global crisis like a pandemic with more confrontation, than cooperation (there was no real exchange of technology between west and east and patents and licencing were still more important, than producing enough vaccines) and to the climate crisis rather with more wars over whats left of the ressources, than to unite and solve the problems - no, we are not. We are smart enough to see, what could be possible, but unable to overcome primitive power struggles.
- vlunkr 4y agoThat's some pretty serious cherry picking
- hutzlibu 4y agoWell, do you really think humanity as its whole acted "smart" during the pandemic? And cherrypicking, well climate change is the current problem, affecting the whole earth, so a smart species by my definition would act globally and coordinated and not only talk about it. But sure, by comparison we still seem to be the smartest around.