Perhaps intelligence is a relative, self-serving term. A human can be
persuaded to take an "intelligence" test but even then the issues of
cultural biasis and relevance make the results questionable. Certainly,
the dolphin brain is better adapted than the human brain to the natural
history of dolphins. And what dolphin would be interested in adopting the
human natural history?
Intelligence tests are useful for determining an individual's potential to
function unsupervised in society. But even then the outcomes remain
unpredictable. Comparative intelligence tests between species serve what
purpose?
Natural selection does not appear to favor humans or dolphins of extreme
intelligence...at least there is no evidence that the mean has shifted one
way or the other. It is only sufficient that animals possess sufficient
processing ability to deal with the majority of life events confronting
them. Persuading a mouse to take a test to determine 'its' IQ' to justify
the hierarchy of "animal intelligence" according to mankind is silly,
homocentric, and likely a waste of time.
rlh
At 11:44 PM +0000 1/23/99, TonyJeffs2 wrote:
>In article <36A9ECEC.3393 at earthlink.net>, Marcello Spinella
><marshmallow at earthlink.net> writes:
>>>Elepants have bigger brains too. That doesnt make them smarter
>>necessarily. More important is the ratio of brain size to body size.
>>>Hi,
>I didn't know that about elephants!
>The brain/bodyweight ratio is often quoted when comparing animals, but you
>would have a difficult task convincing me that a 4 gram animal with a 2 gram
>brain is more intelligent than a human. . Irrespective of body weight, a
>smaller brain means less neurons which must surely mean less processing power.
>>It depends of course which parts of the brain are bigger or smaller in
>different species.. Areas of the brain devoted to movement and dexterity, or
>to homeostasis, wouldn't effect intelligence. Parts involved in memory such
>as the hippocampus probably would.
>>Tony
>>
Richard Hall
Comparative Animal Physiologist
Division of Sciences and Mathematics
University of the Virgin Islands
St. Thomas, USVI 00802
809-693-1386
rhall at uvi.edu