Smart animals (Animals)

by David Turell , Monday, September 19, 2016, 15:31 (2986 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: My comment: It remains a source of amazement to me that anyone can believe that emotions, intentions, empathy and consciousness began with humans. How could communities of animals, birds, insects have survived without cooperating, without nurturing their young, without relationships, without taking decisions to cope with their environment, without actually knowing what they were doing? You would have to believe they were all automatons that had somehow been preprogrammed, and only humans suddenly came on the scene with minds of their own. Human hubris - and with all the tragic consequences associated with the term.-I have a different view in the area of emphasis. De Wall's presentation is true, of course, of animal emotion and cooperation, all of which preceded the appearance of humans. When humans appeared the gap in these characteristics as pertains to humans is huge. We are different in kind. Evolution is a continuum with a giant leap, which could not be expected based on the history of advances up to that point.