The True Intelligence of Humanity

We usually define a life form's intelligence in terms of how much that life form resembles us. Does it think like we do? Does it share our behavioral patterns? Does it craft tools? The anthropocentrist bias of this astounds me. How arrogant to think that we are the standard of all things when we are so base and vile to one another.

"Man is an animal too," Dr. Doolittle once said. But we are unique in that we are the animal most capable of facilitating increased understanding, kindness, and peace between other kinds of animals. That's our gift. That's our intelligence. We are the elder siblings, the moderators of a community larger than us.

And that having been said, I think there are only a handful of intelligent people in the world.

Steve Irwin first and foremost among them.