Re:We Are Qualitatively Different from Other Species
by echelon on Monday October 25, 2021 @11:23AM
(#28988852)
We killed the other intelligent species, such as Neanderthal.
If many more species had evolved with human-level intelligence, we might have been in competition with them if they were geographically close to us. It might have been a winner take all.
If we look to the stars or AGI/BCI, it might still be.
Re:We Are Qualitatively Different from Other Species
by baffythegoat on Monday October 25, 2021 @11:20AM
(#28988809)
Agreed. It's an intriguing thesis, I think, but "open your eyes" is not a defense of it.
There is no argument presented; no research cited; nothing new. Human exceptionalism has a long history (old testament and older), and has been treated in many different places.
Douglas Adam's famously wrote that humans and dolphins each think they are the most intelligent beings on earth -- humans think they are more intelligent because the invented the wheel, cities, wars, etc. whereas dolphins just play in the water all day. Dolphins think they are more intelligent for precisely the same reasons.
If anyone wants to discuss why precisely humans are more than monkeys-with-astonishingly-complicated sticks, be my guest, but please bring more than this simplistic post.