4 ms·

chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans evolved intelligence too. They are smarter than most other critters in the jungle. Just all not as much as the lineage that le

by nn3 1y ago

chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans evolved intelligence too. They are smarter than most other critters in the jungle. Just all not as much as the lineage that leads to humans. It's actually quite difficult to define human intelligence. Every time we think we find something unique by humans eventually some animal turns up that can do it too. It may be all just a question of degree and how it's used.

droopyEyelids 1y ago
Are there any other animals that have a system of writing?
- dyauspitr 1y ago
  Not even close. Some great apes can learn to use symbols for communication. Bees can use specific dances to indicate direction and distance.
- nradov 1y ago
  Researchers have taught primates to communicate using sequences of simple symbols. It's sort of like a system of writing but very primitive.
- AngryData 1y ago
  No, but humans didn't have writing up until pretty recently either so I don't think that is a great measure of base intellectual capability.
- victorbjorklund 1y ago
  I dont think any other animal even have language at all (at least not language like we use the word language)
- makeitdouble 1y ago
  The interesting part is how do you research that. Starting from what should be considered "writing" to how to identify specific artifacts as abstract words. Some researchers spend years in the forest studying one animal to isolate one single word they're speaking. Understanding other kind of intelligences is a crazy complex task.
yongjik 1y ago
From what I've heard, language is unambiguously unique to humans, if you consider grammar an integral part of languages. You can teach chimpanzees hand signs, but they could never make the leap to stringing them together under a coherent rule: something like the difference between "Mom give me cookies" vs "I give mom cookies." (I'm no expert, so take that with a grain of salt.)
- timschmidt 1y ago
  Cetacean communication obeys Zipf's law: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11797547/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11797547/ As does house finches: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2024.0250 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.202... Sperm whale codas exhibit contextual and combinatorial structure: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47221-8 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47221-8 Ants have developed symbolic language: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10093743/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10093743/ Everywhere we look close enough, we find life doing smart things.
  - andsoitis 1y ago
    Those are interesting examples. Do you know of a species where ALL of those properties (and more) exist?
    - timschmidt 1y ago
      Likely all of the ones named, and more. These are just a sampling of papers and not at all exhaustive.
- adgjlsfhk1 1y ago
  proto-grammers are fairly common. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_(parrot) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_(parrot) for example shows that parrots are capable of understanding English word order to some extent.
- rishav_sharan 1y ago

by nn3 1y ago

droopyEyelids 1y ago

Are there any other animals that have a system of writing?

dyauspitr 1y ago
Not even close. Some great apes can learn to use symbols for communication. Bees can use specific dances to indicate direction and distance.
nradov 1y ago
Researchers have taught primates to communicate using sequences of simple symbols. It's sort of like a system of writing but very primitive.
AngryData 1y ago
No, but humans didn't have writing up until pretty recently either so I don't think that is a great measure of base intellectual capability.
victorbjorklund 1y ago
I dont think any other animal even have language at all (at least not language like we use the word language)
makeitdouble 1y ago
The interesting part is how do you research that. Starting from what should be considered "writing" to how to identify specific artifacts as abstract words. Some researchers spend years in the forest studying one animal to isolate one single word they're speaking. Understanding other kind of intelligences is a crazy complex task.

yongjik 1y ago

From what I've heard, language is unambiguously unique to humans, if you consider grammar an integral part of languages. You can teach chimpanzees hand signs, but they could never make the leap to stringing them together under a coherent rule: something like the difference between "Mom give me cookies" vs "I give mom cookies." (I'm no expert, so take that with a grain of salt.)

timschmidt 1y ago
Cetacean communication obeys Zipf's law: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11797547/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11797547/ As does house finches: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2024.0250 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.202... Sperm whale codas exhibit contextual and combinatorial structure: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47221-8 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47221-8 Ants have developed symbolic language: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10093743/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10093743/ Everywhere we look close enough, we find life doing smart things.
- andsoitis 1y ago
  Those are interesting examples. Do you know of a species where ALL of those properties (and more) exist?
  - timschmidt 1y ago
    Likely all of the ones named, and more. These are just a sampling of papers and not at all exhaustive.
adgjlsfhk1 1y ago
proto-grammers are fairly common. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_(parrot) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_(parrot) for example shows that parrots are capable of understanding English word order to some extent.
rishav_sharan 1y ago