Your take is contrarian as I suspect you will admit. There is quite a bit of empirical evidence, and if it turned out that humans were not the most intelligent it would be very surprising. There is probably just enough uncertainty that it’s still within the realm of possibility, but only by a small margin.
If there’s good empirical evidence I suspect that it will be easy to show me. I pointed out in the post what type of empirical evidence I would find most compelling (cognitive tests). I am still reading comments, but so far people have only given me theoretical reasons.
Sorry, I could have been clearer. The empirical evidence I was referring to was the existence of human civilization, which should inform priors about the likelihood of other animals being as intelligent.
I think you are referring to a particular type of “scientific evidence” which is a subset of empirical evidence. It’s reasonable to ask for that kind of proof, but sometimes it isn’t available. I am reminded of Eliezer’s classic post You’re Entitled to Arguments, But Not (That Particular) Proof.
To be honest, I think the answer is that there is just no truth to this matter. David Chapman might say that “most intelligent” is nebulous, so while there can be some structure, there is no definite answer as to what constitutes “most intelligent.” Even when you try to break down the concept further, to “raw innovative capacity” I think you face the same inherent nebulosity.
TBC: I’m alluding to others’ scholarly arguments, which I’m not very familiar with. I’m not sure to what extent these arguments have empirical vs. theoretical basis.
That’s a good theoretical argument, but I want to see good empirical evidence too.
Your take is contrarian as I suspect you will admit. There is quite a bit of empirical evidence, and if it turned out that humans were not the most intelligent it would be very surprising. There is probably just enough uncertainty that it’s still within the realm of possibility, but only by a small margin.
If there’s good empirical evidence I suspect that it will be easy to show me. I pointed out in the post what type of empirical evidence I would find most compelling (cognitive tests). I am still reading comments, but so far people have only given me theoretical reasons.
Sorry, I could have been clearer. The empirical evidence I was referring to was the existence of human civilization, which should inform priors about the likelihood of other animals being as intelligent.
I think you are referring to a particular type of “scientific evidence” which is a subset of empirical evidence. It’s reasonable to ask for that kind of proof, but sometimes it isn’t available. I am reminded of Eliezer’s classic post You’re Entitled to Arguments, But Not (That Particular) Proof.
To be honest, I think the answer is that there is just no truth to this matter. David Chapman might say that “most intelligent” is nebulous, so while there can be some structure, there is no definite answer as to what constitutes “most intelligent.” Even when you try to break down the concept further, to “raw innovative capacity” I think you face the same inherent nebulosity.
TBC: I’m alluding to others’ scholarly arguments, which I’m not very familiar with. I’m not sure to what extent these arguments have empirical vs. theoretical basis.