alright, time to reply...for starters...if you want to compare behavior...look at snakes and cats...both are solitary animals. so its a good comparison...cats spend over 16 hours a day sleeping...the only time they bother to wake up is when they want to eat, go to the bathroom, move around, ect. what does a snake do all day? more so for this argument, a corn snake...it sleeps all day, and only moves for the listed reasons. the only reason a cat could be considered one step above a snake is in the fact that it has useable vocal cords and ears, other than that their behavior is the same...so you really have no argument there...what does a cat do that is so much smarter than a snake? i really cant think of a single thing. quite honestly i cant see your points.
tell me this...it has been noted by almost anyone who pays attention to their snakes and has owned two or more that each snake shows its own individual personality...if as you say "You don't find much better examples of creatures of pure instinct than snakes" is true, then how is this possible? instinct stays the same for most animals, therefor if they are purely instinct, then they should all act the same. individual personalities, or variations in behavior patterns, since you want to use the big terms lol (not being a smarta--)
show a thought process higher than just instinct. if you want an example of pure instinct look at ants. their whole life is under control of instinct from birth to death. personaly to me, the demonstration of a personalitly indicates thought, thought indicates a slight, not vast, but slight understanding of the world around the animal. i understand that science has shown a lacking in some areas of the brain in comparison to mamals. however a snakes brain is much like that of a bird. true, some birds are quite unintelligent, but then there are others that are very smart and can show a deep thought process.
and no, i havent owned many snakes, nor dogs nor cats. and no, i dont have a documented education in these fields...but that dosent mean that i am wrong not does it mean that i am right. my conclutions are drawn from my own personal observations of animals and how they interact with the world around them, humans included. to me it would seem to make more logic that if you want to understand an animal, you shouldnt look into its brain to see what it has and dosent have, you should watch it to see how it acts...actions show alot more to me than a cat scan of a brain. you can take scans from two different people and compare them and the brains will be almost identical, yet each person can be totaly different. and to be quite honest i think many humans act more on instinct then people belive...watching the social interactions between people, and comparing them to that of apes is quite a stunny comparison, there are more things in common than different. dont think just because you can read and write and do math problems that you are the most powerful thing on the planet. quite honestly its our intelligence that will be our downfall.
read this
Marc: yes, I agree that we probably do have less instinct, but I think that's because of our more evolved self. I think we've sort of stamped out some instincts with more logical reason
Marc: ..which ironically is our downfall
Carol: very true
Carol: i think we are overconfident in our brains
Carol: "dumber" beings are more content with life, kill themselves less often, don't have stress unless they are escaping being eaten, aren't trying to destroy the world, and haven't evolved ways to destroy each other
Carol: i think they are leagues ahead of us
Carol: they don't try to figure out life after death...they live for the now
Carol: they don't worry about careers and money, so therefore there little, if ANY corruption
Carol: they are MUCH better parents, for their ONLY goal is to raise their children (depending on the species)
Marc: and so ignorance is bliss
Carol: indeed
Marc: I definitely wish I was dumb.. to be honest
Carol: this is true with those who are mentally retarded
Marc: they live in heaven
Carol: everyone feels so bad for the "retarded" kid....but the "retarded" kid feels absolutely fine
Carol: in a manner
Carol: it's like that with most mental diseases and such....if the person with the disease doesn't know they have it, they are perfectly fine....it's only when they know something is wrong that they distress
Carol: to themselves, they are normal
Marc: the only way ignorant people (or retarded) can hurt is that they don't understand and the more intellegent people are left with the more complicated issues of life
Marc: yep
Carol: yea
Carol: the curse of intelligence
Carol: you know something i am beginning to wonder?
Marc: agreed. what?
Carol: hang on....i'm trying to bring my thoughts into something coherant..one sec
Carol: well...it's like, we speak of how those who are less intelligent are "ignorant" (ignorance is bliss)...and you mentioned how those with intelligence are left with the "more complicated issues in life"
Marc: lol I know what you mean
Carol: it seems to me like the intelligent are the ones making the problems for themselves
Carol: maybe the intelligent are the truly ignorant
Marc: a true paradox, but I see what you mean.
Carol: i'm glad...cuz i wasn't sure how else to explain that
Carol: lol
Marc: it's because we have the capacity to understand complex issues that require more than just physical work to solve
Carol: but maybe there are no complex issues, marc
Carol: maybe we are making them for ourselves
Marc: exactly
Marc: evolution is at it again!
Carol: lol
Marc: a true life tragedy
Carol: the human race is a tragedy
Carol: we have no end but destruction....whether destruction by the destroyers.....or destruction by destroying the destroyers who make up most of our species
Marc: it's ironic cause we're very intelligent, yet we don't see the grand point of things.. but that's the whole question, isn't it?
Marc: yep
Carol: indeed
Marc: that's what we strive to solve...yet with knowledge comes suffering. A true fact.
Carol: maybe our problem is we are always trying to FIND a grand point of things....cuz we can't quite wrap our heads around the idea that maybe there IS no point...
Marc: hm. but that's the whole question that may remained unsolved... so what's the point of trying?
Carol: to make our own point...
Carol: holy crap
Carol: marc, i think that might be the "meaning of life"....to make it have a meaning!
♦ In other words, folks...what I'm saying is that perhaps one of humanity's many problems is that we try to find a point in everything. Perhaps the meaning of our lives (besides procreation) is to make our lives have a point, when they would otherwise have none. ♦