littor...@gmail.com wrote:
Question at Quora:
What is the definition of intelligence?
I would say "Problem Solving." Sort of a Catch-all answer which itself needs some
defining.
"Communication" could itself be a characteristic of intelligence, or it could be
problem solving in a specific form...
See?
Are there any animals which have larger brains than humans but are considered less intelligent? If so, how does this happen?
There are primitive cultures today, right now. Go back a hundred years ago and there were a lot more primitive people running around. But they were all "Modern"
humans. Supposedly if they had been transplanted to modern society at birth, given the same education and opportunities as the self imposed elite here, they would have turned out the same way...
I have often argued that ancient Rome achieved everything they needed to spark the Industrial Revolution more than a thousand years earlier, EXCEPT the necessary social reforms. Where there was a mass market to support it, such
as in agricultural products, there was some pretty impressive (and advanced) industrialization. Watermills for milling flour, for example. They had reached the
point where they could harness nature to power a miller's wheel, but they saw no profit in working out how to do the same for the loom...
Supposedly they had all the technological sophistication to build a machine such as an astronomical clock, absent the clock. Google:
Antikythera Mechanism
Effectively it was nothing more than an astronomical clock without the clock itself, AND without a power source.
(Prevailing view is that it had to be cranked by hand)
And that was CENTURIES before the Roman water mills!
They had all the pieces, simply zero reasons for placing them all together.
My answer:
Difficult to say. Generally, aquatic mammals (esp. dolphins, seals…) have rel.larger
brains than terrestrial mammals, but does this have to do with sea-foods (e.g. rich
in DHA & other LC-PUFAs)? with swimming (the head doesn’t have to move much)?
or…? And does this mean these animals are more “intelligent”??
One of the online talking heads, forget which ones, was speculating on alien civilizations. He pointed out that any number greater than ZERO life-bearing planets would have to be water worlds, and that this would exclude the possibility of a technologically advanced civilization arising.
Just look at the problems with fire!
Aquatic doesn't mean big, intelligent brains. But it does mean brains as big
as genetics will allow. But if they can't do anything with a bigger, smarter brain, there's no selective pressure to favor it.
I'm sure they're intelligent, Dolphins and Whales, but more so like humans living within a primitive culture today, or those ancient Romans, than like you.
Instead of unraveling Dolphin intelligence, could we shape it?
Can we design an environment, present the challenges and rewards that incentivize the use of their brains -- give "Smart" dolphins a reproductive advantage?
Environment makes the difference between a primitive modern human
and an educated, tech savvy one. How could it not do the same for our
Marine Mammal cousins?
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