Science
In reply to the discussion: Humans are not smarter than animals - we just don't understand them [View all]hunter
(38,317 posts)When a computer can do something better than a human, then the bar is raised and we claim whatever the computer is doing is not intelligence.
But it's very likely we are just a big jumbled box of specialized problem solving processes.
Once we create a computer that has a similarly large jumbled box of specialized problem solving process we'll probably claim, "Well, it seems intelligent, but it's just a computer," the very same way some people claim it's "just" an animal.
A second, interesting angle is that our thoughts are so strongly shaped by language. In many ways the language itself is the greater organism and we ourselves are merely cells supporting it, like individual ants or bees.
I've known dogs who are very intelligent. If they had the language processing skills like people have, and they lived as long, they'd probably be brighter than some people. Humans can still speak even when their problem solving skills are mediocre and entirely unexercised. (Look at the comments on any loosely moderated discussion board. Hell look at some of the comments here on DU...)
I also know that humans can't even imagine the world of scents dogs live in, or the world of accurate colors birds live in, or the sonar world of dolphins, and thus we have trouble communicating with them. It's not surprising. We have trouble communicating with other humans who don't share our own language or culture.