Which Earth Species is Likely to be the Next to Develop Sentient Intelligence?

I say the next intelligent species likely to develop will be the dolphin. Humankind will have to make treaties with them about fishing and such. Maybe they’ll develop spacesuit type equipment, so their ambassadors can come out on land. With little robot legs.

I read another opinion suggesting that squirrels would eventually develop sentient intelligence because of their flexible hand structure. That would be cool.

So, given enough time, which animal species do you see becoming our rivals?

None, because even if dolphins are intelligent they can’t make tools. You need writing and tool making abilities for intelligence to matter. Dolphins can be as intelligent as they want. Without those things they will not rise above being animals.

The smartest animals tend to be social animals. Birds, elephants, primates, dolphins, etc.

But I do not forsee any becoming tool making species anytime soon.

If you really want to create a new intelligent species and have a lot of time, just selectively breed one of the primate species. Maybe chimps or orangutans.

Actually, many of the animals you listed are tool users. Self recognition is a sign of intelligence. The mirror test is used for this.

None. Humans won’t let that happen anytime soon. We took out the Neanderthals with sticks and spears. You think Dolphins have a chance against our Nuclear Submarines?

They aren’t tool makers though. They lack the dexterity to manufacture tools or the written language to record ideas. Because of that they will not become technological species even if they are smarter than us.

If another species becomes one capable of technology, it would probably be a primate species.

I thought recent DNA evidence showed we miscegenated Neanderthals into extinction.

Suppose they used sound recordings by borrowing our equipment?

We can right away eliminate any species that tastes good …

We’re the product of a series of very specific circumstances. Squirrels, raccoons and especially opossums may have dexterous paws but their forelimbs and spines aren’t modified for brachiation like ours were, which is crucial for many things but especially our bipedalism.

This thread reminded me of a project Leslie Fish is experimenting with: Developing more intelligent cats.

“Death by Snu Snu!”

No animal species. The next sentient intelligence on Earth will be a computer program, or more likely a bunch of them, running in the cloud or its equivalent. I am entirely serious.

Regards,
Shodan

I vote for squirrels, just cuz :smiley:

I’m entering into a conversation I don’t know much about, so forgive my naivete (aka stupidity), but: what if the concept of “sentient intelligence” were redefined? For example, from our viewpoint the making of and use of sophisticated tools are the threshold for higher intelligence, but there are animals who seem to possess intense emotionality, a concept of self and other, and have a range of senses (sonar, smell, directionality/navigation) humans don’t have and probably can’t even conceive of having. I’m thinking about elephants, ravens, and dolphins here.

I recently read an interesting book about Timber rattlesnakes. The author does some arguing for the snakes having far more “intelligence” than thought, but it’s an intelligence that is so alien to human experience it is nigh impossible for us to grasp.

A very interesting discussion. I look forward to learning more in this thread.

And I just found out that her fiddlin’ around has culminated in a new experimental breed recognized by the International Cat Association-the Silverdust. They are derived from the Oriental Shorthair, with “roaned-grey silver coat, gold-green eyes, workable thumbs on each forepaw, a larger-than-normal skull with a larger-than-normal brain inside, and a remarkably high intelligence”-cite.

I honestly think that this is the most correct answer.

However, I did read a novel where a guy was thrown 50 million years into the future because of science and fiction and fantasy blah blah blah.

The most sentient creatures on Earth at that time were Octopi. They’re super smart and can problem solve already…figure he’s probably not terribly off the bat there.

Well, the first mistake is usually in thinking that by gaining ‘sentience’, they would immediately be like Humans in another form. Kinda like in D&D where someone can play a gnome, an elf, a Tengu (bird person) and yet, 99.9% of the time, they’re just playing a Human with cool abilities.

Their frame of reference, their experience of life and the world is extremely different from ours. Dolphins may very well be sentient and as intelligent as us, but our frames of reference are so different. Yeah, they aren’t tool users and aren’t capable of being one like we are. They live a completely different world of experience, living in the ocean, not using tools, interacting with species we don’t exactly socialize with.

If my cat was suddenly gifted an IQ of 200, its experience of life is still living 5" off the floor, not 5’ above it, and in a constricted space with little interaction with others. The outdoor city/suburban world would still be a very dangerous place for it, much moreso than it is for you and me.

If mankind was eliminated, primates are certainly known to have the shortest path to being like us. Though it’s entirely a shot in the dark whether that would happen.

Machine intelligence, I would agree, is the correct answer.

But I feel that I should note that, if mankind had been interested in it, with our long association with and controlled breeding program for dogs, we probably could have evolved them to be our equals by now. If we ever chose to uplift a species, it would either be a breed of primates or dogs.

David Brin’s The Uplift War series is set in the far future, where humans have encountered large numbers of intelligent species in the universe, and humanity is unique among all sentient species in not having been “uplifted” to intelligence by an older species. Because of this, many of the other intelligent species despise humanity, and accuse them of having wiped out their benefactors. Humans are in the process of uplifting dolphins and chimpanzees. There are even space ships “manned” solely by dolphin crews.

I think, for a number of reasons, that some primate species has the best chance. Oh wait.

The ancestors of humans first adapted to living vertically by brachiating, then adapted to a relatively treeless existence and became bipedal, which freed up hands for, among other things, sign language, which may have led to the development of language centers in the brain, supplemented by sounds, which gradually replaced the signs since they carried further and didn’t require visual contact and we were off.

Some of the above is speculative; most of it is factual. Could a species develop human-like intelligence with language and all without this kind of history. Sure, but would we recognize it as such? There is much evidence that dolphins have considerable intelligence and communication skills, but we have never come close to deciphering their language.

I rate mustelids, particularly otters. Being litoral, they are the mammalian species most likely to survive a big meteor impact, like the crocodiles after the KT impact. They are relatively intelligent and some use tools.