El mundo de Yarek

Elia Barceló

2 ideas

1. Declaring non-intelligence is a political act

   An official scientific finding that a species is not intelligent is more than a description. It sets how that species may be treated, and so it opens or closes the door to use, settlement, or disregard. The scientist making it is therefore exercising power over the beings being classified, whether or not he sees himself as a neutral observer.

2. Intelligence tests measure the tester's categories

   Any judgement that another being lacks intelligence depends on the signs the observer already knows how to recognize, such as tools, language, or behaviour that looks like our own. A mind organized differently can fail every test simply because the tests were built from the observer's own kind of mind. A negative result may show the limits of the observer rather than the absence of a mind.

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