Did you know that chimpanzees might be more rational than humans when making decisions?
I had the pleasure of meeting Dr Hanna Schleihauf, who led groundbreaking research revealing that chimpanzees can evaluate the quality of evidence when deciding, just like humans.
In a world where artificial intelligence (AI) is often led by tech enthusiasts who claim superiority over human intellect, it is crucial to explore what true intelligence actually means. Zoology is a field that can help us, humans, redefine our confused understanding of intelligence.
With this in mind, Hannah delved into her groundbreaking studies on chimpanzees and what they revealed about rational thinking.
Hannah discussed her initial interest in animal behaviour, which sparked during high school, which eventually led her to later focus her master’s thesis on a phenomenon known as “overimitation”— the tendency of humans, especially children, to imitate unnecessary actions.
Interestingly, her observations with the current research showed that chimpanzees do not engage in overimitation, choosing instead to perform only the necessary actions to achieve a goal.
This comparative study serves as an early example of how different species approach intelligence and learning tasks.
Join the conversation now, as we delve into human behaviours, AI, political ideologies and my own journey with narcissism as an ex-elite athlete! This discussion was truly outstanding! I suppose, as a scientist, I’m somewhat biased.
