In the 1960s controversial scientist John Lily set-up a dolphin research initiative in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He was working for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) who believed that soon they would be contacted by intelligent life, from somewhere in the cosmos. They wanted to know how to interact with a vastly different intelligence, so to learn, they hired Lily to break the communication barrier between humans and dolphins. In fact it culminated in what may be the strangest animal-human relationship ever, a sexual relationship between researcher Margret Howe and Peter, an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. The final straw for most of the other researchers was when Lily injected several dolphins with LSD, hoping that perhaps it would open a bridge of mass communication. The experiment fell apart, all the researchers left, and it was over. Despite the close “romantic” relationship Margret and Peter had, she would never see the dolphin again. John Lily’s team learned more about why humans and dolphins couldn’t communicate, than they did about unlocking a universal Earthling language. By 1970 the thought that dolphins were smarter than human beings was dying. If they were so smart, why didn’t they build underwater cities, where did they hide the advanced submarines and planes – why didn’t they attempt to reach outer-space? Dolphins swim around and eat fish, they can’t be smarter than us. 
Now at the dawn of the 21st century, scientists are starting once again to question whether or not human beings are the top of the intellect hierarchy on planet Earth. It’s a role we accepted under self-appointed circumstances. We assumed because of our technology, language, arts and medicine we were the smartest, but we all know what assumptions make. Physical evidence (such as comparing a toothed whale’s brain to a human’s) combined with historical evidence (such as the fact that Neanderthal man’s brain was larger than ours) has created a new way of measuring intelligence, taking into account that different evolutionary circumstances create vastly different levels of intelligence. Just because a type of intelligence is different, doesn’t mean it’s any less complex, or lacks self-awareness and emotion. Perhaps dolphins and other toothed whales don’t have any technology because they are perfect specimens of organic technology? Considering toothed whales are much older evolutionarily than humans, perhaps their intelligence developed under a different set of guidelines? Does the fact that human beings are toolmakers automatically make them the smartest creatures on the planet, or does it point to inadequacies in our own physical abilties?… More:
The post Are humans Earth’s dominant intelligence? appeared first on reefs.com.