Different in degree or kind: animal minds (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, December 24, 2015, 20:48 (3036 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: It is hardly surprising that the birds learn by experience, but it's nice to hear that your God didn't actually preprogramme the first living cells with the complete nest.-You neatly sidestepped my commentavid Comment: A long article worth reviewing. I agree with her thoughts about weaver birds in current times. My issue is with the original nest plans for development. Note the bold. The weavers don't present anything new. It is all a fixed process.-The article gives no hint as to how the first nest was arranged for, God-given or by trial and error. I don't see trial and error, which is your approach.-dhw: We are not yet in the realm of “intelligence” depends on how you define intelligence. And finally, how the heck do they think the birds came up with these “existing solutions” in the first place? -There are no answers in the article. You know my choice.
> Here are some more quotes:
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> dhw: All intelligence must be on a continuum if we believe in common descent. If they mean “on a par”, I can't say I'm surprised, but I would have been shatteringly surprised if they had found that animal/bird/insect/bacterial intelligence was on the same track as that of humans.-Wow! You've just said humans are different in kind! 
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> dhw: Those are important questions, and I look forward to the answers. My guess, of course, is that the researchers will discover that intelligence does not depend on a spinal column and brain.-All organisms need is intelligently prepared instructions which is placed in their genomes for interpretation.