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

[Deleted]

I don't really make the claim that alien life can't exist, just that there is nothing to currently imply that it does exist.

There is a lot actually. Even you may as well be a martian.

You just made the claim that "you barely know .0000001% of whats in the universe." and according to that wording the claim itself is likely false. We don't need to know exactly what every single star, planet and nebula look like in order to estimate how many or how much of them are out there.

Then you must realize the vast amount of planets and moons fit to harbour living organisms, and that's just life as we know it. We don't really know the possibilities of more exotic chemical structures that could thrive in more extreme environments.

We are completely blind to what's out there. Distant planets are measured by the amount of dimming they do to the stars they orbit. We didn't even know the true colour and topography of Pluto until very recently. There is so much we don't know about the universe and to think otherwise is just wishful thinking.

[Deleted]

Incidentally, our civilization stands as irrefutable proof of such idiotic platitudes.

You mean our civilisation, in which a handful of "human beings" exploit 99+% of the population with most of these not even aware of said fact? Truly a civilisation to be proud of.

Or the civilization, in which masses keep trampling people to death while fish and birds maneuver in large groups in a three dimensional environment? It mostly comes down to what you look at and what result you expect.

[Breccia]

Well, someone's been reading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

[Simulacrum]

You mean our civilisation, in which a handful of "human beings" exploit 99+% of the population with most of these not even aware of said fact? Truly a civilisation to be proud of.

You actually think people aren't aware that they're being exploited, huh? Just more evidence to the rejection of your hypothesis, I guess...

[Spectral]

What I mean is that there isn't identity mapping (a linear function) between success and IQ. The smarter you are, the more successful you are going to be is a problematic statement and that's what I meant.

Sorry to beat this dead horse, but what you're saying isn't about linearity, it's about how strong strong the correlation is. Whether that hypothetical function would be linear or quadratic isn't really the point - a best fit line to a quadratic equation still isn't going to have that great of an R^2. I agree with your point though.

[Detritivores]

Yeah, resisting capture until trained or bribed with food and then forcefully bred a certain way for generations was all a part of the dogs master plan.

House cats are an interesting case though, in that they're the only species I'm aware of that essentially chose to be domesticated.

I'll try to contribute more to this thread after I take my pants off and put them on my head. In the meantime, this seems relevant...

[Kuntantee]

Sorry to beat this dead horse, but what you're saying isn't about linearity, it's about how strong strong the correlation is. Whether that hypothetical function would be linear or quadratic isn't really the point - a best fit line to a quadratic equation still isn't going to have that great of an R^2. I agree with your point though.

You are correct. An exponential function implies exponential relationship, skyrocketing the success chance as IQ increases. Increased success chance for each IQ point is not limited to linear functions. I wanted to say success chance does not increase (regardless of the slope) with IQ indefinitely.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Eh, we don't have that capability. Not at the moment, at least. Agree with the self-loathing part though.

Considering we can nuke the entire surface many times over... I guess we might have issues with killing some deep sea life, they would probably take a couple of weeks until they succumb to their newly gained additional reason for glowing in the dark .

[Zoldor]

For sure dumber than the lizard people that walk among us.

[Alvito]

As a group I am not sure we are. Individuals sure, the masses no. We have never ending wars, people eating themselves to death while others starve to death. Other groups that can't figure out what name to call their deity even though most of the other things they believe in match up. There are plenty of examples of animals and other living things on the planet that live in harmony that I don't think humans will ever find. So based on that no I don't think we are the smartest.

[Danuru]

Not sure if this was said yet, but you were talking about all the things humans have to do, while animals are somehow more intelligent because they live the "simple life" and realize everything else is futile. Let me correct you right there, humans don't have to do anything, we choose the "complicated, futile life."

And you know how complex that is? Someone working a regular full-time job works no more than 40 hours a week, out of 168. That's 128 hours we have to dick around, play games, and debate deep philosophy on MMO-C. Rejecting this "futile" way of living would mean living as the animals do, living from day to day, hunting or gathering no matter the day, the hour, or the weather, or else you die. Often while being hunted yourself. We like to look down on nature and think of fluffy bunnies frolicking through the flowers. But it's vicious and cutthroat. Survival and spreading your genes take precedent. Even if it means mercilessly killing the other guy eyeing your mate, because you know he won't hesitate to do the same to you.

If that is evidence of a higher form of intelligence, then I am happy to be dumb.

[Deleted]

There are plenty of examples of animals and other living things on the planet that live in harmony that I don't think humans will ever find

By harmony you mean the food chain, parasitism, and feral competition? I see difference between the harmony of the ecosystem, and harmony of an individual that is in my opinion achievable only with complexity.

Can you name one animal that has the concept of something being breathtaking? An animal that can ponder the beauty of a simple tree, sound of waves hitting the beach? An animal that captures the moment of setting sun in a painting, a melody sent through the ages that can give shivers to both you and me? An animal that understands and has a joy from the beauty of complex systems contained within our universe?

Do you think there is an animal except human that is looking into the eyes of his lover, melting with him into one being briefly during lovemaking? Or an animal that can practice meditations and achieve nirvana?

I think, while I might be biased because I am human after all, that the knowing, the realization is needed for that. You need to know that you exist to fully enjoy the world, and decide whether to be in harmony with it or not. Other animals are forced to live with the environment. Humans can decide to intervene if nature produces variables that are not in harmony with the environment (like deer with two harpoon points in place of antlers).

[Fascinate]

To understand what i am saying here you need to truly take yourself out of a human way of thinking. If you are going to define intelligence merely based on the human experience of course humans come out on top, but this is not what the thread is suggesting.

[Cannibalus]

God is in the universe.

You will never get the right answers if you ask the wrong questions. What you will get though are imaginary pieces of shit getting thrown at you and judging by this thread you enjoy it. Also if you're religious why do you even ask about real facts? Your perceived reality is perverted as it is. Try to get occupied with something like getting a really tiring job or make 12 kids and stop ingesting caffeine and use sugar in moderation and all these wierd questions will soon disappear from your head.

[Fascinate]

You will never get the right answers if you ask the wrong questions. What you will get though are imaginary pieces of shit getting thrown at you and judging by this thread you enjoy it. Also if you're religious why do you even ask about real facts? Your perceived reality is perverted as it is. Try to get occupied with something like getting a really tiring job or make 12 kids and stop ingesting caffeine and use sugar in moderation and all these wierd questions will soon disappear from your head.

I know for a fact a "god" exists, but i don't agree with everything that is in the bible. This puts me in an awkward postion because i agree with some things.

We have been trying to figure out the universe for a good long while, the best theory i have come across is earth is in the exact center of the universe and everything revolves around us. I am not going to go into great detail about this theory but the main points of it are we dont need to rewrite theories for it to work out (newtons laws of gravity). In fact there is far more compelling (scientific) evidence for an earth centric universe than just the fact it can work within our current framework. All you have to do is look to the CMB (cosmic microwave background). The CMB is basically the remnants of the "big bang" (which never happened btw) which shows the universe is not homogenous as the copernican principle suggests. There is other evidence like the michaelson morley experiments which have proved time and time again the earth is stationary, but the big one for me is the bible has stated the same thing going back centuries.

Laugh all you wish, but in time science will finally understand you cannot come up with a theory of everything without a god included.

[Blade Wolf]

If our media was anything to go by i'd say we are the most retarded species on the planet

[Cannibalus]

I know for a fact a "god" exists, but i don't agree with everything that is in the bible. This puts me in an awkward postion because i agree with some things.

We have been trying to figure out the universe for a good long while, the best theory i have come across is earth is in the exact center of the universe and everything revolves around us. I am not going to go into great detail about this theory but the main points of it are we dont need to rewrite theories for it to work out (newtons laws of gravity). In fact there is far more compelling (scientific) evidence for an earth centric universe than just the fact it can work within our current framework. All you have to do is look to the CMB (cosmic microwave background). The CMB is basically the remnants of the "big bang" (which never happened btw) which shows the universe is not homogenous as the copernican principle suggests. There is other evidence like the michaelson morley experiments which have proved time and time again the earth is stationary, but the big one for me is the bible has stated the same thing going back centuries.

Laugh all you wish, but in time science will finally understand you cannot come up with a theory of everything without a god included.

I'm not even going to bother. It is obvious that you attend a special type of bible school where you dismiss every little bit of true information, the bits of information for which a lot of money and effort were spent and for which people have died defending. You don't even deserve to use electric current, not to mention the internet.

You original question "Anyone else ever had the thought we aren't the smartest beings on earth?" is the question of a 12 year old. The only thing that makes you and your kind lucky is that you cannot prove that what doesn't exist actually doesn't exist.

[Fascinate]

I'm not even going to bother. It is obvious that you attend a special type of bible school where you dismiss every little bit of true information, the bits of information for which a lot of money and effort were spent and for which people have died defending. You don't even deserve to use electric current, not to mention the internet.

You original question "Anyone else ever had the thought we aren't the smartest beings on earth?" is the question of a 12 year old. The only thing that makes you and your kind lucky is that you cannot prove that what doesn't exist actually doesn't exist.

I honestly cannot even decipher what you are getting at. I have no problem saying i agree with some parts of the bible, and some not. I know this is the real issue that people like to hang onto but i like to think using common sense and reasoning should play a part as well. For example i am not 100% against gay rights (this of course, being the big one). I do feel a lot of gays are manufactured, meaning they simply could not find a place in life to fit in. On the other hand i also feel some people were born that way and had zero control over their sexual preferences. This also extends to transgenders for me, who am i to judge someone who truly feels they were born in the wrong body.

All that said i also think a lot of the bible makes a ton of sense, why do i need to agree with everything to be a good christian?

[Cannibalus]

I honestly cannot even decipher what you are getting at. I have no problem saying i agree with some parts of the bible, and some not. I know this is the real issue that people like to hang onto but i like to think using common sense and reasoning should play a part as well. For example i am not 100% against gay rights (this of course, being the big one). I do feel a lot of gays are manufactured, meaning they simply could not find a place in life to fit in. On the other hand i also feel some people were born that way and had zero control over their sexual preferences. This also extends to transgenders for me, who am i to judge someone who truly feels they were born in the wrong body.

All that said i also think a lot of the bible makes a ton of sense, why do i need to agree with everything to be a good christian?

You don't have the right to either use common sense or reasoning as you're just not educated enough. Is you common sense telling you that the Earth is at the center of our Universe? Is your reasoning telling you what? That Santa Claus or any fantastic character might exist, just because it makes you feel good? You don't have the tools to reason with.

[Fascinate]

You don't have the right to either use common sense or reasoning as you're just not educated enough. Is you common sense telling you that the Earth is at the center of our Universe? Is your reasoning telling you what? That Santa Claus or any fantastic character might exist, just because it makes you feel good? You don't have the tools to reason with.

I gave two examples (which btw there are many many more) which lend credence to an earth centric universe. Just look up cosmic microwave background as well as the michaelson-morley experiments, i feel those two are the most noteworthy.