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Insects as intelligent and humans?
Source: Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra (1981) Evolution from Space: A theory of cosmic creationism, Chap. 8 ("Insects from space?"), pp. 127- 128
"The
situation points clearly to one of two possibilities. Either we are dealing with
an overt plan invented by an intelligence considerably higher than our own, an
intelligence which has foreseen all our chemicals and flamethrowers, or the
insects have already experienced selection Pressure against intelligences of at
least our level in many other environments elsewhere in the universe."
"There
is a curious variant of the first possibility. Could the insects themselves be
the intelligence much higher than our own? We are so conditioned to thinking
that the intelligence of a species can be exemplified by an individual member
that it is hard to assess a situation in which each individual might show little
intelligence, but in which the combined aggregate of individuals might show
much. Yet it is so in our own brains, where no individual neuron can be said to
display intelligence but in which the aggregate of neurons constitutes exactly
what we understand by intelligence."
"The
static nature of insect societies goes against this thinking. If an enormous
intelligence inhabits the beehives of the world, we might expect more evidence
of its presence. But this may again be to endow an opponent with our own
restless characteristics. Perhaps concealment is an essential tactic. Perhaps
the intelligence is static because it understands the dictum of sagacious
lawyers: 'When your case is going well, say nothing'."
"The insect case is indeed going well. Along with the chemicals and the flamethrowers, there are nuclear bombs also. Insects are highly resistant to X-rays and other forms of ionizing radiation. Insects can frequent dumps of radioactive waste without harm. Nor are the plants on which insects feed harmed at all by radioactivity. This sets the scene for the future. From nuclear war only one creature will profit hugely, the insect. Insects may be close to inheriting the Earth without a struggle. It may well seem that man arrived in a brief moment, and then disappeared even more swiftly than he came."
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