Human Nature: Is Animal Intelligence A Dumb Idea? - Interintellect Salon

Feb 11, 2021  19:30

(GMT +10:00) Australia Eastern Standard Tim

Event URL:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/human-nature-is-animal-intelligence-a-dumb-idea-interintellect-salon-tickets-139036392593
Cost:  $10
Hosted by: Interintellect - Human Nature

Author-filmmaker-naturalist Elliot Connor delves into the challenge of grading genius animals, and the learnings we've made in the attempt

"Intelligence is like a hagfish on a water slide: hard to grasp. It can be social, as with the dancing democracy of bees. It can be evolutionary, like the tadpole shrimps that have survived for the past 300 million years to provide the design for Star Trek's Enterprise. Sadly, when we look for brains in other animals, IQ is akin to asking "can it do what humans do?" Hmmmph.

In this first installment of Interintellect's Human Nature salon series, Elliot marks his recent book release with a lively discussion on the idiocy of 'intelligence.' Can we refine the word to a common animal trait? Or are we doomed to dwell in a complex of human superiority?

Come along with an open mind and plenty of thoughts to share. From dolphins using telephones to mould mapping our highways, from pigeons using quantum navigation to eels inventing remote control, nature baffles us. This is where we'll celebrate its strangeness and try to make sense of it all."