14 May 2022 | New Scientist | 43and philosophers have come up with a
radical idea. They want to create a periodic
table of intelligence akin to the one used to
categorise the chemical elements. If they
succeed, it could radically alter the way we
see other species – and ourselves.
It is a bold plan. When the Russian chemist
Dmitri Mendeleev invented the periodic table
in 1869, his contemporaries immediately
recognised it as a monumental feat. It has been
called “nature’s Rosetta Stone” and is still seen
as one of science’s foremost breakthroughs. By
ordering the chemical elements into columns
and rows, the table transformed the somewhat
mystical field of chemistry (think alchemy)
into a powerhouse of hard science. Researchers
need only note the position of an element
in the table to tell whether it might react
vigorously with water, for example, or is
likely to conduct electricity. The table has
even predicted elements that were
subsequently discovered.
Researchers working on a project called
Diverse Intelligences hope that a periodic
table of intelligence can categorise nature’s
varied cognitive abilities in a similar way.
But where even to begin? The chemical
version sorts elements by their atomic
number or atomic mass. For intelligence –
broadly defined as an organism’s ability to
flexibly respond to a changing environment –
researchers are still looking for a criterion
that is equally straightforward.
It certainly isn’t brain size, as was long
thought. Adult human brains weigh between
1.2 and 1.5 kilograms, contain about 86 billion
neurons and make up about 2 per cent of our
body weight. But a whale’s brain can weigh
9 kilograms, an African elephant has some
257 billion neurons and the brain of a shrew –
a small, mouse-like creature not renowned
for its smarts – comprises about 10 per cent of
its body mass. What’s more, honeybees seem
able to count up to 5 and grasp the abstract
concept of zero with a brain measuring less
than 2 cubic millimetres.
Behaviour might be a better way to
categorise cleverness. Take the courting male
cuttlefish that positions himself between a
female and his rival and displays female
colours on the side of his body facing his
competitor and male ones on the side that
the female can see. Or consider a rook. If
this bird is presented with a treat floating inI
F YOU have ever concluded that
intelligence is in short supply in the
modern world, perhaps you are looking
in the wrong place. Humanity may seem to be
suffering from collective stupidity, but there
are still plenty of smarts to be found elsewhere.
You will be familiar with the clever antics
of whales and dolphins, chimpanzees and
orangutans. But what about wasps? They can
recognise human faces. Or crabs? They use
stinging anemones to defend themselves
against predators. Then there are alligators
that place sticks on their snouts to catch egrets
looking for nesting material. And mosquitoes
can learn to avoid pesticides after a single taste.
Plants show intelligence too. A parasitic vine
called a dodder sniffs out its prey with
remarkable discernment, for example.
Blobby yellow things called slime moulds
can learn and teach each other. Even biofilms –
collectives of bacteria – possess short-term
memory and the ability to make decisions.
Such an astonishing array of aptitude
is rather unsettling. It also raises some
fundamental questions, including what
actually is intelligence, how did it evolve and
how do the abilities of various organisms
compare? These are hard to answer. Evaluating
intelligence in nature is tricky, particularly in
life forms that are very different from us. But
now a group of neuroscientists, AI researchers>Dolphins and
corvids are well
known for their
smarts, but many
animals possess
surprising abilities“ A periodic table
of intelligence
could categorise
nature’s varied
cognitive skills”ALEX
COOPER
PHOTOGRAPH
Y/SHUTT
ER
ST
OCK