Sentience ensures survival, intelligence destroys

It was encouraging to read Steve Gordon’s succinct letter supporting Eric Bahrt’s point that rights have nothing to do with intelligence.

If it’s painful to a person, it’s equally painful to other animals.

Human beings’ claim to superiority is based on their greater intelligence, but they are way down the scale when it comes to sentience.

Most other animal species are far more capable of perceiving through the senses than are humans. They are far more “aware” than we are.

Pigs can identify valuable truffles deep in the soil, dogs can find humans trapped in rubble, birds sense impending earthquakes, and only sonar can compete with the sentience of a shark. Humans can do none of these things naturally.

Human beings fail to use their intelligence to understand that, in the interests of survival and sustainability, sentience is a greater quality than intelligence. Sentience deserves respect because it is natural, a matter of common sense and awareness. These two qualities are diminishing in a human society that is increasingly reliant on technology amid a proliferation of personal gadgets.

History teaches that intelligence leads to self-destruction, while sentience ensures survival.

Humans need to accept that they are part of the animal kingdom, not separate from it. Devoid of all other species, this planet would die. Without human beings, it would thrive.

JC Wilcox