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    If We Could Engineer Animals to Be as Smart as Humans—Should We?

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    Advances in neural implants and genetic engineering suggest that in the not–too–distant future we may be able to boost human intelligence. If that’s true, could we—and should we—bring our animal cousins along for the ride?

    Human brain augmentation made headlines last year after several tech firms announced ambitious efforts to build neural implant technology. Duke University neuroscientist Mikhail Lebedev told me in July it could be decades before these devices have applications beyond the strictly medical.

    But he said the technology, as well as other pharmacological and genetic engineering approaches, will almost certainly allow us to boost our mental capacities at some point in the next few decades.

    Whether this kind of cognitive enhancement is a good idea or not, and how we should regulate it, are matters of heated debate among philosophers, futurists, and bioethicists, but for some it has raised the question of whether we could do the same for animals.

    There’s already tantalizing evidence of the idea’s feasibility. As detailed in BBC Future, a group from MIT found that mice that were genetically engineered to express the human FOXP2 gene linked to learning and speech processing picked up maze routes faster. Another group at Wake Forest University studying Alzheimer’s found that neural implants could boost rhesus monkeys’ scores on intelligence tests.

    The concept of “animal uplift” is most famously depicted in the Planet of the Apes movie series, whose planet–conquering protagonists are likely to put most people off the idea. But proponents are less pessimistic about the outcomes.

    Science fiction author David Brin popularized the concept in his “Uplift” series of novels, in which humans share the world with various other intelligent animals that all bring their own unique skills, perspectives, and innovations to the table. “The benefits, after a few hundred years, could be amazing,” he told Scientific American.

    Others, like George Dvorsky, the director of the Rights of Non-Human Persons program at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, go further and claim there is a moral imperative. He told the Boston Globe that denying augmentation technology to animals would be just as unethical as excluding certain groups of humans.

    Others are less convinced. Forbes’ Alex Knapp points out that developing the technology to uplift animals will likely require lots of very invasive animal research that will cause huge suffering to the animals it purports to help. This is problematic enough with normal animals, but could be even more morally dubious when applied to ones whose cognitive capacities have been enhanced.

    The whole concept could also be based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of intelligence. Humans are prone to seeing intelligence as a single, self-contained metric that progresses in a linear way with humans at the pinnacle.

    In an opinion piece in Wired arguing against the likelihood of superhuman artificial intelligence, Kevin Kelly points out that science has no such single dimension with which to rank the intelligence of different species. Each one combines a bundle of cognitive capabilities, some of which are well below our own capabilities and others which are superhuman. He uses the example of the squirrel, which can remember the precise location of thousands of acorns for years.

    Uplift efforts may end up being less about boosting intelligence and more about making animals more human-like. That represents “a kind of benevolent colonialism” that assumes being more human-like is a good thing, Paul Graham Raven, a futures researcher at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, told the Boston Globe. There’s scant evidence that’s the case, and it’s easy to see how a chimpanzee with the mind of a human might struggle to adjust.

    There are also fundamental barriers that may make it difficult to achieve human-level cognitive capabilities in animals, no matter how advanced brain augmentation technology gets. In 2013 Swedish researchers selectively bred small fish called guppies for bigger brains. This made them smarter, but growing the energy-intensive organ meant the guppies developed smaller guts and produced fewer offspring to compensate.

    This highlights the fact that uplifting animals may require more than just changes to their brains, possibly a complete rewiring of their physiology that could prove far more technically challenging than human brain augmentation.

    Our intelligence is intimately tied to our evolutionary history—our brains are bigger than other animals’; opposable thumbs allow us to use tools; our vocal chords make complex communication possible. No matter how much you augment a cow’s brain, it still couldn’t use a screwdriver or talk to you in English because it simply doesn’t have the machinery.
    I would definitely support R&D into uplifting more intelligent species like apes and dolphins, but we definitely need to get all humans up to par in intelligence first and pass laws which expand the rights and status of existing intelligent non-humans.

    @Connal and I mostly agree that any uplifting should only be done on creatures that consent to it.

  2. #2
    We should create smart humans first.

  3. #3
    Knowing us, the next thing we do is enslave them.

  4. #4
    What would be the point? Just work on upgrading humans physically and mentally?

  5. #5
    Rofl, no. Why should we?

    Some animals have massive advantages over us and literally the only thing that keeps them from enslaving or straight out eradicating us, is our superior brain.

    Animals are a pure product of nature. If we decide to alter ourselves, whatever. We should leave other animals untouched.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Atethecat View Post
    @Connal and I mostly agree that any uplifting should only be done on creatures that consent to it.
    They could only begin to consent would be after they have been uplifted, so no uplifting then, as no animal can consent to it.

    Cool. I really wouldn't want to go home and then get into an argument with my dog after a bad day at work. See the movie: Absolutely Anything.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Atethecat View Post
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    I would definitely support R&D into uplifting more intelligent species like apes and dolphins, but we definitely need to get all humans up to par in intelligence first and pass laws which expand the rights and status of existing intelligent non-humans.

    @Connal and I mostly agree that any uplifting should only be done on creatures that consent to it.
    A lot of animals are already smarter than most humans.

  8. #8
    The Undying
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    Quote Originally Posted by Atethecat View Post
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    I would definitely support R&D into uplifting more intelligent species like apes and dolphins, but we definitely need to get all humans up to par in intelligence first and pass laws which expand the rights and status of existing intelligent non-humans.

    @Connal and I mostly agree that any uplifting should only be done on creatures that consent to it.
    I couldn't disagree more. What would be the benefit of this? And if any, then why would we discriminate from one animal to the next?

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    Quote Originally Posted by zenkai View Post
    A lot of animals are already smarter than most humans.
    No, they are not. Not even close.

  9. #9
    The Insane Kathandira's Avatar
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    I don't want to have to verbally explain to an animal why we have breeding/slaughter houses.
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    The Undying
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    Quote Originally Posted by StayTuned View Post
    Rofl, no. Why should we?

    Some animals have massive advantages over us and literally the only thing that keeps them from enslaving or straight out eradicating us, is our superior brain.

    Animals are a pure product of nature. If we decide to alter ourselves, whatever. We should leave other animals untouched.
    We usually disagree on most issues, but this one? Yeah - why in the world we would spend one time on something like this?

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Kathandira View Post
    I don't want to have to verbally explain to an animal why we have breeding/slaughter houses.
    Dont make the animals smart that goes to the slaughter house ?

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by StayTuned View Post
    Rofl, no. Why should we?

    Some animals have massive advantages over us and literally the only thing that keeps them from enslaving or straight out eradicating us, is our superior brain.

    Animals are a pure product of nature. If we decide to alter ourselves, whatever. We should leave other animals untouched.
    The correct question in this situation is "why not?"

    On a more serious note, uplifting could be a way to preserve and gain use from our closest relatives. Imagine chimpanzee and dolphin scientists and philosophers? At the very least if they decide to go their own path we would have advanced in our knowledge of cognition and apply it to improving humanity.

  13. #13
    The Lightbringer Lollis's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by StayTuned View Post
    Some animals have massive advantages over us and literally the only thing that keeps them from enslaving or straight out eradicating us, is our superior brain
    No, precisely because of this.

    War is inevitable and if you were to give physically superior species the ability to think like us then we would be only counting the days until our extermination or thralldom.

    Animals such as cetaceans that we do not really have to share space with could be considered I suppose, but stuff like chimpanzees/wolves/big cats/bears is a big nono.
    Speciation Is Gradual

  14. #14
    Folks, we can barely get by without nuking ourselves into existence and we're all the same species. What happens when we uplift a hyper-aggressive species and they start another world war? What happens when bears are marching on DC with full body armor and a massive fully automatic weapon in each paw? Seems like a stupid idea to me.

    EDIT: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THERE ARE BEAR/HUMAN HYBRIDS BEING BORN OUT OF FORCED INTER-SPECIES BREEDING?

  15. #15
    I just want a Monkey like Steve from Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. That would be great.

  16. #16
    The Insane Kathandira's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Miyagie View Post
    Dont make the animals smart that goes to the slaughter house ?
    If we brought a species of animal up to our level, don't you think they'd catch wind of how we breed and slaughter animals? You don't have to go to a slaughter house to know of its existence, and what its purpose is. Simply reading a book would inform you of all you need to know.
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    The Lightbringer Violent's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sharein View Post
    Knowing us, the next thing we do is enslave them.
    You mean more than we already do? lol

    Nah I would think the same thing too. We are already so horrible to animals just because they're not us. and even horrible to eachother.

    It wouldn't be a good idea, period.
    <~$~("The truth, is limitless in its range. If you drop a 'T' and look at it in reverse, it could hurt.")~$~> L.F.

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  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Kathandira View Post
    If we brought a species of animal up to our level, don't you think they'd catch wind of how we breed and slaughter animals? You don't have to go to a slaughter house to know of its existence, and what its purpose is. Simply reading a book would inform you of all you need to know.
    I think that depends more on species. I doubt a bonobo or a dolphin would take personal offense to pigs or cattle being put through slaughterhouses.

  19. #19
    If we somehow could attain consent from the animal I might be open to it, I'm otherwise against it (ethical reasons).
    "In order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must be intolerant of intolerance." Paradox of tolerance

  20. #20
    The Insane Kathandira's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Atethecat View Post
    I think that depends more on species. I doubt a bonobo or a dolphin would take personal offense to pigs or cattle being put through slaughterhouses.
    If they were as smart as we are, I think one among their ranks would come to the conclusion that we view anything lower on the intellectual scale as us are just here for us to do what wish with them. We treat all manor of animals as pets, things that are there to look at, or things to eat. The line between the three has been blurred or has been moved through history.

    What they do with that information would be very interesting to say the least. It could be a rebellion, or they could understand now that they are on our level, that they are superior to all other animals as well, and join in with us in the way we treat the animals of the world.

    As for the specific examples, Dolphins are kept in captivity for our entertainment, and monkeys are used in labs to test potentially dangerous substances before testing them on humans. Both would have to feel something about them being treated this way before we gifted them higher intelligence.
    Last edited by Kathandira; 2018-03-13 at 06:45 PM.
    RIP Genn Greymane, Permabanned on 8.22.18

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