A question of intelligence Great debate with NYCboy,Mike the Wiz and NosyNed

Ned knows more than I, but I shall give my take on it, as I have learned a bit from hom and others/resources. First of all, I don't think we are the only intelligent beings. I think we are the only ones with human intelligence. But why can only termites build these: Nevertheless, the human being is unique in many ways, only I don't think it's intelligence alone, but just our unique evolutionary trajectory.I would say there are two very reasonable posibilities here. And a third posibility is that both of these scenarios are true.1. Our line of evolutionary descent was a one-off occurence of evolution that led to us being able to create technology, as we had the time to do it. Unlike wild animals, we don't have to survive within the food chain of our niche, we only have to survive within the human niche.To expand on this approach: we slowly, over time, evolved a bigger brain, and the more we communicated, the better for our survival it was. This is why bigger brains with communicative skills, progressed. Social communication in groups enables them to be somewhat like an efficient team. Almost like a squad, protecting one another. Slowly, through time, natural selection acting on random mutations, led to us developing better and more intelligent complete sentience.
So it might be that things like technology, are only able to happen because of those combination of specific evolutionary events. This would mean that our type of intelligence would not be possible in other animals. The question might be meaningless because it could be like asking why aliens don't have eyeballs. It's because their specific evolutionary lineage was different from animals' on earth.You raise good points, animals have technology and human qualities etc.. hardly in an abundance, but rather at some rudimentary levels. they're still clever, like with the termite mound, it just depends whether it can be said that humans are unique amongst the unique, which is another topic.2. The spiritual explanation; that it's because we have souls implanted by God.I believe 1 and 2. I don't believe it's our intelligence that makes us different. I believe it's because only persons, (like God,) are this way. If we are personas like God, but animals aren't, then this would explain why animals aren't persons. They can, to a degree, on a rudimentary level, use math and science. They perhaps don't use this as it is not useful for their survival. Many human tribes will use math and science to the same degree as animals, or only slightly more, because they have to concentrate on survival more than those in comfortable developed technological areas, who have the time to take math class.You don't have to respond to this post in full, just feel free to ask any questions. Scientific questions would be answered better by NosyNed .

It's a complex mound full of areodynamic tunnels that act to cool the centre. We can't know for sure that they're not as smart, it's that they cannot communicate it. They are limited, it's not like they can do sign language.I think you're thinking in terms of intelligence rather than conscious persona if you like, that we have.What is your answer to all fo this? What do you think?