What is Intelligence?
Conventional wisdom suggests that the human animal is the pinnacle of evolution. The following video is proving this “wisdom” to be about as valid as the notion that the Earth is flat.
Tool Use Amongst Animals
The above video was filmed off the coast of Indonesia and shows a veined octopus carrying a coconut shell across the ocean floor with the intention of “building itself a home” sometime in the future.
What makes this video especially amazing is that it is the first time that an invertebrate has been observed using tools. This tool use behavior is particularly interesting considering that the octopus’ behavior demonstrates some type of “planning ahead” — something that just doesn’t seem innate to the octopus, or any other invertebrate.
Clearly our knowledge of the animal kingdom is limited, at best.
All this has come as a bit of surprise to scientists. After all, octopuses are descended from mollusks. They’re more closely related to clams than people. They’re not supposed to be smart. But it’s hard to argue with the evidence, and in recent years, researchers have grappled with the possibility that octopuses can even use tools. (Wired)
The question now is: What is intelligence, and how do we measure it?
If the use of tools – in general – is a measure of intelligence, then the use of tools by an invertebrate species completely undermines the commonly held belief that the human species is superior to all other forms of evolution.
Other examples of non-human intelligence abound throughout the Animal Kingdom. One example is the ant species, who seem to be equally as organized as humans: they have their own colonies and hierarchies of work and duty. They even serve a queen! (Maybe ants are the original ancestors of the British?).
As time goes on, and more scientific research is conducted, I have no doubt that the human species will come to realize that our superiority has less to do with our abilities, and more to do with that one seemingly unique phenomenon that comes prepackaged in every human body: the Ego.
It is our gift, and it is our curse.
Image Used in This Post
octopus’s garden image courtesy of Flickr user lecates published under the CC license.
14 Comments
I’m not so certain it is ego that makes us superior, even though your ego knows no bounds Andrew.
Human superiority comes from our species’ unique ability to pass on knowledge and expand upon skill sets over time. Passing knowledge, thanks to an over-sized brain, has made us evolutionarily superior.
Art is the greatest example of the human ability to communicate abstract ideas. Anthropologists contest it is the hallmark of superior intelligence.
What makes octopuses and squid so incredibly unique is their apparent intelligence despite lacking a neural system that we traditionally associate with intelligence.
I meant that our ego makes us FEEL superior, when the evidence isn’t always there to support that claim.
My Id tells me I am awesome, my Superego tells me I suck, and my Ego got lost in translation. Confused? Most definitely.
Ha!…congratulations you just got a masters in psychology with that comment.
Haha next thing you know is that monkeys and gorillas will be using bows and arrows in the Amazon…
Or Hammerhead Sharks will be carrying fish in their mouths.
I see three main factors in cumulative intellgence (i.e. getting smarter as a species and a accumulating a collective knowledge as time goes on)
1. Intelligence
Marine mamals, humans, and octopus all demonstrate similar levels of raw intelligence. Whales, Octopus, and the first humanoids would most likely be indistinguishable in terms of intelligence.
2. Language
This is necessary for the passing of knowledge from one indivivual to another. Humans and whales are the only species beleived to have complex langauges although the whale language is yet to be deciphered in any way. The Octopus does not have any language that I know of. Gorillas are another species that have demonstrated potential for langauge in the form of signing and with humans are the only animals to communicate across species lines.
3. Dexterity
Humans and Octopus both have this. In some ways, the octopus tentacles surpass humans in this area. Dexterity permits to preservation of knowledge across generations. When cavemen chizled on walls it became the first human record that surpassed simple hear-say. Whales cannot do this and thus far the octopus has not been observed “writing” (although I beleive it posesses the tools for it).
Humans thus far are the only species that exibit all three of these tools. While I beleive in pure potential, other species may match our raw intellect, the comunication and preservation of knowledge is what has let human progress leave all others in the dust.
I have heard that the color-changing in cuddle fish is suspected to be a form of language. I’m not sure about octopuses, though, but maybe they do it similarly. The issue with that is how do you pass down knowledge to new generations when your language is based on visual cues that are meant only to convey emotions and such?
Didn’t we watch that crazy show about the cuddle fish and caribbean reef squid?
Yes, and it was awesome. Color-changing invertebrates in HD are sweet.
Isn’t it Octopi? If it isn’t it should be
Wikidepdia lays it out:
Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable.
Octopi does seem superior to the mouth-mess that is octopuses’ses’ses.
Yes, and they hail from Octopia, the ideal Cephalopodic society.
There is a lot of octopus content out there….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO1PnQ-1-pY
Speaking of marine life using tools… How pissed would you be if you were killed by a dolphin that was trained by the US Navy to use a spear or mine? Oh yea, they’re out there!
http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/dolphins-to-protect-us-nuclear-submarines/19272021