The entire theory of evolution and genetics is based on each generation expanding upon what was present in the previous generation. To say that there is no predisposition toward increased intelligence in genetics or evolution simply does not make sense.
Sure it does. Evolution doesn't "expand upon what's present in previous generations". It's much simpler than that. Evolution merely (passively) selects for increased survival in the environment a species currently exists in. There is no predisposition toward
anything other than survival (well, more accurately, propagation of genetic materials).
You are referring to millions of species which are known on this earth alone. That is where the presumptuousness comes in. We simply do not know enough about any possibly alternate universe to assume that we, as earth bound humans, are the only "intelligent" species in existence. If it can happen here, to what we call human life, what makes you think it could not occur elsewhere?
The only observations about evolution and life we can make are based on what we can observe here on Earth. You can make up stories about what you think could happen elsewhere, but until you have an actual theory as to why you think something might happen that way, then that's "fiction" rather than science.
And you also mistook what I said - I didn't said it
couldn't happen elsewhere. The law of large numbers alone proves that if it happened once with us, it's definitely possible to happen elsewhere. But "possible" and "likely" are extremely different, and since we've been unable to observe convergent evolution leading towards higher intelligences (unlike, something such as, say, sight, where we've seen dozens of different paths that evolution took to evolve sets of eyes), it's more likely a form of anthropomorphization to assume that intelligence would have arisen where life did elsewhere.
If, instead of that, you're saying that the law of large numbers dictates that there's at least one other life-bearing planet that would have intelligence arise, I'd be more likely to concede, but not nearly as likely to concede that it's possible that they and we could ever cross paths, since the lifespan of an individual species is such a small fraction of the time the universe as a whole has existed, that the odds of overlapping are just as likely to cancel out the odds of other intelligent life arising in the first place. And on the assumption that we're using Drake's Equation... You can easily get any answer at all based on coefficients that are made up.
Whether you realize it or not, pooping everywhere that isn't a litter box is it's own form of communication.
Animals, particularly domesticated animals, often understand more than they are given credit for, and are, quite often more perceptive than their human counterparts.
Well I don't want to see/hear that kind of potty-talk around here :angry:
But on a serious note, I kinda doubt you'll be seeing any research indicating that my cat is capable of even doing something as simple as simple addition or subtraction.
