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One topic I've been discussing with friends and family is related to the other thread about existence of good and evil.
Imagine if other animals were "uplifted" by scientific breakthroughs and attain human-level intelligence. Do you think they would behave similar to humans and draw distinctions between good and evil? Would they more likely be selfish and greedy, or altruistic and peaceful? Would the civilization they build go through similar patterns as human civilizations? In what aspects would they likely divert from human tendencies? Would their current social behavior remain and they're simply smarter, or does higher intelligence naturally plant the seed for selfishness and greed, leading to war and destruction? Or perhaps it'll differ depending on the type of animal?
(Before anyone brings up David Brin's Uplift serious, let me just say that I've tried reading a couple of the books in that series, and he really doesn't get into the philosophical aspect--they're more like action/adventure/mystery books)
I suppose it would depend on the individual species and where they are in their evolution at the time of the 'uplifting'. But, our benchmarks for what we consider intelligence could very well be considered quaint by other species, terrestrial or otherwise, perhaps even laughably so. The fact is, we can only speculate on the intelligence, or lack thereof, of any species we study because we have only our own benchmarks to quantify them (we being the vastly superior species, of course). There are countless nature documentaries and studies chronicling all manner of behaviors in all manner of species. And we see all of it through the microscope of our own very limited intelligence and narrow experience as sentient beings.
Perhaps the majority of species on the planet are already a great deal more 'intelligent' than we humans give them credit for and it is our lack of understanding of their brand of intelligence that has us mired in ignorance.