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Are humans the most intelligent life in the universe?

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Are humans the most intelligent life in the universe?
Probably Yes 19%  19%  [ 10 ]
Probably No 81%  81%  [ 43 ]
Total votes : 53

Jono
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02 Oct 2012, 4:49 pm

ArrantPariah wrote:
visagrunt wrote:
JakobVirgil wrote:
visagrunt wrote:
ArrantPariah wrote:
Some whale species, and maybe octopi, may be more intelligent than humans.


Only second declension latin nouns take -i in the nominative plural. Not only is octopus not a second declension noun, it is not even Latin--it comes from the Greek, and so the correct classical plural is, "octopodes."

The correct english plural of octopus is octopuses.


quick do cactus.


Cactus is a second declension latin noun, and so takes -i in the nominative plural. Additionally, cactuses is an acceptable english plural


I'll bet that any octopus of average intelligence would have been able to tell us this straight away.


I don't think an octopus is any where near as intelligent as a human. There is evidence that dolphins could be nearly as intelligent though bottlenose dolphins are probably the second most intelligent animal after humans according to the encephalisation quotient.



naturalplastic
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02 Oct 2012, 7:13 pm

Jono wrote:
ArrantPariah wrote:
visagrunt wrote:
JakobVirgil wrote:
visagrunt wrote:
ArrantPariah wrote:
Some whale species, and maybe octopi, may be more intelligent than humans.


Only second declension latin nouns take -i in the nominative plural. Not only is octopus not a second declension noun, it is not even Latin--it comes from the Greek, and so the correct classical plural is, "octopodes."

The correct english plural of octopus is octopuses.


quick do cactus.


Cactus is a second declension latin noun, and so takes -i in the nominative plural. Additionally, cactuses is an acceptable english plural


I'll bet that any octopus of average intelligence would have been able to tell us this straight away.


I don't think an octopus is any where near as intelligent as a human. There is evidence that dolphins could be nearly as intelligent though bottlenose dolphins are probably the second most intelligent animal after humans according to the encephalisation quotient.


Octopi are the intelectual giants of the invertabrate world beating out thier cousins the squids and other invertebrate quick learners like bees. And they probably compare favorably in inteligence to cold blooded vertabrates (fish, lizards) but I doubt they have brain power on a par with any warm blooded vertabrate (bird or mammal)- much less any dolphin or primate-much less a human.



donnie_darko
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02 Oct 2012, 7:19 pm

I highly doubt it. I think that would be really depressing since only about 15-20% of humans actually are what I would consider intelligent.



ruveyn
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02 Oct 2012, 7:21 pm

The issue is not how "smart" a species is, but how well adapted to their environment they are now successful they are at reproduction. On the score ants and bees are champions, especially the ants. They have been around a quarter of a billion years which is about one third the time that complex multicell life forms have been around on the planet. The ants beat the mammals hollow for well adaptedness and longevity.

ruveyn