Dolphins, aliens, and the search for intelligent life

[Tank]

Dolphins, aliens, and the search for intelligent life

How do we define intelligence? SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, clearly equates intelligence with technology (or, more precisely, the building of radio or laser beacons). Some, such as the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, suggested that intelligence wasn't just the acquisition of technology, but the ability to develop and improve it, integrating it into our society.

By that definition, a dolphin, lacking limbs to create and manipulate complex tools, cannot possibly be described as intelligent. It's easy to see why such definitions prove popular; we are clearly the smartest creatures on the planet, and the only species with technology. It may be human hubris, or some kind of anthropocentric bias that we find difficult to escape from, but our adherence to this definition narrows the phase space in which we're willing to search for intelligent life.

Technology is certainly linked to intelligence – you need to be smart to build a computer or an aircraft or a radio telescope – but technology does not define intelligence. It is just a manifestation of it, perhaps one of many.

Astrobiologists see intelligence a little differently. The dictionary defines intelligence as the ability to learn, while others see it as the capacity to reason, to empathize, to solve problems and consider complex ideas, and to interact socially...

An interesting discussion on what constitutes intelligence.

[Sweetdeath]

Interesting article.  My personal thoughts are intelligence are; not what one can build, but how one adapts to survive. I'vd watched many animal documentaries where certain fish have learned new patterns of camoflauge.  It was amazing to see a fish automatically cameflauge itself against a checkered tiled floor. 

Intelligence should always be defined in many forms.   To think intelligence is to simply build a house or machine, or solve a long math equation is human arrogance.