urbanjunkie
23
Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Playa d'en London
Posts: 9788 |
 Planet of the Ants
I recently came across an interesting thread in a newsgroup (which is a rarity in its self). I have bastardised the main essence of the threads main argument as to whether "intelligent life" is a subjective or objective term? Here it is:
Are we, the human race, the pinnacle of intelligence on this planet?
The definition of "intelligence" could be seen as purely subjective, as an objective observer might not consider us intelligent for our failings.
To a lizard, fish, or any other "lesser" lifeform on this planet, intelligence is knowing how to escape predators and find food. We call this "instinct" however might that animal not consider itself intelligent and consider us to be some other life form it doesn't recognise as anything but its predator? Do you suppose that to these creatures the word "intelligence" might not even be considered when they think of us? Perhaps we consider ourselves intelligent but other lifeforms might not?
Would we even recognise intelligence defined by another life form? Perhaps an alien lifeform has other criteria it considers when objectifying what is intelligent life and what is not. By our own definitions we are most definitely intelligent, but by alien definitions, we may not even be up for consideration.
Perhaps the 'criteria' is much more extensive.
You could argue that ants and termites are the most structured society on earth. They possess a communal mindset in which every ant anywhere in that colony, knows exactly what its supposed to do and what the collective is doing at any given time. Without communicating individual by individual, the entire community can be mobilised to a single task at any given moment and the reaction is instantaneous.
We don't possess that ability. To an objective observer, they might be considered more intelligent for that ability.
Many animals on this planet build structures to live in, as do we. Many animals on this planet are innovative and make tools, as do we. How many of them destroy their habitat, war on each other, overpopulate themselves to starvation, create disease, live a parasitic existence in relation to the
environment, use up their resources, and then spread to a new location just to do it all over again?
There are two life forms on this planet that do this. One is a virus. We, are the other. Of course (and I really need to contradict myself here), this way of thinking can be perceived as being very naive. _All_ plants war with one another for light and what we call fertilizer, only they do it so slowly we
usually don't notice. They also war with animals.
Insects, fishes, mammals, all follow the same pattern because resources are limited by availability if not quantity. Populations of wolves first rise and fall out of synch with their prey populations because they don't know how to manage their own population.
Most predator-prey relationships follow the same pattern over time; the hunters evolve an effective strategy and their population soars while the prey population plummets, then the predators starve while the prey re-establish themselves. This repeats until something (climate, smarter
prey, whatever) changes.
But our destructive nature is simply more obvious and in-your-face. If you want to experience mindless destruction, permit mice or rats or termites to invade your house and see how they destroy everything with their continuously active teeth. Humans beings are far more capable in that way
and destroy in greater magnitudes the organisation of nature, but despite our proclaimed intelligence, we act the same basic way as these animals.
The fact we alone are capable of foreseeing the consequences of our actions makes us responsible for those very same actions.
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forever in a trance
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05-29-2001 01:45 AM
