Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey.
Stay tuned to the end of this video to hear about our new Patreon and how YOU can help
us decide new videos.
Ever since Charles Darwin wrote his book “On the Origin of Species” in 1859, the world’s
leading scientists have been examining the development of many animal species, most predominantly,
humans.
Much of this research has been focused on our most important survival mechanism: our
brain.
This is the main characteristic that sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom.
But as we see one of our closest relatives, the chimpanzee, showing signs of increased
intelligence, many find themselves wondering if they will eventually overtake us.
So get ready, it’s time to ask the question: Will Chimps ever be smarter than humans?
Well, some scientists claim that this is already the case.
For instance, one 2012 study claims that a female chimpanzee was found to have higher
intelligence than the average high school student.
However, this is hardly the most scientific of papers, as the proof for the lack of intelligence
in high school students included things like “inability to pull one’s pants up” and
“always starting drama”.
While some claim chimps to be smarter than humans in an attempt at humour, it’s clear
that humans currently have more intelligence.
Or is it?
While many scientists study animal intelligence, and countless papers have been published on
the subject, some researchers are of the opinion that we lack the ability to properly gauge
the intelligence of animals.
In his book “Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?”
Frans de Waal describes an alternate view of intelligence.
Rather than a ladder of intelligence, with humans at the top, he suggests viewing it
as a bush, with branches of intelligence.
Certain animals having higher and lower levels of several different types of intelligence,
but that doesn’t mean one is inherently more intelligent than any other.
A gazelle may not be great at calculus, but put a predator anywhere near it and it will
show you just how clever it can be.
De Waal and several others believe that to compare something as vague as intelligence
between species is folly.
That isn’t to say that humans don’t have their own advantages over chimps.
When discussing our own intelligence, it’s often divided into 8 types: Musical-rhythmic
and harmonic, Visual-spatial, Verbal-linguistic, Logical-mathematica, Bodily-kinesthetic, Interpersonal,
Intrapersonal, and Naturalistic.
While chimps may be able to compete with humans on a select few of these, such as visual-spatial
or bodily-kinesthetic, if we were to compare humans and chimpanzees based on performance
in these areas, humanity would come out on top.
Our superior verbal, logical, and interpersonal intelligence would likely be the difference.
However, this method of testing is extremely biased in favour of humans, as it was created
with humans in mind.
So it doesn’t exactly give us a clear picture of the situation.
For the sake of argument, let’s assume that we ARE able to compare chimp and human intelligence.
Will chimpanzees ever be smarter than humans?
It seems unlikely.
Despite the advances we’ve seen chimps make in terms of tools, in the same time humanity
has progressed much further.
If the current trends continued, there is little chance that chimpanzees could reach
the same level of intelligence as humans.
But as unlikely as this may be, it is not impossible.
As humans become increasingly dependent on technology, it may be that we will begin to
depend less and less on our own brains, since computers can complete most mental tasks more
efficiently.
If this was the case, and humanity somehow managed to survive for the millions of years
it would take chimps to evolve past us, then it is possible.
But, as stated in our video “How long will humans exist for,” it could be that there
simply won’t be enough time left for us to allow evolution to do its work.
One more realistic option that could lead chimps to be smarter than us is genetic engineering.
We’ve all seen or heard of Planet of the Apes; if we were to, pardon the pun, monkey
around with the genetic structure of these apes, there is every possibility that we could
create a chimp that is smarter than a human.
And if this happens, we may need to start recruiting little girls with superpowers.
Yes, that’s a Mojojojo reference.
No regrets.
And now we return to our question: Will chimps ever be smarter than humans?
Well, by some definitions, they already are.
There’s also a school of thought that says we cannot truly know the intelligence of other
animals without being inside their heads.
However, assuming their intelligence is roughly where we estimate it to be, it seems unlikely
that they will ever catch up.
Our technology is increasing at a far greater rate than the crude tools used by chimps,
and evolution simply takes too long for them to catch up the old fashioned way.
If chimps are to be seen as more intelligent than us, they’ll need to wait for someone
to help them along.
So keep an eye on The Professor.
And James Franco.
Thank you for watching Life’s Biggest Questions, I hope this was interesting and informative,
and maybe even inspired you to look into it further on your own.
If you liked this video, please thumbs up and subscribe to the channel down below.
While you’re down there, let me know if YOU think chimps will ever be smarter than
us.
Also, as mentioned earlier, we have a Patreon now, so if you’d like to help out the channel
and have exclusive access to a number of special perks, check out the link in the description.
Until next time, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey with Life’s Biggest Questions, wishing you
the best of luck, on your quest for answers.