The fact that relatively high intelligence has arisen from many architectures multiple times on this planet bodes well for the frequency of intelligent life on exoplanets.
Even today, there are still biologists who assert the formation of intelligent life is tightly coupled to our specific brand of brain and should hence be considered a huge accident. Yet we see the formation of minds in a lot of places, and they can be almost arbitrarily far removed from the human brain.
The octopus is a great example for a radically different neurological substrate. Given enough time and a little bit of luck, some funghi too might evolve a mind of their own as Fuligo Septica already shows some capacity for problem-solving behavior.
The argument that human-like intelligence is again another unlikely step discards the myriad of social animals with advanced problem solving capabilities, some of which are even tool users, and some of which have actual languages and cultures. A lot of these have come onto the stage very independently from us, having sprung from far removed genetics - and yet they have enough in common with us that should make us recognize the frequency of species with minds might indeed be high wherever life takes hold.
"It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English (up to fifty words used in correct context) [even higher since Sagan died] no human being has been reported to have learned dolphinese."
"For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons."
- Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
I've always wondered how we figure we'd communicate with aliens someday, or decode a future SETI message, if we can't even decode the language of a dolphins.
Dolphins are not (so far as we know) actively trying to teach us their language. I would be exuberant to be corrected on this, but to my knowledge a dolphin has never put a fish in a human's hands and cried 'kreeeikaaa' to try to teach us the word. Whereas we do that endlessly with the dolphins, which is why they have learned a bit of our language.
I suspect (with no proof) that a human-level intelligence, bent on communicating, would have the intelligence to perform experiments and then structure a learning environment for the other life form to learn its language.
Hey, why the downvote? It wasn't just a witty remark, i was serious. I find it rather fascinating that in the case of pets, both parties mutually form a method of communication. And this method isn't exactly part of either species' natural language. Humans train pets to respond to certain gestures/words and the pet adopts certain behaviors which have the sole purpose of communicating a need or intention or request to the owner. I think it says something abuot the intelligence of BOTH species
There is some interesting behaviour so far as cat communication with humans. Cats will not meow to other cats unless it's a kitten / mother situation. Meowing with humans is pretty unique.
Wow, good point. Cats usually have this entirely different set of vocal and bodily language when communicating with other cats. Isn't that a sign of higher intelligence? To be able to learn multiple languages. Even if each is fairly small, it's rather fascinating ability to be able to classify your total known language into two distinct sets and knowing which set to use with whom
I'm not sure about dolphins, but I do know people who claim to be able to hear some bird talk and understand what they are talking about (where the predators are, how far away the rain is, etc). Some Native Americans claimed to use this trick to know when other people were approaching, up to a few miles away. As far as I know, this only included listening, not interacting though.
That said, I've tried to find references online to this stuff and haven't been able to. I've only heard from friends who have taken classes/trained under such people.
I think Solaris by Stanisław Lem is right about contact with aliens. Read it if you haven't - it's a great book about impossibility of understanding between real aliens.
I seem to recall something like this happening a few years ago. Something about interpret the echolocation sounds as images using the right hardware and software, and being able to synthesize new ones and play them back.
I agree - 'intelligence', defined most broadly as 'ability to sense the environment, build a mental model of it, and use said model to achieve one's goals'^, seems like a very common adaptation.
^ This isn't just my definition, it's a rough approximation of AIXI, "a mathematical formalism for a hypothetical (super)intelligent agent". (http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/AIXI)
The difference between the intelligence of different creatures is one of degree, and it's interesting to speculate why some animals did end up so much more intelligent than others.
Another interesting evolutionary tidbit is that it for a while after the Cambrian explosion there was a vast diversity of different animal phyla in the oceans. Supposedly for some time there was an arms race of different invertebrate species (octopodes being one surviving example) evolving competitive strategies and counter-strategies, and thereby growing more intelligent.
But then fish evolved, and it turns out the fish design is highly efficient (think sharks) and fish could dominate the oceans - and later their descendant vertebrates could dominate the land - without needing as much intelligence. Again, it's interesting to speculate whether, in an alternative history where fish did not evolve, advanced invertebrate civilisations could have arisen long before dinosaurs appeared in our timeline.
The fact that relatively high intelligence has arisen from many architectures multiple times on this planet bodes well for the frequency of intelligent life on exoplanets.
As I remember from the book "Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life" [1], the bottleneck may be not the evolution of the intelligence, and not even of life itself, but specifically multicellular life. There are reasons to believe it only happened once, and for about 1bn years before that life already existed in single-cellular form, which gives an idea on how improbable the step from single to multiple cell organisms is. I am vague on specifics though, but can wholeheartedly recommend a book to anyone interested in evolution and origins of life.
According to an interesting book of a Russian paleontologist Kirill Eskov [1] there were a lot of "evolutionary tries" to create a multicellular life. And as soon as it became "profitable" the regular try conquered the world.
IIRC it was related to increased oxygen level.
[1] "История Земли и жизни на ней" ("History of the Earth and its lifeforms")
Actually, I stand corrected - not the multicellular life evolved once, but the eucaryotic cell. According to the book, eucaryotic cell evolved by acquisition of mitochondria. Energy generated by mitochondria allowed the eucaryotic cells to be much bigger than procaryotic ones, and to support multiple different organelles.
Yup! The formation of the first Eukaryotic cell is a mystery. Eukaryotes have features of both bacteria and archea, yet doesn't have a clear origin in either of them. Here's a book that goes into more depth on the important stages of evolution: http://www.amazon.com/Major-Transitions-Evolution-Maynard-Sm...
On a tangent, my dismissiveness of creationists has only increased since reading The Major Transitions in Evolution. There are some really perplexing things in early evolution that we don't understand at all. And yet creationists like to talk about chimps and rocks.
I share your optimism and I'm a big believer that it will not be long before Carl Sagan's "Contact" event will happen, not from the stars but here on earth - my inclination is to suspect Grey Whales, but there are a good few candidates for the position of first contact as we begin to unpack the semantics of other species communication protocols.
I'm interested in your opinions from another perspective however, as I believe it's /possible/ that /intelligence/ has emerged elsewhere in the universe (and as you say the more we learn about and redefine our notions of "intelligence" the more /possible/ this becomes, imho) but I am suspect that we occupy a very unique (rare?) niche that allows for the possibility of technology and I don't think this can be understated. But that's just my gut feeling on that one and who is to say that other forms of life require technology to do the type of things we do? It's an interesting question that makes me think of the Arthur C. Clark/Stephen Baxter novels that are very relevant in this discussion: genetically modified hyper-intelligent cephelopods that lack the essential ingredients required for colonising space - as a result of lacking technology.
It's always difficult to judge from a sample size of one. Some take our apparent loneliness itself to draw conclusions about this subject, but that's a difficult proposition as well since there are so many different factors imaginable - any of which could be responsible for the Fermi paradox.
I think science and technology are probably required in all cases where a species is to transcend the confines of its evolutionary heritage. It may well be the case there are many more species out there with vastly greater innate intellects than ours, but at some point they too have to use tools of some kind to grow beyond the limitations all bodies inevitably have. And it's not just about overcoming specific obstacles, it's about acquiring the meta skills necessary for intellectual and mechanical self-extension. The basic argument here being that minds without science and technology are still in a primitive state, regardless of their innate capabilities.
But it's also not difficult to imagine a civilization where tool use doesn't exist or stagnated at an early stage. However, if the opportunities for this type of advancement exist, it's only a matter of statistics over time in order for development in this direction to occur.
Whether we are in a privileged position to enjoy these opportunities is an open question. We are lucky in some respects: our planet has a large land mass, somewhat easily exploitable mineral deposits, easy access to energy, relatively stable weather conditions, and so on. On the other hand it's certainly possible to imagine planets where conditions might be even better. Or worse. All things being equal, it has always been a good bet to assume we're close to the average.
So to address the issue of hyper-intelligent cephelopods without space technology, yes, that's certainly possible. In fact, we're also not a species that colonizes space. We could, but we don't. Hyper-intelligent cephelopods could likewise have a culture or genetic disposition not to develop advanced tech or go to outer space.
You could argue though that in these cases (which includes ours for the moment) low-tech states are likely to be transient. Specifically, since Earth cephelopods are already tool users right now, it's difficult to imagine they'd stay without technology for long.
The point the GP is making, from the books that he mentions, is that being an underwater species precludes the discovery of fire, which is the basis for many technological innovations. It is possible that there are other technological routes around this, but the barrier to entry is much higher.
Yes, this is what I was angling for. I think it's a pre-occupation of many of the species in IMBs Culture series if I remember correctly. Where those species that went the long way round (mostly water dwellers) hold species like us in something like contempt.
I wonder if an advanced aquatic species could/would make use of hydrothermal vents to harness the some of the transformative properties of fire. Hydrothermal vents lack the property of mobility, yet have the properties of persistence and predictability.
If one thinks of fire as a common evolutionary ancestor of all human technology; I wonder if there is, in the same sense of fire on land, a branching point of technological evolution in an aquatic society; a branching point that humans do not comprehend, acknowledge, or notice.
Not to detract from your larger point, but for the curious, I think Fuligo Septica is technically a slime mold, rather than a fungus. More about its 'behavior' here:
This is part of why I love Lovecraft. His brand of science fiction experimented with what we consider to be the nature of science, intelligence, and the universe. He was probing at what could be and what we don't know, rather than just rewording what we know now.
This is the hour when moonstruck poets know
What fungi sprout in Yuggoth, and what scents
And tints of flowers fill Nithon’s continents,
Such as in no poor earthly garden blow.
> The Outer Beings are perhaps the most marvellous organic things in or beyond all space and time-members of a cosmos-wide race of which all other life-forms are merely degenerate variants. They are more vegetable than animal, if these terms can be applied to the sort of matter composing them, and have a somewhat fungoid structure; though the presence of a chlorophyll-like substance and a very singular nutritive system differentiate them altogether from true cormophytic fungi. Indeed, the type is composed of a form of matter totally alien to our part of space - with electrons having a wholly different vibration-rate. That is why the beings cannot be photographed on the ordinary camera films and plates of our known universe, even though our eyes can see them. With proper knowledge, however, any good chemist could make a photographic emulsion which would record their images.
I forget that all organisms are in the evolutionary race with us. We humans may have crossed the "consciousness" line first, but our successors may still be in the running. Maybe it'll be algae in some pond or maybe the buffalo mutates over many generation or maybe a third nuclear world war mutates some bacteria which evolves quickly. Maybe we create it.
The sun only has 2.4 billion years left and it took a little longer than that to go from no life to conscious humans. So whatever evolves to replace us better be alive today and ramp up pretty quickly before the sun dies.
Maybe the future conscious octopus civilization will view the sky how we view the deep ocean.
We were certainly not the first nor the last to cross the consciousness line. There are a lot of animals you can observe who are clearly conscious. In fact, it's not a line at all - it's a multi-dimensional gradient.
But we are the first ones to develop advanced planning, technology, and science.
Not to be glib, but our brain is the only organ, in all living beings on earth,as far as we know, that can wonder about itself and write at lengths about itself.
> our brain is the only organ, in all living beings on earth,as far as we know, that can wonder about itself
Obviously dogs won't write about their brains being sentient, but how do you know that they don't think about themselves?
Humans were sentient long before they knew how to write, or which part of the body is responsible for their thoughts. What makes us think we're so special?
I am quite sure dogs can predict future behaviour of simple systems and act on these systems to achieve their goals. Problem solving in dogs is widely documented and I think it suffices to assume at least some sentience.
Humans were sentient long before they knew how to write...
You're so right, and it seems one sees this error constantly in discussions like this. Human beings like us have been around for 200,000 years, and only within the last 10,000 have even some of us written anything down. Yet we assume that civilization, with farming and government and writing, is somehow the default for this species.
Dogs do not pass the mirror test, which, hypothetically, indicates they have no concept of "self" - thus they cannot think about themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_test - there is a discussion about dogs specifically, noting that vision is not their primary sense, so the mirror test may have less value.
While I agree, we can measure human-like intelligence in mammals such as dolphins and whales. So we look for the same attributes in other living creatures.
You might be interested in hearing about Washoe, a chimpanzee that was taught American Sign Language[1]. A particular quote from the entry: "When Washoe was shown an image of herself in the mirror, and asked what she was seeing, she replied: 'Me, Washoe.'"
Here's also a video on her, as well as Koko, a gorilla that was also taught ASL[2]
We may be the only ones who write, but whales, birds, and elephants are constantly jabbering on about something. Maybe some whalesongs are poetry about existence as a whale.
According to this[1], you're off by a few billions years. The sun has enough hydrogen to burn for another 5 and a half billion years. After that, it has enough helium to burn for another billion years.
Yeah but the Earth will be unable to sustain itself during the end of the Sun's life. Maybe I should say the Earth has 2.4 billion years left, not the Sun.
“It is remarkable that mind enters into our awareness of nature on two separate levels. At the highest level, the level of human consciousness, our minds are somehow directly aware of the complicated flow of electrical and chemical patterns in our brains. At the lowest level, the level of single atoms and electrons, the mind of an observer is again involved in the description of events. Between lies the level of molecular biology, where mechanical models are adequate and mind appears to be irrelevant. But I, as a physicist, cannot help suspecting that there is a logical connection between the two ways in which mind appears in my universe. I cannot help thinking that our awareness of our own brains has something to do with the process which we call "observation" in atomic physics. That is to say, I think our consciousness is not just a passive epiphenomenon carried along by the chemical events in our brains, but is an active agent forcing the molecular complexes to make choices between one quantum state and another. In other words, mind is already inherent in every electron, and the processes of human consciousness differ only in degree but not in kind from the processes of choice between quantum states which we call "chance" when they are made by electrons.”
> The fact that relatively high intelligence has arisen from many architectures multiple times on this planet bodes well for the frequency of intelligent life on exoplanets.
Yes, but if you expect high intelligence to result in spaceships and space exploration, the actual probability falls close to zero. Among all the "intelligent" species on Earth, only humans have been able to build stuff to cross the limits of their own beings. So we may well find out some kind of intelligent animals on remote planets, but it's apparently unlikely we get to see human-like species who have become as advanced as we are. Maybe in that sense we indeed are an accident of Nature.
You could argue that since even we haven't really built actual space ships yet, the probability is unknown. It's still early here on Earth. We're just the first civilization to rise up on this rock and we have barely begun.
You could also argue that we have built weapons of mass destruction faster than spaceships and that the probability of destroying ourselves and make us come back to the stone age in the 100 years is higher than the probability of building spaceships and venturing into space.
only humans have been able to build stuff to cross the limits of their own beings.
Actually, no. There are animals that build tools, we've seen chimpanzees that warn other mates of man-made traps and even teach them to disable these. What's more, we've seen animals that enslave other animals, we've seen animals caring for animals of different kind.
> only humans have been able to build stuff to cross the limits of their own beings.
Maybe you did not get what I was pointing at. I'm not just talking about mere tools, I'm talking about building stuff bigger than us or making it possible for us to live in otherwise unlikely environments. We have planes, rockets, satellites, submarines, boats. Crows don't go under water and chimpanzees don't fly over our heads. There's clearly a difference in the animal realm between what humans and other animals are able to achieve, and this, in the very same evolution time/space.
Depending on how one defines 'intelligence' and 'life', it's quite possible even now to program 'life' that's more intelligent than anything else on the planet, and in some senses even more intelligent than humans. Google's search algorithm, for instance.
So the chance of consciously designed life existing out there seem high, if even one alien civilisation has developed sufficiently to be able to create machines capable of thriving and reproducing in space.
> Fuligo Septica already shows some capacity for problem-solving behavior.
Someday soon, we might finally realize that intelligence comes in all sorts of forms. Humans may one day become enlightened enough to recognize even the intelligence in common plants. How a living thing experiences the universe, and assigning a value to that based on "how much like a human" seems wrong headed to me.
Even today, there are still biologists who assert the formation of intelligent life is tightly coupled to our specific brand of brain and should hence be considered a huge accident. Yet we see the formation of minds in a lot of places, and they can be almost arbitrarily far removed from the human brain.
The octopus is a great example for a radically different neurological substrate. Given enough time and a little bit of luck, some funghi too might evolve a mind of their own as Fuligo Septica already shows some capacity for problem-solving behavior.
The argument that human-like intelligence is again another unlikely step discards the myriad of social animals with advanced problem solving capabilities, some of which are even tool users, and some of which have actual languages and cultures. A lot of these have come onto the stage very independently from us, having sprung from far removed genetics - and yet they have enough in common with us that should make us recognize the frequency of species with minds might indeed be high wherever life takes hold.