Will probably update this with my thoughts when I can get them on the keyboard.
Watching an old documentary called “The Future is Wild” got my mind going about sentient beings, what they are, and what can and will become of them.
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Right now there is only being that can think in the abstract: us. Humans are one of the only organisms which currently can think in the abstract. However, primates close to the genus Homo, like chimpanzees, are probably close enough that they could form a ‘culture’ if given the right place and right time.
One could say another group that could be close to culture is the cephalopods. They already have very large brains for their size, surely for the fact that they have to manage all eight of their tentacles in unison and individually manage its chromatophores, like pixels on a computer. In all actuality, Cephalopods are one of the best contestants for civilization, albeit not in the near future. Cousteau wrote on one of his diving expeditions, in fact, that a colony of octopi had built houses. Interesting topic indeed.
There are other animals, too, like dolphins, that have a bit less of a chance of becoming intelligent enough to think abstract. Many are extremely social. There are probably many animals that can be considered close to sentient, but do not have nearly have enough potential as cephalopods and primates.
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Intelligence , and also a change in world history as we know it, possibly could have happened in some surprisingly different ways and places if not for coincidence, in all actuality. Something like this is very interesting. Asides from that, there is also this by the same author and artist, who has a knack for this type of thing, saying what many have echoed before: if it weren’t for that darn meteor, Therapods could have gone somewhere with the intelligence they already had. However, it didn’t, so this will always be limited to speculation.
However, there is almost a unanimous certainty that there is already intelligence, culture, even civilization somewhere out in the stars. Where, we don’t know, but it is probably out there. There are many ideas where, but that’s to be talked about later.
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Some food for thought there. What do you think, based on current factors today, and a little bit of speculation, could and possibly will be 'heirs to the Earth'?
Also some links I found interesting:
One on Cuttlefish
This episode always gets me thinking, especially near the end.
Discuss.
Watching an old documentary called “The Future is Wild” got my mind going about sentient beings, what they are, and what can and will become of them.
----
Right now there is only being that can think in the abstract: us. Humans are one of the only organisms which currently can think in the abstract. However, primates close to the genus Homo, like chimpanzees, are probably close enough that they could form a ‘culture’ if given the right place and right time.
One could say another group that could be close to culture is the cephalopods. They already have very large brains for their size, surely for the fact that they have to manage all eight of their tentacles in unison and individually manage its chromatophores, like pixels on a computer. In all actuality, Cephalopods are one of the best contestants for civilization, albeit not in the near future. Cousteau wrote on one of his diving expeditions, in fact, that a colony of octopi had built houses. Interesting topic indeed.
There are other animals, too, like dolphins, that have a bit less of a chance of becoming intelligent enough to think abstract. Many are extremely social. There are probably many animals that can be considered close to sentient, but do not have nearly have enough potential as cephalopods and primates.
-----
Intelligence , and also a change in world history as we know it, possibly could have happened in some surprisingly different ways and places if not for coincidence, in all actuality. Something like this is very interesting. Asides from that, there is also this by the same author and artist, who has a knack for this type of thing, saying what many have echoed before: if it weren’t for that darn meteor, Therapods could have gone somewhere with the intelligence they already had. However, it didn’t, so this will always be limited to speculation.
However, there is almost a unanimous certainty that there is already intelligence, culture, even civilization somewhere out in the stars. Where, we don’t know, but it is probably out there. There are many ideas where, but that’s to be talked about later.
-----
Some food for thought there. What do you think, based on current factors today, and a little bit of speculation, could and possibly will be 'heirs to the Earth'?
Also some links I found interesting:
One on Cuttlefish
This episode always gets me thinking, especially near the end.
Discuss.