Can Apes Outthink Humans?

by SodaHead News Posted 2012/06/25 13:00:00

Related Topics: Apes, Monkeys, bonobos, Chimps, Humans, Science

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	Yes	206 votes	48%
	No	219 votes	52%

According to The Associated Press, scientists have discovered that the DNA of a bonobo ape is only about 1.3 percent different from humans. And ape behavior continues to astonish scientists as they demonstrate thinking processes and capabilities we never thought possible. For instance, one study showed bonobos will "pack" the tools they need to access food if they're moving to a remote location for the night, and remember to take them with the next day.

Another study showed that if one chimpanzee can see a piece of food and another cannot, the chimp that can see the food is able to recognize this advantage and keep the food hidden -- in other words, chimps are able to put themselves in another's shoes. Another study tried to determine how many pictures baboons could memorize over the course of three years, and by the end of the study, they could remember the pictures better than the scientists testing them.

Emory University primatologist Frans de Waal told AP, "Capacities that we think in humans are very special and complex are probably not so special and not so complex. This research in animals elevates the animals, but it also brings down the humans... If monkeys can do it and maybe dogs and other animals, maybe it's not as complex as you think." Do you think apes have the brainpower to outthink humans?

+30

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irish -liberty or death! 2012/06/25 17:32:11

Yes

+16
at the rate humans are devolving its not surprising.
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More polls by SodaHead News

randall.perot 2012/12/18 06:43:07

No

I think they have the ability to deceive humans for their own personal gain. Apes are most certainly self-aware, as I believe dogs are from my experience with them. I have seen dogs also attempt deception for their own gain, and they most certainly understand when they are or are not being observed by a human and the possible consequences if a human observes actions that it will not approve. I do believe that many animals have a depth of thought that some humans would not suspect, and would make much of the treatment they receive at the hands of humans immoral. I do not agree that elevated thought by animals somehow devalues the intelligence of humans. The fact that the brains of some animals are capable of advanced and complex thought doesn't prove intelligence to be something less complex. It simply proves that many animals have more complex minds than some would initially suspect.

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DissidentRage 2012/07/11 15:48:58

No

If a gorilla can independently formulate the Standard Model of physics, then I'll start to consider it.

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randall... to Disside... 2012/12/18 06:46:54

A gorilla doesn't have a complex and recorded language, nor the language of mathematics to do such things. That doesn't disprove the intelligence of the gorilla, it simply signifies a different kind of intelligence. A gorilla must still forage for food, and hasn't had tens of thousands of years of idle time for thought, nor a reason to understand more of the universe than practicality dictates.

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Sebastiaan Oosterveld 2012/07/07 10:00:38

Yes

Predators always out think Prey

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Alummina 2012/06/29 00:05:47

No

other wise they will be asking for freedom, better food and cloths ;)

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Vieuphoria 2012/06/28 07:59:15

Yes

+1
I do find it astonishing that people seem to still hold the biblical belief that humans are the height of all beings.

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Unmitig... to Vieuphoria 2012/06/29 02:08:38

That's not necessarily a biblical thing. It's kind of a fact thing. What other species do you think outclasses humans?

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Butterb... to Unmitig... 2012/06/29 07:09:13

You'll have to define "outclass", because I can think of a few ways in which other species are superior to humans.

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Vieuphoria to Unmitig... 2012/06/29 09:03:38

Well what are you quantifying as "Out-Classing". We think humans are the top because we are humans, and are the only animals capable of emotions, cognitive thought, and other such things. Every animals is of perfect design to do what they are meant to do. They have evolved a certain way to make them perfect at living. Humans may have invented guns and money, but that doesn't put us above everything. Try and out task an animal at its way of life and you will lose. We value that of which we have invented. These things don't matter. Money doesn't matter, art and science doesn't matter. All of the things we have invented don't matter. Not in the grand scope of life. What matters is effectively tackling life, which most animals are better at doing than we are.

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Unmitig... to Vieuphoria 2012/06/29 16:17:36

Actually these things do matter, as not only do they help make living worthwhile, they also propel our success as a species. How exactly are most animals better than us at "tackling life", as far as I was aware, humans are the most adaptable species, and the species that can live in the most environments successfully.

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Vieuphoria to Unmitig... 2012/06/29 16:56:53

They propel us to success at what we think matters. What we think are small insurmountable things, are certain creatures entire lives. Humans are adept at making money, but this doesn't matter. The world wouldn't stop if there was no money. But it would if bee's stopped bothering. You seem to be glazing over the negatives to humanity.

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Unmitig... to Vieuphoria 2012/06/29 17:22:23

+1
I didn't mention money. Money is a human creation and idea on this planet, but even so, it's good to have an exchange system rather than simple bartering. However, monetary achievements pale in comparison to scientific achievement. And yes the world wouldn't stop if bee's all died, there would probably just be a mass extinction, as there would be if all humans died. But if humans died, then the world didn't lose a few species of buzzing insects that sting things and pollinate plants, the world would've lost the species that has had countless achievements. The species that understands higher brain function, that went to the goddamn moon, that regularly creates music, books, and artwork that touches the soul, that nearly wiped out smallpox, that understands compassion, and empathy, and all the other things that make life worth living.
I don't know what you think matters, but humanity matters, what is important in life matter because we decide it. There is no intrinsic importance to anything, value, is a human notion that isn't set in stone. If science and money and art and emotion and thinking and compassion don't matter to you, get off your damn computer and return to the ways of the apes. Because the achievements we have in these things are due to humans.

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Vieuphoria to Unmitig... 2012/06/29 17:35:25

We went to the moon. Yes excellent for us. But we also created the bombs that kill other humans, and make entire spaces of the world inhabitable. All of the pollutions and such we've caused. Yes the money, art and science is good stuff is good for us, but the bad stuff we do effects every creature on the planet.

"get off your damn computer and return to the ways of the apes" - why are you getting testy?

As for those things not mattering to me. You've misunderstood. They do matter to me. I am human. They affect me greatly. But in the grand scheme of life and the world, they are worthless. Other creatures don't worry about such things. The things humans value the most are also the things that are our downfall.

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randall... to Unmitig... 2012/12/18 06:50:46

If all humans died, the only mass extinctions would be of domesticated animals. Even our house felines would go feral and survive just fine without us.

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randall... to Unmitig... 2012/12/18 06:49:02

There are other species that outclass us at survival. I am sure that many of them will prove in the end to be more adaptable and far less self-destructive than humans. Look at the end results of all of this wonderful intelligence that we developed. Our form of intelligence may prove to be unsustainable and our undoing in the end.

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Ameera 2012/06/28 05:32:39

No

well maybe some humans

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Leek Hototrot 2012/06/27 23:00:58

Yes

Yes, if you are the typical GOP constituent. Why? Because even primates have common sense, unbiased by just following ideology.

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Spider20 2012/06/27 23:00:20

Yes

Some humans anyways......

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emile 2012/06/27 16:38:00 (edited)

Yes

Cmon yeah sure by teenagers they are so dumb:(

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ruralntex 2012/06/27 15:39:19

No

I am sure we have underestimated a great many species, but humans have done lots of things that no animal will ever do. For example, a clock. I am talking about the device not the concept it quantifies. Now, is apparant, tomorrow is abstract, and the need for a device to quantify an abstraction is clearly far beyond the abilities of any animal except a human.

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Playerazzi 2012/06/27 12:30:05

No

When the apes will be the ones setting up sites like this and asking the question: "Can humans outthink apes?" then I'll change my vote.

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justnotsaying (: 2012/06/27 07:53:15

No

Not anytime soon.

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Wyveryx 2012/06/27 07:52:43

No

Let's see...
To put it bluntly, who's the top of the food chain?

Seriously though, apes have an intelligence of their own, while homo sapiens have their own. You really can't compare the two, unless both were in the same situation and were raised in the same exact way.
Quicker learning or memorization does not necessarily stand for intelligence.

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Inquisitve Kat 2012/06/27 05:49:37

Yes

+1
Anyone who pays close attention to animals knows they're not so 'dumb'.

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*K'eim*h3reg' *Peh2u *Meg' 2012/06/27 02:27:40

Yes

The operative word being "can". They can, but they generally don't. That is why they live in the jungle and pick ticks off of each other and we don't. Apes are very intelligent creatures, though.

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davidgoessplat 2012/06/27 02:06:02

No

+1
Depends on what "out think" means. Problem solving? I dont think so. In my opinion if an ape happened to solve some sort of problem quicker it would be by chance and if you replicated that kind of thing over and over among many apes and humans obviously humans would outperform apes by an enormous margin.

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randall... to davidgo... 2012/12/18 06:54:05

I am sure that there are some memory and cognitive tests that an ape would excel at in comparison to a human. The issue would be creating the proper tests based around the areas of thought in which an ape excels out of practicality that aren't necessary for human survival.

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mikeeonly 2012/06/27 00:58:22

No

If they could, they would probably be the dominant species instead of us. Their memory retention might be good, but I don't think they have much in the way of reasoning.

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TheNightFly 2012/06/27 00:26:34 (edited)

Yes

It depends on your definition of "outthink". Of course they can't out-comprehend people but I wouldn't be surprised if they can think faster than the average person at the most basic level of human consciousness. Most animals with smaller brains can think faster than humans just because the nerve impulses in their brains take less time to travel over shorter distances.

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Walter Harris 2012/06/27 00:07:39

Yes

depends on who you are talking about. I believe that the advanced this world gets the dumber this world gets.

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Luis 2012/06/26 22:52:07

No

+1
I answered no on the quick pick. But after seeing some of the idiots on this site I think they may have already passed us.

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wes 2012/06/26 20:55:11

Yes

Cambridge University has actually been doing studies on apes outhinking humans for the last twenty years and has proven that the average 10 year old ape is smarter than the average twenty year old human being exposed to the same education, which I believe just proves that Cambridge University just relates easier to apes and is probably better off educating apes, now if only they could apply for student loans......

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vet4freedom 2012/06/26 20:42:27

Yes

+1
i know chimps are smarter than our goverment .

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strawberry 2012/06/26 20:22:51

No

Apes have low IQ's, (Intelligence Quotient) which require ability to reason. Apes just as monkeys learn from copying or being trained by humans. Memorizing and rational thinking are not the same. Apes may have basic survival instincts but their brains have not evolved to a higher level. Humans also have different levels of IQ's.

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morning40oz~mad as hell 2012/06/26 20:15:54

Yes

I'm not sure, but to make a point I'm going to go with yes. How about we give monkeys the opportunity to hit the ballot boxes with ALL the candidates running for office rather than the two shysters who are, we are told, our only viable choices and see what they come up with? I'll bet they know better than to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.

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Wahvlvke 2012/06/26 19:52:09

No

obama voters excepted.

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Reuben Rennick 2012/06/26 19:12:03

Yes

Only in Sci fi movies, not in reality.

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Pops 2012/06/26 18:54:28

Yes

+1
I In some cases probably.

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maryam 2012/06/26 17:52:09

Yes

Aps are nearer to human beings !!!!!!!!!!!!

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Jacqui 2012/06/26 17:39:17

Yes

Some humans; like my friend, I call a genius at heart. Not to bright to start with & has made things worse by "pickling his brain" from to much "elbow exercise".

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