[MD] How would we know?

[Horse]

Hi All

"The interpretation of behaviour remains subject to the bias of the 
observer; one observer can classify behaviour as intelligent, and a 
second observer will dismiss the same behaviour as instinctive. There is 
also the tendency to be anthropomorphic -- to attribute human feelings 
and motives to the behaviour of non humans. Until we can actually talk 
with a non-human, it is difficult, if not impossible, to do anything but 
speculate on what is being thought or perceived. We cannot even 
understand with any certainty what a human being from a different 
culture, speaking a different language, may be thinking or perceiving. 
Even among people of our own culture, language, class, or academic 
standing, it is a formidable task to peer inside the workings of the 
brain. In this respect all brains other than our own are alien, and I 
might venture to add that the inner workings of our individual brains 
are still a mystery to each of us that possess one."
Captain Paul Watson - Sea Shepherd

For those of you with Facebook accounts here's an interesting link:

https://www.facebook.com/captpaulwatson/posts/10152578876705932:0

It's about intelligence in other species relating to brain size and 
makes some extremely interesting points.
Are we confusing technological know-how with intellect and, if we meet a 
species with superior intellect, how would we be able to recognise this 
let alone experience it?

Cheers

Horse

-- 

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
— Frank Zappa



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