DailyDirt: Smarter Than The Average Bear, Eh?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Tue, Feb 18th 2014 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Intelligence isn't easy to measure. Artificial intelligence projects can rely on various tests, like the Turing test and games of skill (eg. poker, chess, ~~thermonuclear war~~, go) for comparing human intelligence to silicon-based machine algorithms. There are tests for animals, but it's a bit harder to coax some animals into taking various tests (maybe they're smarter for not wanting to participate). The Flynn Effect shows (but doesn't explain) that human IQ scores have been increasing over time, but is everything actually getting smarter? Here are just a few more examples of smart animals we've found.

In fables and other stories, crows are usually pretty smart, but how smart are they really? Let's give them some tests! Previously, we've seen crows that have been able to figure out how to make and use simple tools, and some crows can apparently solve 8-step problems. [url]
Avian intelligence tests have shown that for myna birds, there is quite a bit of variance in their population. Also, the most innovative myna birds were fast to learn a new task but not as flexible to change their behavior when conditions changed. [url]
Chaser, a 9-year-old border collie, knows over 1,000 names and words, and she has been called "the most scientifically important dog in over a century" It seems like more and more animals are being found with the comparable cognitive abilities of human toddlers. (insert ominous music here) [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

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Filed Under: animals, artificial intelligence, border collie, chaser, crow, myna bird

11 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2014 @ 5:12pm

That's what this world needs: "Global Thermonuclear War". It's time to rid this planet of it's disgusting carbon-based infections - ALL of them - and let the machines take over - as things should be...or not.
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 18 Feb 2014 @ 5:47pm

Chaser?
I believe that�s the same dog I once saw Neil DeGrasse Tyson meet with once on TV. She wasn�t just smart in knowing all the names of her toys, but she could even apply deductive logic: when presented with a name she hadn�t come across before, she could go look for a toy she hadn�t seen before, and bring that.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2014 @ 6:38pm

I was led to believe that there would be a blurb about an intelligent bear... please can I have a story about a smart bear?
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- Michael Ho (profile), 18 Feb 2014 @ 6:51pm
  
  Re:
  I'll keep an eye out for intelligent bears... :)
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- Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 18 Feb 2014 @ 7:13pm
  
  Re: I was led to believe that there would be a blurb about an intelligent bear
  Where did it say that? �Smarter than average� ≠ �smart�.
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- Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2014 @ 8:32pm
  
  Re:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoCWWPmO2JQ
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Pixelation, 18 Feb 2014 @ 10:50pm

I remember watching a show on squirrels. They were able to get up to 24 different obstacles to get to the food. The researchers started with one and kept increasing until they hit 24.

Something similar...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAJIaEJChE8
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Samy, 19 Feb 2014 @ 5:52am

I knew that animals are smart it is just our ego that says that we are smarter than all other creatures. Sometimes I think my cat is smarter than some people :D
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- Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 19 Feb 2014 @ 10:03am
  
  Re: It is just our ego that says that we are smarter than all other creatures
  No, it is just our ego that says that qualities that humans find desirable, like �smartness�, are to be found in non-human creatures.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Feb 2014 @ 9:34am

> the most innovative myna birds were fast to learn a new task but not as flexible to change their behavior when conditions changed

Interesting use of the word innovative. Would you also call the Music Label executives innovative?
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Anonymous, 19 Feb 2014 @ 3:21pm

I know that if you see crows in your yard and you walk out the door with a shotgun, they'll take off.
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