The destructive power of human "intelligence"
Christine Webb:
To cut a long story short, there is no universally accepted definition of “intelligence,” or way to measure it. Perhaps most generally, “intelligence” can be defined as how fast and successful organisms are in solving problems to survive in their natural and social environments. If chimpanzees had transformed the world but in doing so jeopardized their own livelihood, not to mention that of countless other species, would we be praising their intellect? In response to the ecological destruction caused by the dominant culture and eonomy, I’ve often heard people say we’re just “too intelligent for our own good,” but this view of intelligence remains stuck in seeing only one template — the human one.
The Arrogant Ape: The Myth of Human Exceptionalism and Why it Matters, p. 123
