This is fascinating research. I'm not a neurologist, but having dealt with pets, often wonder just what the limit of non-human learning is. I don't buy the current wisdom that intelligence begins...
This is fascinating research. I'm not a neurologist, but having dealt with pets, often wonder just what the limit of non-human learning is. I don't buy the current wisdom that intelligence begins and ends with the brain. Our entire body and even the microbiota the live on and within us have evolved together. And human society, an obvious source of our learned intelligence, should also have effects on the other life forms we routinely interact with.
That's not to say that cats and dogs are going to take over the planet, just that we have a rather simplistic model of intelligence at this point. With further research on the brain I think this model will be evolving sooner than later.
This is fascinating research. I'm not a neurologist, but having dealt with pets, often wonder just what the limit of non-human learning is. I don't buy the current wisdom that intelligence begins and ends with the brain. Our entire body and even the microbiota the live on and within us have evolved together. And human society, an obvious source of our learned intelligence, should also have effects on the other life forms we routinely interact with.
That's not to say that cats and dogs are going to take over the planet, just that we have a rather simplistic model of intelligence at this point. With further research on the brain I think this model will be evolving sooner than later.