Where Does Intelligence Begin?
Humans are proud of a lot of things, from particle accelerators to poetry to Pokemon. All of them were made possible because of something humans value extremely highly: Intelligence. We think of intelligence as a trait like height or strength, but when we try to define it, things get fuzzy. In a nutshell, intelligence is a mechanism to solve problems. Especially the problem of staying alive, which involves finding food and shelter, fighting sexual competitors, or fleeing from predators. Intelligence is not a single thing; it includes the ability to gather knowledge, to learn, be creative, form strategies, or engage in critical thinking. It manifests itself in a huge variety of behaviors. From hardwired or instinct-like reactions to different degrees of learning to some sort of awareness. But not all scientists agree where it begins or what even should count as intelligence. To make this even more complicated, intelligence...