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The evolution of stupidity (and octopus intelligence)
What we can learn about intelligence, stupidity, and ourselves—from some of the smartest, strangest, alien-like creatures on the planet.
It’s less common for people to talk about stupidity, though, arguably, it’s more common.” So observes David Krakauer, evolutionary biologist, genius polymath, and president of the world hub of complex systems research, the Santa Fe Institute. They use tools: one has been filmed carrying coconut shells, an exercise that shows a trait of advanced cognition called mental time travel, in which they plan for an unforeseeable future moment when sharks may arrive, hiding their entire body in a bit of brown, hairy, impenetrable armor. Our unique ability to reason with generalized concepts, to imagine worlds that don’t exist, to conjure up distorted mental models of how we think reality functions—from outlandish conspiracy theories, to religious and political zealotry—can blind us to obvious truths.
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