Good day to you sir.

All I have is the generic request for requisite definitions. It does seem to me that reasoning backwards from my being intelligent to intelligence being an evolutionary advantage is a bad case of post hoc ergo propter hoc.

Given the primordial soup that is the parent of us all, it seems to me that if intelligence (undefined term) were such an advantage, more species would have successfully evolved to and into it. Of course, maybe we're not as smart as we think we are - a species wide Dunning-Kruger effect - but instead are just smart enough to be a hazard to all and everything. .

It does seem to me that reasoning backwards from my being intelligent to intelligence being an evolutionary advantage is a bad case of post hoc ergo propter hoc. — tim wood

Really? Then it wouldn't matter to your future as a successful member of society if you undergo a lobotomy now?

Given the primordial soup that is the parent of us all, it seems to me that if intelligence (undefined term) were such an advantage, more species would have successfully evolved to and into it — tim wood

I've considered that particularly vexing question but look around, read the papers, switch on the TV or radio. Do you think one intellgent species will tolerate, accept mutual coexistence, with another? Even as one species, we've barely managed to escape annihilation in two full-scale, global-level, wars and the third seems to be just a matter of time.

Of course, maybe we're not as smart as we think we are - a species wide Dunning-Kruger effect - but instead are just smart enough to be a hazard to all and everything. . — tim wood

That too must be factored into the equation. Are we really smart or is it a bad case of a dwarf among Lilliputians. It actually doesn't matter because what counts is relative intelligence and on that score, we come out on top.

There's a clear discontinuity in the intelligence spectrum separating humans from the rest of the the animal kingdom. — TheMadFool

I agree with your general thesis " that intelligence is a favorable evolutionary development in organisms and that it gives its possessor an edge in the competition". But I don't think there is a "discontinuity" between animal and human intelligence. The evolution of intelligence seems to be a continuum, with no Gap to be filled with divine intervention. On the other hand, there is a distinction in human intelligence that makes a difference in successful reproduction. Human dominance over all other creatures makes us stand-out against the background of clever-but-limited solutions to the evolutionary algorithm.

That "distinction" can be described in several ways, but I think it comes down to what IQ researchers call "General Intelligence" or "the G factor". Most animals are specialists, and their brains are well adapted to their narrow species niche in the eco-system. But humans have been able to adapt to every niche in this world, and is on the verge of attempting to inhabit exotic worlds, such as the Moon and Mars. So, highly-evolved space-faring aliens might recognize their kinship with the dominant animals on this blue ball. :smile:


Human vs Animal Intelligence : http://www.aboutintelligence.co.uk/why-humans-more-intelligent-animals.html

Humans not smarter than animals, just different : https://phys.org/news/2013-12-humans-smarter-animals-experts.html

The G Factor : https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-general-intelligence-2795210

But I don't think there is a "discontinuity" between animal and human intelligence. The evolution of intelligence seems to be a continuum, with no Gap to be filled with divine intervention. — Gnomon

Really? Which other animal has a language as sophisticated like ours, language that has been pressed into service to achieve what to our closest cousins, the chimps, is an unfathomable mystery? Music, math, art, philosophy, science, etc. are nothing more than occasions for utter befuddlement to other animals including but not limited to chimpanzees and chimps are the next most intelligent animal in the list. :chin:

That "distinction" can be described in several ways, but I think it comes down to what IQ researchers call "General Intelligence" or "the G factor". Most animals are specialists, and their brains are well adapted to their narrow species niche in the eco-system. But humans have been able to adapt to every niche in this world, and is on the verge of attempting to inhabit exotic worlds, such as the Moon and Mars. So, highly-evolved space-faring aliens might recognize their kinship with the dominant animals on this blue ball — Gnomon

Which other animal can "adapt to every available niche in this world"? The "discontinuity" in the IQ graph of all animals I was referring to? I don't know if there's a better descriptor than "discontinuity". With that word I'm referring to a large spike in IQ which represents humans in a graph that plots animals on the x-axis to IQ on the y-axis of a normal line graph. I suppose "outlier" is a better word.

Really? Which other animal has a language as sophisticated like ours, . . . The "discontinuity" in the IQ graph of all animals I was referring to? I don't know if there's a better descriptor than "discontinuity". . . . . I suppose "outlier" is a better word. — TheMadFool

Yes, I think "outlier" is more descriptive of the significance of the human mind, abruptly emerging in the midst of plodding Darwinian evolution. I agree with your intention, but I was thinking of "discontinuity" in terms of gaps. A "spike" is still continuous with the rest of the curve. But an Outlier is an integral part of the curve that is so far from the norm, that it is unpredictable and surprising --- something to be explained by Intention rather than Inertia. Evolution seems to be continuous, but it's occasionally punctuated by sudden unforeseeable emergent phenomena, including Life & Mind.

My Cosmic Progression Chart illustrates the sudden upswing of evolution after the emergence of Life and Mind, especially the human mind. In the graph, evolution is continuous, so there is no miraculous gap to insert a soul into a living creature (a la Adam). Instead, the miracle is at the beginning, where there is a gap between nothing and something -- between eternity and space-time. Apparently, all future developments were inherent (potential) in the original program. :smile:

Outlier : An outlier is an observation that lies an abnormal distance from other values in a random sample from a population.

Punctuated Evolution : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punctuated_equilibrium

Cosmic Progression : http://bothandblog3.enformationism.info/page28.html
Note 1 : the graph can be enlarged by clicking in the image.
Note 2 : the curve is smooth because it was not intended to portray every punctuation.
Note 3 : click the red "here" to see comparable evolutionary progression graphics.

I just happened to notice your recent comments, and I was wondering if this is relevant to your discussion...

Human exceptionalism, our ordinary cortex and our research futures
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/dev.21838?fbclid=IwAR16m9iNFl9-2PYuJMrxSx4cmU2n6hLEfPalT796hPQYK3TdU6tkX0tsrbE

Your thread also reminded me of a scholarly article I recently read pointing to the fact that modern man killed off and absorbed their closest relatives (e.g. Neanderthal). When considering that, perhaps it makes us a little less 'outlier'?