Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?
by Frans de Waal · first published 2016
87% recommend13% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Accessible overview of animal cognition research across many species, not just primates, with clever experiments and the case that human-centered tests and behaviorism underrated animals; for curious general readers.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Hailed as a classic, Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? explores the oddities and complexities of animal cognition―in crows, dolphins, parrots, sheep, wasps, bats, chimpanzees, and bonobos―to reveal how smart animals really are, and how we’ve underestimated their abilities for too long. Did you know that octopuses use coconut shells as tools, that elephants classify humans by gender and language, and that there is a young male chimpanzee at Kyoto University whose flash memory puts that of humans to shame? Fascinating, entertaining, and deeply informed, de Waal’s landmark work w
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…sessions to even come close to the performance of a so-called "lesser animal". Humans are exceptional (I honestly would just say lucky), but are we truly in a different category? Highly recommend the book "Are We Smart Enough To Know How Smart Animals Are?" by Frans de Waal.
on “Saturn moon 'able to support life'” ↗“Desert Solitaire” by Ed Abbey and “Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn. Both are wildly different but explore the question of how different the other forms of life on this planet are from ours. “Are we smart enough to know how smart animals are?” By Franz de Waal et al explores this from a scientific perspective. Abbeys about more, of course. He had that rare ability to turn his book into something that felt like a direct conversation with…
on “Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?” ↗Having recently read "Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?" [1] by the brilliant primatologist Frans de Waal, the whole introductory paragraph reeks of the "humans only" dogma. Even the link to the Wikipedia article directly contradicts the statement of humans…
on “Tears” ↗In animal intelligence studies, researchers have observed that species are more keen to learn from members of their own kind. There's a great chapter in Frans de Waal's "Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?"[0] which discusses the difference between wolves and dogs. Many people believe dogs are smarter than wolves because they are more keen to listen/observe humans. However when the tests are arranged so…
on “Children's books with humans have greater moral impact than animals, study finds” ↗…animals have a detailed internal map of many square miles of land on which they live. Pick just about anything a typical 3 year old can do, and we can find an animal to outperform them in that respect. Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? https://www.amazon.com/Are-Smart-Enough-Know-Animals/dp/0393...
on “A Cephalopod Has Passed a Cognitive Test Designed for Human Children” ↗a great read -- almost as good as Franz de Waal's "Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?" (where this study and others are cited) https://www.amazon.com/Are-Smart-Enough-Know-Animals/dp/1783... .
on “The Paradox of the Elephant Brain” ↗…the smartest animal - or whether an animal is intelligent or not - because intelligence is a broad concept and there are many kinds of intelligence. If you're interested in this topic a good book is "Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?", by Frans de Waal.
on “Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates” ↗Frans de Waal's book Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? is also very good on the topic of scientific research not allowing empathy between animals as a prior in research, due to the decades-long stranglehold of behaviorism in research. He argues that it's…
on “Insects are more sensitive than they seem” ↗I'm surprised that the article mentions Frans de Waal primatologist, but doesn't mention his book, which is an excellent read about the topic: Are we smart enough to know how smart animals are? [1] [1]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30192493-are-we-smart-en...
on “Animal magic: why intelligence isn’t just for humans” ↗Why not give the benefit of the doubt to other animals? It feels like we're peeling back the layers of "animals are unintelligent automatons" to realize we are animals, too. I recommend thethe books Are We Smart Enough To Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal, and Mind of a Raven by Bernt Heinrich, among others.
on “Crows use statistical inference to make informed decisions” ↗There is an interesting popular book on Ethology by Frans De Waal. “Are we smart enough to know how smart animals are?” https://www.amazon.com/Are-Smart-Enough-Know-Animals/dp/0393... Here is a great review of this book http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/how-anim... the passage that got me hooked:…
on “Scientists Have Found Another Species of Crow That Uses Tools” ↗I would always recommend _Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?_ by _Frans de Waal_, it was a thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening read. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30192493-are-we-smart-en...
on “Can we know what animals are thinking?” ↗If you liked this article, you might enjoy the book "Are we smart enough to know how smart animals are?" by Frans de Waal [0]. He does a great job of describing all kinds of surprisingly intelligent animal behaviors, and some very clever tests to decide how and when they apply. Interestingly, about 30%…
on “The Sensitive Plant” ↗For those of us curious about the range of animal behavior (and possibly cognition), I recommend “Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?” from Frans de Waal. Beautiful read.
on “Acorn Woodpeckers Have Multi-Day Wars, and Birds Come from All Around to Watch” ↗Second time in the week I am doing this here, but I recommend you “Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?” By Frans de Waal. Maybe it can nudge you in the right direction.
on “Crows possess higher intelligence long thought a primarily human attribute” ↗