Anyone else ever had the thought we aren't the smartest beings on earth?

[Vetis]

Intelligence is completely subjective as we all know. Extrapolate that to the extreme, are we smarter than animals because we can build skyscrapers or map our DNA? Or is it possible animals are smarter because they know burdening yourself with such things is an exercise in futility.

Over thinking trying to be deep. No animals aren't smart because they don't have those "burdens" of shelter and reliable resources. They dont have them because they arent mentally capable not they dont want it..they spend all day looking for food.

[Ghostpanther]

That only assumes we are at the top...

We are. Give 3 men powerful rifles and they can wipe out every lion on the face of the earth and the elephants. No other 3 creatures can do that with violence only and the intentional goal of doing it. Mankind is leaps and bounds ahead of any other living organisms on the earth when it comes to intelligence. We are also more destructive and blood thirsty than any other creatures. :P

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Top of the food chain doesn't make you the smartest.
It makes you the most vicious.

As any virus knows.

We would not be there without also being the smartest. Mankind can control and kill virus. And virus do not have a intelligent path to world wide domination.

[Shadowferal]

Over thinking trying to be deep. No animals aren't smart because they don't have those "burdens" of shelter and reliable resources. They dont have them because they arent mentally capable not they dont want it..they spend all day looking for food.

A lot of critters don't need shelter.

And when do humans not have food on their mind?

Humans aren't really much different from any other critter.

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We would not be there without also being the smartest.

And we use that to be vicious...

[Ghostpanther]

A lot of critters don't need shelter.

And when do humans not have food on their mind?

Humans aren't really much different from any other critter.

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And we use that to be vicious...

We can control our environment better than any other creature. Hands down.

Yep. Which means intelligence gives us more ways to be destructive.

[Shadowferal]

We can control our environment better than any other creature. Hands down.

Because we need to.

Dominating the environment, as opposed to living with it...*sigh*

Another few centuries we'll be so smart...yet we'll be all dead.

And cockroaches will inherit the Earth.

[Deleted]

I dunno... My dog looked at me the other day like he was plotting to overthrow me.

[Kurioxan]

I dunno... My dog looked at me the other day like he was plotting to overthrow me.

Brutally remove any such thoughts! Eat its offspring, burn its mate and crucify its parents!
On another note, I need to stop watching classic period documentaries.

[Kuntantee]

Compared to what, exactly?

As far as we know, we're the smartest things in the universe.

Nothing more than a conclusion based on ignorance. We don't know if we are the smartest things in universe. We are the smartest out of what we know so far.

And for the OP, intelligence is not subjective. What is misleading people is the relationship between success and intelligence. It may not be a linear relationship. It probably isn't.

We are the smartest species on earth. We aren't good at particular activities. For example, apes have better short-term memory but we are far more creative, way better learner and have much better cognitive abilities overall. Finally, being smart is not being perfect. We are probably too smart for our own good, nukes and all.

[Shadowferal]

I for one welcome our new cockroach lords.

[Ciddy]

I've had that thought more than once while doing random battlegrounds in WoW.

[Deleted]

Yes, whenever I play soloQ.

[jrf773]

Yes. My dogs are smarter than me. Who goes to work to buy the doggie treats, and who is cleaning up whose shit?

Of course, sometimes I don't have to clean it up, because they eat it. So... Maybe not :P

[Revi]

Nothing more than a conclusion based on ignorance. We don't know if we are the smartest things in universe. We are the smartest out of what we know so far.

I probably worded that poorly, I meant we're the smartest thing in the universe that we know of.

[Spectral]

And for the OP, intelligence is not subjective. What is misleading people is the relationship between success and intelligence. It may not be a linear relationship. It probably isn't.

Are you sure "linear" is the word you're looking for here? The linearity of the relationship doesn't really seem like the point. I think maybe you're driving at there not be a perfect correlation?

[minteK917]

Computers is already smarter then us so there is that also pretty sure there is some animal species that are close in some areas.
.

1- thats wrong
2- thats exactly playing outside of the OP useless argument, Computers currently have no intelligence what so ever. Unless you extrapolate only being able to compute numbers faster to be intelligence, which it is not.

[Super Friendly Kitty Cat]

COmpletely disagree with that statement. There are many different types of intelligence.

No, there actually isn't.

Take some science courses at your local community centers or just briefly use the search function on Google.

[Damajin]

Not reading through all this thread but if no one has mentioned that Man is the 3rd most intelligent being on Earth, behind Dolphins and Mice then someone did a grave disservice here.

[DrStiglit]

There is a reason they say "Ignorance is bliss".

[spinner981]

Depends on what you mean by 'smart'. Many animals can do things humans can't do, but does that make them 'smarter' in general? Not necessarily.

Humans are indeed at the top of the food chain, and have advanced significantly over a few centuries and even mere decades, meanwhile animals are pretty much doing the same things, the key counter-examples being animals bred and trained by humans to do different and more advanced things.

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Not reading through all this thread but if no one has mentioned that Man is the 3rd most intelligent being on Earth, behind Dolphins and Mice then someone did a grave disservice here.

'Intelligence' by what definition?

[Krille]

Intelligence can manifest itself in creativity, logic, good memory.. Sure you can measure IQ, but that measure is often based on problem solving. There's intelligence beyond problem solving that we can't measure.

As for the OP, you ruined what could have been a good thread with saying that God potentially is the smarter being, lost me there at least. I'd say bacteria/cells/atoms can be smarter than us? In a way they build everything.