ID commentary on animal minds (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, January 09, 2016, 13:41 (3241 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: A review of many observations:
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2016/01/does_intelligen_3102141.html-My thanks once more for this and other interesting articles. As usual, I will cherry-pick:-QUOTE: All life forms participate in some kind of intelligence and intentionality, in the sense that for billions of years they have sought to live and have adapted for that purpose. Nonetheless, animals that also demonstrate individual intelligence are orders of magnitude less intelligent than humans -- whether they are closely related to us physically (apes) or not (bird species).-A clear statement that other animals have a lesser degree of intelligence than humans, though that is not exactly news.-***
QUOTE:Brain imaging tests show that animals "treat sticks, hooks, and other tools as extensions of their bodies." If so, they probably do not abstract the concept of "tool" (that is, not-self), which limits their ability to envision other possible uses for a tool.-“Probably” - but how did they hit on the idea of using a tool in the first place? I'd say they “probably” looked at the problem and worked out how to solve it. Maybe: “ant...small hole...stick...poke...” But no, they wouldn't have started writing manuals about the general use of tools. They do not have that DEGREE of intelligence.-***
QUOTE: "No matter how it is spun, the difference between the bent stick and the New Horizons satellite mapping Pluto is not merely one of degree. The crow is interested in rooting for grubs, and even if it develops other uses for the stick, it will never be interested in mapping Pluto. That isn't a "shared culture" at all, and we are back with the same conundrum of animal vs. human minds.”-Our superior intelligence has given us an infinitely broader “culture” than that of our fellow animals. But we also use the equivalent of bent sticks to root for the equivalent of grubs. For example, we use fishing rods to catch fish. THAT is the shared culture. But we have expanded our technology to such a degree in so many fields that we no longer even recognize its purposes as being part of that shared culture. Think food, housing, education, warfare etc., and you will see what I mean.-***
QUOTE: "Counter-intuitively, years of bottom-up research has revealed that ants do not integrate all this information into a unified representation of the world, a so-called cognitive map. Instead they possess different and distinct modules dedicated to different navigational tasks. ... These results demonstrate that the navigational intelligence of ants is not in an ability to build a unified representation of the world, but in the way different strategies cleverly interact to produce robust navigation.”-Does anyone seriously argue that ants create cognitive maps of the world? Their “culture” is geared to their survival, whereas our superior intelligence, while sharing that same culture, goes far beyond it.-***
QUOTE: He adds, "We need to keep in mind that this is only our current level of understanding. Even insect brains are far too complex to be fully understood in the near future. "-Good to hear of an open-minded researcher.-***
QUOTE: If the current description proves accurate, the ant may show considerable intelligence, but not have a unified sense of self, in the same way that a dog or raven probably does (all these sensations are happening to me). Other researchers are less cautious, claiming that insects may have consciousness and "could even be able to count."-I don't think it is possible to have intelligence without consciousness (e.g. awareness of one's surroundings), but that is some degrees below self-awareness. As everyone on this website knows, some researchers also claim that bacteria are sentient, cognitive beings. And they may well be right!-***
QUOTE: Intelligence is today's unknown country. But some animal intelligences do encourage a sense of self, as anyone who has lived with a group of domestic animals will attest. Can there be a sort of minimal self?-Good question, which has direct relevance to our understanding of evolution. A minimal sense of self, individual autonomous intelligence, problem-solving, inventive thinking....But not human thinking. Each organism will think in its own way, and will find its own way to survive and - who knows? - maybe also to improve.