"For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons."
I can't wait for the day that we are able to give a dolphin a brainwave controlled arm prosthetic and some building material/tools. I feel they're just as smart as humans but we just brush them off as stupid because they haven't built anything. But I man what do you really expect from them? They have flippers for hands and minimal resources to build anything.
That's a future just crazy enough to happen: forget about AI singularities. Just augment the other intelligent beings that inhabit the Earth. The aliens were here all along.
Of course they might be a bit peeved when they find recipes for themselves on the Internet.
Perhaps they built the civilizations, realized the pointlessness, went back to frolicking in the water and ended up with flippers from lack of use.
My roundabout point is, why do they have to build civilizations? Because we humans think that's the pinnacle of advancement? Perhaps the dolphins have a difference in opinion. Perhaps they're debating this very idea over some delicious herring: "do you think humans are intelligent?"
"Mmm, could be. But they keep scurrying around building pointless crap, so I don't know."
Looking forward, these cross-coastal cities and villages, and even underwater towns, may come. We each have our part to play, humans with tech, dolphins with point.
Naw, the irony is that we
think that we are studying the
dolphins while, actually, the
dolphins are studying us and
we still have not yet caught on
to that! We're the ones in the
zoo cage! And the dolphins are
so smart that they can study and
understand us without use of
hands, computers, cameras, etc.
Way back in 2010, Dr. Heywood Floyd had a dolphin "pet" in his home by the sea. Some people say he could talk to the dolphins, but I think that's just silly, something out of a movie.
That is such a (I don't know word to express my feelings...) "offensive"?, "humano-centric"? "hubris filled"? title. And exemplifies and perpetuates humankind's atrocious relationship with our fellow earthlings.
Dolphins are not turning out to be brighter. They were/are as bright as they always have been. Humans are the ones changing, losing a bit more of our ignorance and hubris.
This is still so pervasive that most people don't even recognize that as an "issue". Just like people hundreds of years ago wouldn't be phazed by the title "Negroid race is turning out to not be savage sub-humans after all".
I read the title as "The more we study dolphins, the brighter we realize they are." Perhaps it's a regional usage that's encouraging a different interpretation for you.
I think the term you're looking for is "anthropocentrism" [0],
though I don't see how you can construe this article to take an anthropocentric point of view.
If anything, it's implicitly acknowledging that we're not as exceptional as we'd like to think.
The title doesn't even indicate that the dolphins' brightness is changing, but rather that we're increasingly perceiving them as bright.
[+] [-] cko|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kenrikm|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rbanffy|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hanniabu|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] api|10 years ago|reply
Of course they might be a bit peeved when they find recipes for themselves on the Internet.
[+] [-] jackgavigan|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] robotcookies|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mikestew|10 years ago|reply
My roundabout point is, why do they have to build civilizations? Because we humans think that's the pinnacle of advancement? Perhaps the dolphins have a difference in opinion. Perhaps they're debating this very idea over some delicious herring: "do you think humans are intelligent?"
"Mmm, could be. But they keep scurrying around building pointless crap, so I don't know."
"Yeah, good point. More herring, darling?"
[+] [-] mitchtbaum|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] graycat|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] humanrebar|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] burnte|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rbanffy|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nyandaber|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] njharman|10 years ago|reply
Dolphins are not turning out to be brighter. They were/are as bright as they always have been. Humans are the ones changing, losing a bit more of our ignorance and hubris.
This is still so pervasive that most people don't even recognize that as an "issue". Just like people hundreds of years ago wouldn't be phazed by the title "Negroid race is turning out to not be savage sub-humans after all".
[+] [-] mattlutze|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ceejayoz|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eivarv|10 years ago|reply
If anything, it's implicitly acknowledging that we're not as exceptional as we'd like to think.
The title doesn't even indicate that the dolphins' brightness is changing, but rather that we're increasingly perceiving them as bright.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocentrism