Future evolution of intelligence

[sallynewell]

Perhaps we will be taken over by Disney Corp virtual avatars
sorry guys, how are the earlier judgemnts on whales or dophin intelligence calculated? Usage of signs or tail wiggles? Perry wants more fun Perry wants to swim... how, apart from anecdotately can you judge?. I have a vivd memory of the keas timing their slide down the ski club lunch hut roof quite specifically so that the dump of snow caused by the end of the slide precisely met the unprotected back of the neck of the poor ski club member coing out of the main door...

Here
1) Why.. no obvious reward except our squawks.. do they have a sense of humour?
2) They have to associate footseps coming out (they are perched on the ridge of an opaque metal snow covered roof) with a person coming out
3) they had to remember to slide down a specific section of roof to an accuracy of about one foot horizontally and time it to a third of a second from the sound of footsteps only .....

[Moontanman]

Intelligence is a difficult thing to measure in humans much less animals. Personally I think we are too close to the idea of intelligence to accurately measure it in other animals. If some how an alien could measure intelligence with complete independence I'm not sure if humans would come out on top in every category.

Humor is something I've found that lots of animals share with humans, sometimes the humor is rather rough from our point of view but the more intelligent an animal is the more likely it will appear to have a sense of humor, to us at least, and there in lies the problem. Do we judge them as humorous because we can understand thier humor? How do we know what non humans see as humorous?

Personally I think that humans as a group have pretty much reached the end of how far intelligence can evolve. any further steps in the direction we see as intelligence will have to come about from an amalgam of technology and biology.

just my own opinions and conjecture.....

[HydrogenBond]

We live in the information of age. It is intelligent to be well read and learn a lot of this useful information. This stage of intelligence can be performed with a good memory and a thirst for knowledge. The next stage of intelligence is the ability to filter and process information, so the working memory stores the most efficient data set. One can't learn or remember everything, so this level of intelligence is the ability get more mileage with less. This requires critical thinking, to filter out and simplify the information.

The third stage of intelligence, uses an efficient information base and organizes it into contextual whole, for practical applications. This is more fluid and adaptable to similar but different situations. The fourth stage of intelligence is the ability to extrapolate and generate new relationships that are not part of the information data base. It is connected to invention.

In terms of a practical example, the first level of intelligence may try to memorize an auto repair manual. They can recite the steps, verbatum for an oil change. The second level tries to unclutter the bulk memory into a smaller but more efficient working set. This mind is less structured and more fluid and can work on other autos not in the first manual.

The third level is ready to get their hands dirty by apply their working knowledge to problems that have the uncertainties of the real world. The fourth level extrapolates and modifies systems into something new.

If you look at IQ tests, some questions are memory based, such as vocabulary, with some words requiring being well read. Some questions are based on condensing information into simpler patterns to get the answer. Some questions require ingenuity to get the answers. But few questions addresses the forth stage, which is make a new mouse trap. This type of question might be something that can be added.

[Bree]

"What species we know of today show promise for evolving into the another intelligent species after humans have left the Earth?"

My hypothesis would go with some type of insect like ants or termites perhaps. While I wouldn't rate them very high on intelligence they have a very well developed and complex social structure. I think this societal basis could easily lend to them making an evolutionary leap.

[arkain101]

Margay all the way.. If the world isnt taken over by these guys, I don't know what will.

Margay - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Boerseun]

If you take humans out of the equation, then I guess the next species in line for World Domination via Intelligence would probably be some sort of a primate. They've got it all - opposable thumbs, inquisitiveness, the lot. But considering primates is no fun - they're like Humans Lite as it is.

So, I suggest we remove primates from the conversation entirely.

Just for fun.

And in that case, my first contender will be either rats or mice. They are very inquisitive, and they use their hands to manipulate their environment. Given the right conditions, they might very well evolve towards a species capable of landing on the moon!

[Moontanman]

If you take primates out of the equation then I like meerkats for the job, or otters. meerkats would seem to have the social organization and a high degree of intelligence. A million years down the road I can see meerkats as intelligent, social tool users.

Meerkat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Otters, specifically South American giant river otters have some real intelligence and some social organization as well. Other otters do use tools.

Giant Otter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia