Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?

Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?
Author: Frans de Waal
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2016-04-25
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0393246191

A New York Times bestseller: "A passionate and convincing case for the sophistication of nonhuman minds." —Alison Gopnik, The Atlantic Hailed as a classic, Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? explores the oddities and complexities of animal cognition—in crows, dolphins, parrots, sheep, wasps, bats, chimpanzees, and bonobos—to reveal how smart animals really are, and how we’ve underestimated their abilities for too long. Did you know that octopuses use coconut shells as tools, that elephants classify humans by gender and language, and that there is a young male chimpanzee at Kyoto University whose flash memory puts that of humans to shame? Fascinating, entertaining, and deeply informed, de Waal’s landmark work will convince you to rethink everything you thought you knew about animal—and human—intelligence.

Clever as a Fox

Clever as a Fox
Author: Sonja Ingrid Yoerg
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2002
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780674008700

Researched, Clever as a Fox will challenge your previously held notions about animals and the measure of intelligence, both theirs and ours.

Thinking Animals

Thinking Animals
Author: Paul Shepard
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2011-07-01
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0820342343

In a world increasingly dominated by human beings, the survival of other species becomes more and more questionable. In this brilliant book, Paul Shepard offers a provocative alternative to an "us or them" mentality, proposing that other species are integral to humanity's evolution and exist at the core of our imagination. This trait, he argues, compels us to think of animals in order to be human. Without other living species by which to measure ourselves, Shepard warns, we would be less mature, care less for and be more careless of all life, including our own kind.

Artificial Intelligence versus Human Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence versus Human Intelligence
Author: Christian Lexcellent
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 74
Release: 2019-05-31
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3030214451

This book showcases the fascinating but problematic relationship between human intelligence and artificial intelligence: AI is often discussed in the media, as if bodiless intelligence could exist, without a consciousness, without an unconscious, without thoughts. Using a wealth of anecdotes, data from academic literature, and original research, this short book examines in what circumstances robots can replace humans, and demonstrates that by operating beyond direct human control, strong artificial intelligence may pose serious problems, paving the way for all manner of extrapolations, for example implanting silicon chips in the brains of a privileged caste, and exposing the significant gap still present between the proponents of "singularity" and certain philosophers. With insights from mathematics, cognitive neuroscience and philosophy, it enables readers to understand and continue this open debate on AI, which presents concrete ethical problems for which meaningful answers are still in their infancy.

Bots and Beasts

Bots and Beasts
Author: Paul Thagard
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2021-10-19
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 026236588X

An expert on mind considers how animals and smart machines measure up to human intelligence. Octopuses can open jars to get food, and chimpanzees can plan for the future. An IBM computer named Watson won on Jeopardy! and Alexa knows our favorite songs. But do animals and smart machines really have intelligence comparable to that of humans? In Bots and Beasts, Paul Thagard looks at how computers ("bots") and animals measure up to the minds of people, offering the first systematic comparison of intelligence across machines, animals, and humans. Thagard explains that human intelligence is more than IQ and encompasses such features as problem solving, decision making, and creativity. He uses a checklist of twenty characteristics of human intelligence to evaluate the smartest machines--including Watson, AlphaZero, virtual assistants, and self-driving cars--and the most intelligent animals--including octopuses, dogs, dolphins, bees, and chimpanzees. Neither a romantic enthusiast for nonhuman intelligence nor a skeptical killjoy, Thagard offers a clear assessment. He discusses hotly debated issues about animal intelligence concerning bacterial consciousness, fish pain, and dog jealousy. He evaluates the plausibility of achieving human-level artificial intelligence and considers ethical and policy issues. A full appreciation of human minds reveals that current bots and beasts fall far short of human capabilities.

How Smart are Animals?

How Smart are Animals?
Author: Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P
Total Pages: 216
Release: 1990
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN:

Discusses recent research on levels of intelligence in both wild and domestic animals.

The Genius of Birds

The Genius of Birds
Author: Jennifer Ackerman
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2017-04-11
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0399563121

“Lovely, celebratory. For all the belittling of ‘bird brains,’ [Ackerman] shows them to be uniquely impressive machines . . .” —New York Times Book Review “A lyrical testimony to the wonders of avian intelligence.” —Scientific American An award-winning science writer tours the globe to reveal what makes birds capable of such extraordinary feats of mental prowess Birds are astonishingly intelligent creatures. According to revolutionary new research, some birds rival primates and even humans in their remarkable forms of intelligence. In The Genius of Birds, acclaimed author Jennifer Ackerman explores their newly discovered brilliance and how it came about. As she travels around the world to the most cutting-edge frontiers of research, Ackerman not only tells the story of the recently uncovered genius of birds but also delves deeply into the latest findings about the bird brain itself that are shifting our view of what it means to be intelligent. At once personal yet scientific, richly informative and beautifully written, The Genius of Birds celebrates the triumphs of these surprising and fiercely intelligent creatures. Ackerman is also the author of Birds by the Shore: Observing the Natural Life of the Atlantic Coast.

Inside Animal Minds

Inside Animal Minds
Author: Mary Roach
Publisher: Disney Electronic Content
Total Pages: 65
Release: 2012-10-09
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1426210035

The Animal Intelligence Bundle: “Minds of Their Own” by Virginia Morell (March 2008) “Almost Human” by Mary Roach (April 2008) “The Genius of Swarms” by Peter Miller (July 2007) In “Minds of Their Own,” Virginia Morell provides an overview of the science of animal intelligence. She introduces you to an African gray parrot named Alex, a bonobo named Kanzi, and a border collie named Betsy. Each of these animals tells us something interesting about the way they perceive and manipulate their world. The article also looks at what scientists are learning about the intelligence of dolphins and crows, beyond mere communication. In “Almost Human,” Mary Roach takes us to the savannahs of Senegal to meet a group of 34 chimpanzees, whose behavior and social structures have given scientists some important clues about the nature of their communication and intelligence. In “The Genius of Swarms,” Peter Miller looks at the collective behavior of ants, bees, and other insects for what they can tell us about social organization and how sometimes intelligence lies outside of the individual brain. This article served as the basis for his book, The Smart Swarm: How Understanding Flocks, Schools, and Colonies Can Make Us Better at Communicating, Decision Making, and Getting Things Done.

Beyond Words

Beyond Words
Author: Carl Safina
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2015-07-14
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0805098887

Hailed conservationist Carl Safina examines animal personhood as told through the inspired narrative portraits of elephants, wolves, and dolphins