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The roots of intelligence: What the study of whales and dolphins can reveal about the basis of human intelligence

 

I like this theory of the social origins of human intelligence. I recall Marx saying " consciousness is a social product ". I always wonder when reading ancient writers like Cicero, Caesar, Seneca, Plato why it is so easy to forget that these outstanding representatives of their time had less than a Dark Age understanding of modern science ( there must have been significant technical knowledge in the so called Dark Age ) .

So it must have been their complex social life in a clearly CLASS DIVIDED society that makes them seem almost like VERY INTELLIGENT contemporaries. Come to think of it , it might even explain my " close relationship " with my beloved pets- " Dottie " and " Mindy ". Dogs and humans have been culturally evolving together for a long time.

     So " Dottie " clearly understands me when I say : " You know, the other girls are CUTE but they are not PERFECT ( like Dottie ) . And Dottie looks very pleased with herself indeed. Darwin wrote about the social intelligence of mammals.