Intelligence: Mundane or a Miracle?

SETI Talks

Tags: SETI Talks, Outreach

Time: Wednesday, Oct 16, 2019 -

Location: SRI International, 333 Ravenswood Ave., Menlo Park, CA 94025

How do you define intelligence?  Intelligence is a fuzzy concept defined by scientists as “a level of cognitive complexity.” For centuries, humanity thought that we were the most advanced, and hence, a unique expression of intelligence on Earth. We believed a series of improbable events that cannot be repeated elsewhere triggered our human intelligence, making us the only intelligent species in the Universe.

Modern studies based on scientific data have shown that other types of intelligence exist in our biosphere. An intelligent organism can be a single cell that reacts to its environment. More complex brains allow species like chimpanzees or dolphins to possess sophisticated cognitive capacities and use tools, do math, and comprehend symbolic communication. Even bees can count and learn from others. So, if we are not alone in sharing the trait of intelligence, why are we not studying this wide range of intelligence in SETI and astrobiology?

We invited two scientists to discuss the concept of intelligence and whether or not intelligence is a natural property of biological organisms. Lori Marino is a neuroscientist and expert in animal behavior and intelligence. She believes that the biological origin and evolution of intelligence should be integral to astrobiology.  Laurance Doyle is a principal investigator with the SETI Institute who has developed an information theory for animal communications. Doyle will bring his mathematical thoughts on communication and intelligence and how we can measure the complexity of communication for a species and maybe, one day, an extraterrestrial message.

Molly Bentley, the co-host and producer of the radio program and podcast, Big Picture Science, will be the moderator.

Header image credit: nationalgeographic.co.uk

 

Lori Marino

Lori Marino is a neuroscientist and expert in animal behavior and intelligence, formerly on the faculty of Emory University.

Lori received her Ph.D. in biopsychology in 1995 and is internationally known for her work on the evolution of the brain and intelligence in dolphins and whales (as well as primates and farmed animals). She has published over 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers, book chapters, and magazine articles on marine mammal biology and cognition, comparative brain anatomy, self-awareness in nonhuman animals, human-nonhuman animal relationships, and the evolution of intelligence.

She is also an expert on marine mammal captivity issues such as dolphin-assisted therapy and the educational claims of the zoo and aquarium industry.

In 2001, she co-authored a ground-breaking study offering the first conclusive evidence for mirror self-recognition in bottlenose dolphins, after which she decided against further research with captive animals.

Lori is also the Founder and Executive Director of The Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy, which focuses on bridging the gap between academic research and on-the-ground animal advocacy efforts, as well as the President of the Whale Sanctuary Project

She has appeared in several films and television programs, including the 2013 documentary Blackfish about killer whale captivity, Unlocking the Cage, the 2016 documentary on the Nonhuman Rights Project, and Long Gone Wild, the 2019 documentary that picks up where Blackfish left off and the work of the Whale Sanctuary Project begins.

Laurance Doyle

Laurance Doyle, Ph.D., is a principal investigator with the SETI Institute where his main projects have been the photometric detection of information theory to animal communications and extrasolar planets; the application of information theory to animal communications; the ecology of circumstellar habitable zones; and the application of quantum physics to solve certain astronomical problems. He has taught quantum physics, thermodynamics, introductory astronomy, history of science, and Native American history at Principia College in Illinois. He has lectured for the Christian Science Board of Lectureship and is a contributing editor for the Christian Science Sentinel and the Christian Science Journal.

Dr. Doyle is a faculty member at Principia College and the founding Director of Principia College’s Institute for the Metaphysics of Physics, founded in 2014.

Registration opens Oct 2, 2019.