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Now I don't have any references to back this up but my personal experience has been that walking on 2 feet is a more common trait then 2nd order thinking amongs

Now I don't have any references to back this up but my personal experience has been that walking on 2 feet is a more common trait then 2nd order thinking amongst humans. Which reminds me of a anecdote from a park ranger I was chatting with once. Apparently the challenge with designing a bear proof garbage can is the overlap between the smartest bears and the dumbest humans.

bell-cot 2y ago
> Which reminds me of a anecdote from a park ranger I was chatting with once. Apparently the challenge with designing a bear proof garbage can is the overlap between the smartest bears and the dumbest humans. If HN had a Quote of the Day feature, I would definitely nominate this. (Yes, I realize there's a large motivation difference between a hungry bear which can smell the food in the garbage can, and a human whose alternative is "meh, just drop my trash next to the stupid trick garbage can".)
- bbor 2y ago
  Just for clarity/your reference, this is a very popular and very hilarious quote that is seemingly sourced from a 2020 tweet (?), and likely adapted by every ranger in the country that guards bear proof trash cans. While looking this up I also found a 2018 study about black bears being some of the smartest non-primate mammals, which makes the quote that much more believable!
lloeki 2y ago
At least bears have "hands", I seem to remember crows pose a similar challenge, defeating garbage can locks that could be straight out of a Myst puzzle. Positive that a non-negligible portion of the human population would be hopelessly challenged by such contraptions.
- bandrami 2y ago
  One thing I learned in the Mojave is that both crows and coyotes will learn the range of your rifle and stay just outside of it and wait for you to fall asleep. If you have a blind they will also count how many of you go into and and come out of it, and not approach the rations depot until the blind has zero people in it.
bbor 2y ago
Eh, I would say anyone who’s not capable of second order thinking isn’t meaningfully human. I guess it gets fuzzy with babies and the extremely disabled, but that’s life

bell-cot 2y ago

> Which reminds me of a anecdote from a park ranger I was chatting with once. Apparently the challenge with designing a bear proof garbage can is the overlap between the smartest bears and the dumbest humans. If HN had a Quote of the Day feature, I would definitely nominate this. (Yes, I realize there's a large motivation difference between a hungry bear which can smell the food in the garbage can, and a human whose alternative is "meh, just drop my trash next to the stupid trick garbage can".)

bbor 2y ago
Just for clarity/your reference, this is a very popular and very hilarious quote that is seemingly sourced from a 2020 tweet (?), and likely adapted by every ranger in the country that guards bear proof trash cans. While looking this up I also found a 2018 study about black bears being some of the smartest non-primate mammals, which makes the quote that much more believable!

lloeki 2y ago

At least bears have "hands", I seem to remember crows pose a similar challenge, defeating garbage can locks that could be straight out of a Myst puzzle. Positive that a non-negligible portion of the human population would be hopelessly challenged by such contraptions.

bandrami 2y ago
One thing I learned in the Mojave is that both crows and coyotes will learn the range of your rifle and stay just outside of it and wait for you to fall asleep. If you have a blind they will also count how many of you go into and and come out of it, and not approach the rations depot until the blind has zero people in it.

bbor 2y ago

Eh, I would say anyone who’s not capable of second order thinking isn’t meaningfully human. I guess it gets fuzzy with babies and the extremely disabled, but that’s life