Monkeys doing abstract math
"Jordan and colleague Elizabeth Brannon, of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, US, trained two eight-year-old female macaques to equate beeps to dots on a computer screen. So if a monkey heard seven beeps, it knew to tap a square on the screen displaying seven dots."
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14231-counting-monkeys-tick-off-yet-another-human-ability.html?DCMP=ILC-hmts&nsref=news7_head_dn14231
The ability to think in abstract concepts, not just "seven fruits" or "seven monkeys" but the concept of "seven" as an attribute that could be applied to beeps, dots or whatever, seems like strong evidence of intelligence.
What is it that causes us to recognize someone as human? If a dog can show empathy, if a gorilla can learn sign language, if a monkey can do math and make tools, in what way are they less human than we are?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14231-counting-monkeys-tick-off-yet-another-human-ability.html?DCMP=ILC-hmts&nsref=news7_head_dn14231
The ability to think in abstract concepts, not just "seven fruits" or "seven monkeys" but the concept of "seven" as an attribute that could be applied to beeps, dots or whatever, seems like strong evidence of intelligence.
What is it that causes us to recognize someone as human? If a dog can show empathy, if a gorilla can learn sign language, if a monkey can do math and make tools, in what way are they less human than we are?