We taught pigeons to guide missiles, "which worked but was never used". Wow.
Very interesting, not by the state of what we know, but by the state of what we don't, and why. Not only did we only try to measure animal's intelligence by human standards, which is an understandable bias, we also limited it to our human senses, which seems pretty stupid.
If you had a dog, even as a kid, if it can't recognize itself in a mirror, you know it is because the reflection does not smell like a dog. You wouldn't think to test a bat's self awareness by placing it in front of a mirror. And yet it seems that's what we've been doing in most of our animal intelligence experiences.
Also when learning to do something with positive behavioural reinforcement, animals are not taught, they are programmed.
It's fascinating that there is still so much to learn there, just because we sucked at it. How ironic.
Shout by peachy peachyBlockedParent2021-10-17T07:41:15Z
Wow!! I loved this episode so much!! I was reminded of one my favorite courses: neuroethology wherein we studied animal behavior from a neuroscience perspective and compared it to that of humans. It really changed the way I regarded animals and humans, because I realized that we do judge animals by human standards and are not even capable of fully understanding them.