Xref: utzoo sci.psychology:119 rec.birds:497 sci.bio:1027
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mailrus!ames!lll-lcc!pyramid!voder!blia!heather
From: heather@blia.BLI.COM (Heather Mackinnon)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology,rec.birds,sci.bio
Subject: Re: Intelligent Parrots, or Self-deception and Gullibility.
Message-ID: <4400@blia.BLI.COM>
Date: 28 Mar 88 23:22:13 GMT
References: <1988Mar4.162334.18184@utzoo.uucp> <4299@blia.BLI.COM> <2495@geac.UUCP>
Organization: Britton Lee, Los Gatos, CA
Lines: 41

In article <2495@geac.UUCP>, sigrid@geac.UUCP (Sigrid Grimm) writes:

(excellent article on human and animal intelligence deleted for the sake
of brevity.)

> The whole Conditioning-Only argument as "proof" that an animal has not 
> exhibited intelligence behaviour is also becoming a tired one (in my humble
> opinion). Sure, there are cases when this argument is valid, however, in the
> case of a bird who recognizes similarities and differences in shape and colour
> (dolphins do this too, by the way), I think the hurried application of this
> argument is a little suspect.

It is certainly true that human children learn to manipulate symbols via
an intensive conditioning process that begins in early infancy.  Children
are taught via repetition, positive and negative reinforcement.  If we call
this "learning" in human children, why shouldn't we call it "learning" in
other animals?  If human children exhibit "intelligence" when they master
the manipulation of certain symbols, then shouldn't other animals exhibit
the same "intelligence" when they master the same task?

I think that there are several different interpretations of the word
"intelligence".  One interpretation is that it has something to do with
manipulation of very human symbols like letters and numbers.  Hence, an
animal wouldn't be considered "intelligent" unless it could perform
calculus and comprehend Goethe.  My working definition of intelligence
is that it is the ability to learn an appropriate response to some
environmental stimulus and to apply that response to future
situations.  The key here is the word "learn" which has both the sense
of acquiring a skill that one didn't have before and of retaining that
skill over some reasonable period of time.  (How many of you remember
the date of Shakespeare's death?)

I still wonder what it is about humans that makes us want to be
different and better than other animals?  We are certainly more similar
to other animals than we are different from them.  Why do we keep
pretending that other animals can't communicate or act intelligently?
We are animals; we are mammals.  We're made out of the same stuff as
other animals and constructed very similarly.  What makes us so
different?

Heather Mackinnon