Casually Explained: The Spectrum of Intelligence

while animals come in many different shapes and sizes there are definitely some that are more intelligent than others well you can't directly compare between species I tried to put them in an approximate order at the bottom of the spectrum we have extremely basic creatures like jellyfish and worms while some have simple organ systems none of them are capable of complex thought and quite linearly respond to external stimuli a bit like little robots a bit above there we have animals like small reptiles these creatures have the fight-or-flight response that helps them eat things or avoid getting eaten in humans this is the same physiological response that ruins my powerpoint presentations farther along the spectrum we have small mammals like mice or rats both capable of learning new behavior and can be trained to some degree often used in drug trials as a human analog because of their similar biology and accessibility so moving on from there we have some large mammals like elephants I knew that historically they could be trained as wor animals and for circuses and stuff but I didn't really know to what degree but I was watching an IMAX documentary recently and they actually said some elephants are thought to be as intelligent as an eight-year-old child so pretty stupid a couple of the most intelligent animals are dolphins and gorillas if you watch a video of dolphins playing around they're almost eerily human-like and gorillas are one of the only non-human animals to have been observed to use tools let me tell you if you thought dropping your kid in the dolphin enclosure was fun just a thought now of course we have humans but because humans have higher absolute intelligence the difference between individuals can be quite substantial so near the bottom of that spectrum we have people who tell you they're really smart I briefly knew a girl who prefaced her opinions with I am actually very intelligent and read a lot one time I told her I thought her chemtrail stuff was a bit of a conspiracy and she said did you even read my most recent Facebook post so I expected to see a link to someone sketchy blog but it just said Jessica's IQ is 135 last I heard she's reselling essential oils and cosmetics to an increasingly diluted client base at least it's a business model that she could understand a triangle so leaving that behind is a distant memory next we have the average person has difficulty opening clamshell packaging but can usually figure it out eventually can plug in a USB after only two or three tries doesn't quite get standing back at airport baggage claims or subway terminals but knows how to Google something before giving up after that we get to gifted individuals these are people who are capable of more advanced social and logical feats that may seem impossible for the average person such as intense and prolonged concentration deep understanding of other people and their emotions and being able to request a haircut without rehearsing beforehand so beyond that we have everyone on the internet between fifteen and twenty one now unfortunately in order to be a more notable genius you have to not only be very intelligent but highly dedicated they say that hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard but I found one of the best ways to give up on your dreams is to type them into the youtube search bar then ad done by a five-year-old Chinese girl lastly people say that intelligence mostly comes down to genetics but hard work comes down to willpower and dedication which mostly comes down to motivation ability to create actionable plans which is a big part of intelligence but always remember no matter how notable our intelligence someone else is you're always smarter or better than them in some way they say Mozart could rewrite any song after only hearing it once I have Spotify Stephen Hawking advanced our understanding of the universe smoked him in the hundred meters Jesus could turn water into wine I'm not a Jew franck ribéry quickly

Channel: Casually Explained

Views: 5,336,601

Rating: 4.9200211 out of 5

Keywords: animal intelligence, intellgience, iq, smartest animal, how smart are humans, dolphins, gorillas, casually explained, spectrum of intelligence, sentient life, evolution, envelope laser rectangle, psycology, iq test, education, brain, mind, big think, lifelong learning, edu, focus

Id: g3pDR_q0EaQ

Length: 3min 35sec (215 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 18 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/McCourt]

Glad to have the "standing back from the baggage carousel" officially identified as a signifier of intelligence.

[u/theduckofreasoning]

The dolphin enclosure joke was pretty great

[u/mattythedog]

"Then we come to more intelligent people who are capable of more advanced social and logical feats such as requesting a haircut without rehearsing beforehand."

Welp, looks like that counts me out of being super intelligent. Which is weird, because I've gotten the same haircut every time for the last 5 years and I still practise what I'm going to say before I go into the shop.

[u/Vekturbrektur]

Prepare to xpost comment section in r/iamverysmart

[u/wimuan]

Casually Explained is really upping his game — e.g. the Morgan Freeman voice and prettier graphics.

[u/Kim-Jong-Deux]

At least it's a business model she can understand - a triangle.

Savage af

[u/THE_sheps]

What's scary is that we all have that Facebook friend.

Edit: quick survey. If you have that friend raise your hand.

[u/Alizkat]

Fucking smoked him in the 100 meters.

The best thing I have heard in ages

[u/GMcFlare]

You made it /u/fuckswithducks !