Could We Make Animals Smarter?

[boxofstankay]

This is completely hypothetical. I am not against nore do i condone genetic manipulation but I'm incredibly curious about this.
I DO NOT KNOW ALL THESE FACTS. I JUST HAVE HEARD THESE THINGS IN MY LIFE.

They say we are smarter due to our "cerebral cortex" [part of the brain]
Am i right? I'm honestly not sure. But all the same. If we looked at our brains and tried to say, in 50 to 80 years[when technology has caught up] Remake the animal, say a monkey or a dog, and rebuild the brain so to speak? Make them as intelligent and able to learn language?[not necessarily speak it]
I'm sorry im very illiterate in this field and im honestly looking for someone with the smarts to explain why this is or is not possible!

 

[boxofstankay]

i guess it was a stupid q? bump!

 

[matthew]

You could do it with selective breading if you had the time. You can select for whatever trait you want, allow individuals with that trait to reproduce and then prevent the other from doing the same. Ever wonder why Jews of Eastern European decent score higher than average on IQ tests?

 

[JN811]

not a stupid question. remember that movie with the talking ape, or how about the one with those smart killer sharks!

 

[four2zerOallday]

Interesting, hypothetically speaking. I quit enjoy being the supreme beings on earth with no competition. I dont see anything good coming out of making any other species smarter than they are now. I think dogs speaking would be awesome but would I would rather see this acheived through a collared device ( like in UP)

 

[undertheice]

human beings are such miserable animals. tortured by hatred and guilt, engaging in wanton destruction and preying upon each other with a total disregard for the morality they have invented. all because they are capable of the abstract thought patterns that make such abominations possible. why would we want to do something so horrible to any other creature? why complicate the simple lives of the beasts with the sort of derangement we cannot even control within ourselves?

 

[morgentaler]

If you could increase the neurons in the animal brain you could likely increase their capability for what we consider intelligence.
Who knows, the Uplift Wars could be right around the corner.

 

[boxofstankay]

lol i know morally i would be against this too. I was just wondering if it was possible. What do you mean Morgentaler? Ima google wat joo sayed.

 

[IAm5toned]

seeing this post reminds of reading one of the old dr doolittle books ( i know, reading is so last century right?) where a dog, owned by the judge of the court was called to testify in a court of law, to verify dr doolittle's ability to speak with animals. the dog immediatly began to tell the court (through the funny dr) the judges most intimate habits, and how he gets smashed and does stupid things unbecoming of a judge.

i would rather not be ablt to have hyper intellegent animals..lol... could just be too embaressing for mankind in the long run, lol

 

[matthew]

Interesting, hypothetically speaking. I quit enjoy being the supreme beings on earth with no competition. I dont see anything good coming out of making any other species smarter than they are now. I think dogs speaking would be awesome but would I would rather see this acheived through a collared device ( like in UP)

That really depends on your metric for what is "supreme". Mountain Gorillas and pigs are incredibly happy when left to their own devices.

 

[matthew]

human beings are such miserable animals. tortured by hatred and guilt, engaging in wanton destruction and preying upon each other with a total disregard for the morality they have invented. all because they are capable of the abstract thought patterns that make such abominations possible. why would we want to do something so horrible to any other creature? why complicate the simple lives of the beasts with the sort of derangement we cannot even control within ourselves?

Ever seen a chimp compose a symphony? Humans still have a small number of things that only we do (that we know of).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOLAGYmUQV0

 

[matthew]

If you could increase the neurons in the animal brain you could likely increase their capability for what we consider intelligence.
Who knows, the Uplift Wars could be right around the corner.

That is a really broad concept, like saying "just make the brain bigger". We could add some things but we don't understand mammalian brain chemistry well enough to do something like this in a lab in 2 or 3 generations.

 

[morgentaler]

It's not just making the brain bigger. As neuron density increases the processing capability of the brain increases.

If it was just a case of making the brain bigger, you could just scale an iPhone back up to the size of ENIAC and you wouldn't be ahead in the game.

Instead you put a million iphone processors in a box and link them in parallel. The ability to process information then scales.

It would make them smarter. It might not make them compose any symphonies but you would see the increase in computational power.

 

[gloomysmokes707]

i been smoking with my cat baby since she fit in my palm of my hand ...ferrel cat rather sweet ... shes the smartest fucken animal i have ever been in the presence of next to a monkey that flung shit at people at the san diego zoo. lol

 

[gloomysmokes707]

wheres my proof shes so "smart" everytime i get out my bud shes right there waiting for a hit hahaha

 

[upnorth2505]

wheres my proof shes so "smart" everytime i get out my bud shes right there waiting for a hit hahaha

That is funny.

I have had several dogs, cats, etc throughout my life. I'm not sure we will ever know, but what is their internal life like? What is the degree of their self awareness? What is the state of their emotional development?

I do know this. I love my pets. And I'll never forget my Abby girl.