Natures wonders: killer penguins hunt in packs (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, October 01, 2017, 14:40 (2608 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: You are skipping over the fact that they were meticulously trained to be automatic. Humans were not.

dhw: They were trained to undergo a test that was not natural to them, and then to use their intelligence to make a decision. In any case, that is hardly the point. You have agreed that pigeons are “bright”, and it is the intelligence of our fellow creatures (right down to bacteria) that is so often the bone of contention between us when you provide us with the wonders of nature and insist that only God can design them. (The other really interesting issue raised by the article is (a) above, which of course we have discussed at length.)

DAVID: My point is still humans have lots of layers of activity going on in their introspective minds, and that may have delayed their responses. Yes, pigeons are bright.

dhw: I’ll settle for pigeons being bright. A little questionnaire for you. Which of these organisms do you believe are “bright” (i.e. have an autonomous intelligence): weaverbirds, rats, frogs, ants, Venus flytrap, E-coli?

All but Venus flytrap and E. coli. All the others have a brain which allows for a degree of learned behaviour.