Are We Really Smarter Than Animals?

[DCAllAfrican]

Originally Posted by TeamJordan79


depends on what is considered smart. 

they cant sync their ipods to their pc's but they sure can cooperate and communicate better, survive in the wild...that kind of stuff. You ever see a pack of coyotes on their hunt? They make john maddens plays look childish. 

Someone gets it. There are things they do better than us. How many humans do you know can senset a storm coming without turning on the news?
So just because we are technologically more advanced doesn't mean we are smarter.

Of course humans would think they are more intelligent than animals since intelligence is a human created term.

The same thing some of you are saying about animals is what certain people say/said about other people.

They can't communicate like us.
Their brain structure limits their mental potential.
We don't need to explain why we are better, we just are.

Sounds familiar?

 

[ittakesalittlebitmore]

Originally Posted by TeamJordan79


depends on what is considered smart. 

they cant sync their ipods to their pc's but they sure can cooperate and communicate better, survive in the wild...that kind of stuff. You ever see a pack of coyotes on their hunt? They make john maddens plays look childish. 

Best response in this thread

 

[jking0821]

Originally Posted by DCAllAmerican

Originally Posted by TeamJordan79


depends on what is considered smart. 

they cant sync their ipods to their pc's but they sure can cooperate and communicate better, survive in the wild...that kind of stuff. You ever see a pack of coyotes on their hunt? They make john maddens plays look childish. 

Someone gets it. There are things they do better than us. How many humans do you know can senset a storm coming without turning on the news?
So just because we are technologically more advanced doesn't mean we are smarter.

Of course humans would think they are more intelligent than animals since intelligence is a human created term.

The same thing some of you are saying about animals is what certain people say/said about other people.

They can't communicate like us.
Their brain structure limits their mental potential.
We don't need to explain why we are better, we just are.

Sounds familiar?

I can't believe this is a thread for real.  DC said this in another thread everyone shot him down so now it gets its own thread?  Show me a problem that an animal can solve that I can't.

Not saying Run a mile in 3 mins like a cheetah.  An actual problem.  If humans lived in the wild like animals we would be way better hunters then them.  We can create spears and would have smarter ways to kill things then a pack of coyotes.  Sensing a storm? I look at the clouds and can tell you yeah looks like a storm.  Then i go into my HOUSE that was built by a MAN who was SMARTER then a COW that lays down when there is a storm. 

Why are people really trying to make this a philosophical debate.  The answer is NO

 

[cadillacflow]

Yes we are, and here's the proof.....

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler [+]

Spoiler

.... But, yes we are.

 

[raise the cup]

Originally Posted by milkandcookies

Animals have the capacity to perform basic life functions and most of them do it well... if they didn't they'd be extinct.
Humans have the capacity to perform basic life functions + the capacity to do much bigger and more grand things.

IMO much of what we have accomplished as the human race can be attributed to greed and greed has its pros and cons.
On one hand humans have the incentive to create magnificent things, but on the other hand as a population we don't have the capability of restraining our greed in the name of the environment or in the name of others so how smart are we really?

I believe that we are smarter than animals in terms of brain power, but the way we have used our intelligence has been, in part, detrimental to the human race as well as the biosphere.

Well put

 

[sundizzle]

I think in the sense of the word....yes we are much much much much smarter than animals. We are the only animal that really have the capability to understand how our actions will affect the near and distant future. We make decisions based on an inherent belief of safety, food and shelter. We have been 'nurtured' to have implicit beliefs that animals do not have built in. They have better instincts, etc, etc. What I think a great example is if the world all of a sudden went nuclear/bomb whatever and all that was left is 5,000,000 humans (an average chosen sample) and the rest of the animals currently in existence...who would become the alpha male of the food chain? Obviously 5,000,000 humans would create a society, create tools, create a way to protect against animals, get food, have shelter etc etc. We would in short time become the dominant species of the earth. Other species don't have the ability to co-habitate the way we do. We have been nurtured to understand our great power comes from our knowledge and ability to engage group thought.

On the other hand...animals don't get fat, don't smoke, don't really seem to have the sort of pyschological issues we do (depression, insomnia, laziness, etc, etc). We are so nurtured in our beliefs of having food, shelter, safety that we lose our instinctual smarts and lose our inherent "nature" knowledge of what is good for our bodies and minds. We are not meant to sit on a chair all day in front of a computer...yet that is what we do.

 

[DCAllAfrican]

I compare the difference in "intelligence" between humans and animals the same way I would compare the difference in "athleticism" between athletes of different sports.

Some athletes might have bodies (humans having a large frontal lobe) better suited for specific competition (cognitive thinking) but that doesn't mean they are any more athletic than those athletes that don't need those specific skills to flourish in their sports.

Humans are equipped to excel in their own world.
Animals are equipped to excel in their own world.

To say that our equipment is greater than their equipment isn't really fair because we don't have the same path, journey, or finish line.

Basketball players usually are able to jump higher than tennis players, but that is because basketball is a game that is played 1 foot above the box @ 11 feet.
Tennis isn't a sport that vertical explosion is needed. But lateral quickness and hand-eye coordination is.

How can we say one skill is more athletic than the other when they both are examples of athleticism?

So because animals can't think LIKE us, or talk like US, or do the things we have to do to maintain in OUR world, means we are smarter?

 

[DCAllAfrican]

Originally Posted by Sundizzle

 We are the only animal that really have the capability to understand how our actions will affect the near and distant future. We make decisions based on an inherent belief of safety, food and shelter. We have been 'nurtured' to have implicit beliefs that animals do not have built in. They have better instincts, etc, etc.

Are you serious? Isn't all of that part of being instinctive? We have DIFFERENT decisions to make when it comes to OUR near and distant future but to say we are the only ones that make those decisions isn't accurate.

You think lions don't know what time of the wilder beast take their annual journey? (Planning to acquire food)
You don't think birds know what will happen to them if they don't fly (without a compass) south for the winter? (Planning for safety and shelter)
You think animals don't know when and when not to use defense mechanisms to avoid safety? (Planning for safety)

How can you say humans are the only ones that make decisions based on an inherent belief of safety, food and shelter.. I don't get that one man. All of that is instinct.

---

On the other hand...animals don't get fat, don't smoke, don't really seem to have the sort of pyschological issues we do (depression, insomnia, laziness, etc, etc). We are so nurtured in our beliefs of having food, shelter, safety that we lose our instinctual smarts and lose our inherent "nature" knowledge of what is good for our bodies and minds. We are not meant to sit on a chair all day in front of a computer...yet that is what we do.


Animals can be lazy and suffer from depression. But you know what, they really don't have the option to be lazy like we do. If they are lazy they won't eat. If they are lazy they will get killed. In terms of them suffering from depression, they just don't have the ability to create drugs for those issues so it appears that we suffer from it more.

 

[teamjordan79]

Originally Posted by DCAllAmerican

You think lions don't know what time of the wilder beast take their annual journey? (Planning to acquire food)
You don't think birds know what will happen to them if they don't fly (without a compass) south for the winter? (Planning for safety and shelter)
You think animals don't know when and when not to use defense mechanisms to avoid safety? (Planning for safety)

word. some people will get lost parking their suv while birds be flying all over the globe without a gps app 

 

some can communicate telepathically while others can sense things we cant (sonar, infared, etc.) 

nature has perfected itself throughout billions of years, always evolving, while we are going the opposite way

the only question is what u want to consider smart.   

on one hand, yea animals are dumb they cant even get into a GED program, although maybe some monkeys can, but on the other, they sure are more efficient at other things than we are.

dudes that got them advanced bio degrees getting mad 

 

 

[DCAllAfrican]

Exactly. That is what I am trying to say. Just because someone can't do something you can do doesn't mean they are any less intelligent than you are.

Is a broom more useful than a mop?
Is soap more useful in a shower than water?
Is salt more useful than pepper?

Especially if you are asking someTHING to do something that he doesn't even have a need to do. (A lion getting a GED). So because he can't do that means you are more intelligent? What about the hundreds of tasks (non-physical) that he is able to do that you aren't able to do? Then what?

I think my point is that we have different intellectual goals than animals. I don't think our intellect is superior by any stretch.

 

[18th letter]

No we aren't smarter than animals. Animals are able to live in harmony with nature. We can't. Humans and our ability to reason are a cancer to the planet.

 

[CUNNiNGH4M]

Originally Posted by ittakesalittlebitmore

Originally Posted by TeamJordan79


depends on what is considered smart. 

they cant sync their ipods to their pc's but they sure can cooperate and communicate better, survive in the wild...that kind of stuff. You ever see a pack of coyotes on their hunt? They make john maddens plays look childish. 

Best response in this thread

that *@$+ is instinct... its not like they sit and draw the *@$+ out before they go...

OP were u raised by wolves or something?

 

[Jordan8]

Alot of yall fake philosophers are trying to hard.

Theres a difference between smarts and intelligence. Animals (non-human) arent intelligent beings. Animals can be smarter than humans as far as knowing their environment and having an advantage over a human. Just like a man from the streets is more street smart than a guy from the burbs. Lions have more jungle smarts than humans. Dolphins have more ocean smarts than humans. Birds have more air smarts than humans.

So are humans smarter than animals? At what? Are we more intelligent than animals? Of course.