What are the chances that dinosaurs would have developed human-like abstract intelligence if they hadn鈥檛 been wiped out?
Tim Lewis
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Narberth, Pembrokeshire, UK
They have! Articles in New 女生小视频 over the years refer to the intelligence of dinosaur descendants.
Birds such as the New Caledonian crow show sophisticated use of tools, as well as the ability to plan ahead. Magpies have demonstrated cunning and deception and many migratory birds have almost miraculous powers of navigation.
Gary Miller
Metamora, Michigan, US
To begin, it must be understood that there is no inevitability for human-like intelligence to evolve. The evolutionary process has no preplanned outcome.
Dinosaurs, had they survived (ancestral birds notwithstanding), wouldn鈥檛 necessarily have evolved great intelligence, but if some did, it probably would be more bird-like than human-like owing to dinosaurs鈥� closer ancestral relationship to birds.
Certainly, some of today鈥檚 modern birds are quite intelligent, but presumably they don鈥檛 meet the questioner鈥檚 qualified definition.
There are an estimated 7 million to 10 million animal species on our planet. If we allow that our form of intelligence is unique, then the odds that it evolved as it did were about 1 in 7 million to 10 million. These are rather long odds. I would predict that the odds of a different kind of animal, especially a dinosaur descendant, ever evolving a similar human-like intelligence are highly unlikely. In reality, the odds are probably incalculable considering the number of variables that would contribute to the same outcome.
Many animals have evolved remarkable intelligence, but intelligence isn鈥檛 universal. While it appears to be a useful characteristic, it isn鈥檛 always necessary for survival as evidenced by the existence of the many animal species that we don鈥檛 consider intelligent.
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