# Why is mankind (so much) smarter than the next most intelligent being? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162 "2004-09-05T00:08:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/21 "2004-09-05T01:28:10Z")
> [@Moonlight Drive](#): > > Well, chimps may be able to bang a rock against a nut, thus “using a tool”, but that has absolutely nothing to do with humans planning, designing, and manufacturing a space ship going to the moon. You do understand that 100,000 years ago, genus _Homo_ was itself banging rocks against each other in order to chip off a smaller rock that would be more useful for crushing a nut, or the head of a wildebeest, or the heads of that _other_ group of slighly-less-competent members of genus _Homo_ who were squatting on the good watering hole. What does _that_ haver to do with building a rocket to go to the moon? _Darwin’s Finch_ makes a good point. The beings that would be closer to modern Homo Sapiens in “intellectual capacity” than any other, the Neanderthals… well, they kinda _died_ and it sure looks like we at the very least did nothing to help. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlight\_Drive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@Moonlight\_Drive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlight_Drive)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/22 "2004-09-05T01:29:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Show me any one human who is capable of such feats. We are able to go to the moon because we can pass on the thoughts in our own head to those outside us, and they can build upon them. The vast bulk of our knowledge is communal, and has little to do with intelligence per se. **Darwins Finch** , I thank you for your reasoned response. I may not agree with it, but I appreciate it nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlight\_Drive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@Moonlight\_Drive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlight_Drive)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/23 "2004-09-05T01:32:39Z")
Is there anyone here that can answer the original question? ---
**Author:** ![nocturnal\_tick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@nocturnal\_tick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nocturnal_tick)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/24 "2004-09-05T01:34:18Z")
> [@Moonlight Drive](#): > > Are you trying to suggest that in 3 generations, chimps will build rockets? That seems to be your argument. Only you could come up with that **MD**. What is being said here is that we are the only species with such a verying communication system. We speak, we read and write etc. Those things alone are unique accomplishments but they don’t make us more intelligent than a chimp or a dolphin, who demonstrate just as complex communication skills. The only reason we have become more advanced (and in your eyes more intelligent) is because we have ways of storing these communications. We tell stories, write books, etc. so that the knowledge and experience each generation gains is not lost at that generation but continues through hundreds of generations. Each idea is then adapted and adapted until we arrives at our current state of affairs. Other animals have no way of recording the knowledge of previous generations, save for what parent teaches child to survive. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/25 "2004-09-05T01:36:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Moonlight Drive** > Is there anyone here that can answer the original question? You didn’t like the answers you received in post #10? ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/26 "2004-09-05T01:40:33Z")
Humans are the only creatures that can pass on instructions to others on how to complete a task that may offer evolutionary advantage. Some other animals can copy simple tasks like the chimps/termite example, but humans have a language that is used to pass on instructions (not just a warning sound). A credible theory on why humans are so intelligent is offered by memetics. Actions that can be copied or converted to instructions which are then copied provide evolutionary advantage to humans who can best copy instructions. Instructions and ideas are also more likely copied if they contain stuff about sex, fear and food. The more ideas going around the greater selection there is for brains that can imitate and use these replicating units of culture. I suppose the human brain is a bit like a runaway trait like a peacocks tail. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlight\_Drive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@Moonlight\_Drive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlight_Drive)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/27 "2004-09-05T01:42:17Z")
> [@](#): > > You do understand that 100,000 years ago, genus Homo was itself banging rocks against each other in order to chip off a smaller rock that would be more useful for crushing a nut, or the head of a wildebeest, or the heads of that other group of slighly-less-competent members of genus Homo who were squatting on the good watering hole. What does that haver to do with building a rocket to go to the moon? Yep, and I’ll bet that 100,000 years ago, that chimps were banging rocks against nuts. Why did man evolve and chimps did not? Why are chimps still banging rocks against nuts, but man has went to the moon? Thats the crux of my question. And I also don’t believe it can be attributed to language. 1. Why didn’t chimps develope language? After all, according to some posters, chimps and mankind were at the same level 100,000 years ago. 2. Whales have language. Why didn’t whales go to the moon? Were they just too intelligent to go to the moon? I don’t mean to be flip or contentious. I’m just looking for some straight answers from the Straight Dope General question board. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlight\_Drive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@Moonlight\_Drive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlight_Drive)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/28 "2004-09-05T01:45:30Z")
> [@](#): > > Only you could come up with that MD. What is being said here is that we are the only species with such a verying communication system. We speak, we read and write etc. Those things alone are unique accomplishments but they don’t make us more intelligent than a chimp or a dolphin, who demonstrate just as complex communication skills. The only reason we have become more advanced (and in your eyes more intelligent) is because we have ways of storing these communications. We tell stories, write books, etc. so that the knowledge and experience each generation gains is not lost at that generation but continues through hundreds of generations. Each idea is then adapted and adapted until we arrives at our current state of affairs. Other animals have no way of recording the knowledge of previous generations, save for what parent teaches child to survive. Well, now we are getting somewhere. And I do thank you for your response. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlight\_Drive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@Moonlight\_Drive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlight_Drive)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/29 "2004-09-05T01:50:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Only you could come up with that MD. What is being said here is that we are the only species with such a verying communication system. We speak, we read and write etc. Those things alone are unique accomplishments but they don’t make us more intelligent than a chimp or a dolphin, who demonstrate just as complex communication skills. The only reason we have become more advanced (and in your eyes more intelligent) is because we have ways of storing these communications. We tell stories, write books, etc. so that the knowledge and experience each generation gains is not lost at that generation but continues through hundreds of generations. Each idea is then adapted and adapted until we arrives at our current state of affairs. Other animals have no way of recording the knowledge of previous generations, save for what parent teaches child to survive. Why do you not have it backwards? You say we are intelligent because we can do those things. Why do you not believe we can do those things because we are intelligent? So you are saying that other creatures are intelligent, but they cannot communicate with other beings, thus sharing their inate intelligence? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/30 "2004-09-05T02:31:15Z")
> [@Moonlight Drive](#): > > So you are saying that other creatures are intelligent, but they cannot communicate with other beings, thus sharing their inate intelligence? Almost. The humans can communicate in such a manner as to accummulate knowledge and build upon said accumulation. Also, we took advantage of the cards that were dealt us. Whales may have a complex language but they are physically unable to make and use tools. Chimps may have 98% of the genes of humans but they live just fine as chimps and there’s no evolutionary pressure on them to change a darned thing. As to “why man evolved and chimps did not”… wrong perception. Chimps did evolve. They evolved out of _some ancient primate_ just as hominids did, in the direction of maximum adaptation for living as chimps. Chimps are as much an adapted end-result of evolution as are humans. Of the ancient primates, some populations gave rise to gorillas and chimps, others to hominids, and _some_ of the hominid populations gave rise to humans. And among the humans, some then underwent _cultural development_ – _very, very, heck, extremely_ late in the game. And cultural development is astoundingly faster and more flexible than biological evolution. But none of that is mandatory or predetermined. Reset the clock to 1 MY ago and it’s just as likely there never comes around even the species we now call Homo Sapiens, never mind a human civilization. Reset to -100K years and it’s just as likely humans never go past the hunter-gatherer way of life. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/31 "2004-09-05T02:31:59Z")
> [@Moonlight Drive](#): > > Why is mankind like a “10” on the intelligence scale, while the next most intelligent is like a “2”? To answer the initial question: “Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/32 "2004-09-05T02:38:44Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > To answer the initial question: > “Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” That of course is not a factual answer to the question in the least. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/33 "2004-09-05T03:18:47Z")
> [@Moonlight Drive](#): > > Why do you not have it backwards? You say we are intelligent because we can do those things. > > Why do you not believe we can do those things because we are intelligent? > > So you are saying that other creatures are intelligent, but they cannot communicate with other beings, thus sharing their inate intelligence? Being able to communicate and imitate allows memes to replicate. **Replicating memes push for bigger brains** so that the memes can survive. As [Susan Blackmore puts it](http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/journalism/NSmeme%201999.htm): > [@](#): > > As people both imitate, and try to mate with, the best imitators, the ability to copy complex words in precise orders will be spread, both memetically and genetically. In other words, by what we might call “memetic driving”, the memes put pressure on the genes to create ever better apparatus for spreading them. This means big brains designed especially for language. Humans are the only species who can imitate and communicate. This takes into account dancing bees, singing birds/dolphins/whales and nut-cracking monkeys. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/34 "2004-09-05T03:26:15Z")
The OP’s question is based on a flawed premise, namely, that we can measure intelligence. We can measure tool use, language skills, and other superficial behaviors but we have no direct way of measuring the coherency of thoughts. Why haven’t cetaceans gone to the stars? Because they have no hands with which to fashion a spaceship. :smack: Or even to make a simple star atlas. Probably they can’t even see the stars very well under all that water. Should they ever retake to the land, _and_ develop prehensile digits, then maybe they will become civilized. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlight\_Drive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@Moonlight\_Drive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlight_Drive)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/35 "2004-09-05T03:32:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Humans are the only species who can imitate and communicate. This takes into account dancing bees, singing birds/dolphins/whales and nut-cracking monkeys. What about birds who can learn human sounds and repeat them, such as parrots? ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/36 "2004-09-05T03:37:34Z")
**Moonlight Drive** , are you here to nit-pick every post, or to get the answer to your OP? ---
**Author:** ![Moonlight\_Drive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@Moonlight\_Drive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlight_Drive)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/37 "2004-09-05T03:37:41Z")
> [@](#): > > The OP’s question is based on a flawed premise, namely, that we can measure intelligence. \*\*We can measure tool use, language skills, and other superficial behaviors but we have no direct way of measuring the coherency of thoughts. \*\* I don’t believe tool use and language skills are superficial behaviors. If they were, why don’t chipmonks use torque wrenches? Why don’t chipmonks discuss the possibilities of torque wrenches? ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/38 "2004-09-05T03:38:48Z")
I guess that answers my question. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlight\_Drive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@Moonlight\_Drive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlight_Drive)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/39 "2004-09-05T03:43:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Moonlight Drive, are you here to nit-pick every post, or to get the answer to your OP? X-Ray, I am glad you asked! I am still waiting to get even a halfway satisfactory answer to my question. Some Straightdopers are being funny and flip, others are giving wishy washy half baked answers. I’m still waiting for a serious scientific answer, Darwins Finch came pretty close, even though I dont believe his premise. In any case, this has nothing to do with your original answer, the Star Wars lounge. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162/40 "2004-09-05T03:46:07Z")
> [@Moonlight Drive](#): > > What about birds who can learn human sounds and repeat them, such as parrots? They are not communicating memes, just mimicking a sound. I suppose you could argue that this is a simple meme, but I think a meme is generally considered a more complex unit of culture. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-mankind-so-much-smarter-than-the-next-most-intelligent-being/263162.md?page=3)