What would happen if animals became sentient or intelligent?

[Saucycarpdog]

The new movie, rise of the planet of the apes, yes does look ridiculous. But it makes me wonder if animals ever would become sentient or intelligent.

What do you think would happen if animals did become sentient or intelligent? Would it be bad, or good? Would humans cause it, or simply nature?

 

[Richardplex]

If it were nature, no problem. Self-awareness doesn't do anything without the ability to utilise it, without opposable thumbs they aren't going to do more than cause ethical issues. If done For Science, well then... humans outnumber, out-experience, out-gear, and have far superior technology. They ain't going to have a chance. I'm more worried about AI... controlling our technology will screw us over. Animals? Harmless... relatively speaking.

 

[JochemDude]

All our stuff is designed to be used with thumbs, they don't have those so we're in the clear.

 

[Je Suis Ubermonkey]

Animals already are sentient, and dolphins, apes and some others have quite a bit of intelligence.

If you mean sapience, I expect there'd be a war. There's always a war.

 

[Khada]

We might finally stop eating them... though many are sentient now and we still nom on them.

 

[Moontouched-Moogle]

I presume you mean more sentient and intelligent? Some animals are supposedly smarter than humans. I think dolphins were one of them?

Anyway, it wouldn't become too much of an issue unless the animals could act on that intelligence, and intended to inflict harm to us. Crickets? No major threat. Pigeons? Maybe a minor annoyance, possible claw wounds. Apes, monkeys, etc? Big problem. Opposable thumbs mean they can use tools and open doors, and gorillas would be able to crush us using sheer strength.

 

[Esotera]

Intelligence is defined as the ability to adapt to a change in environment with resilience, most animals show at least some form of basic intelligence. It's a hard concept to pin down. And I would say that some animals are probably sentient, just we haven't proven it conclusively yet.

Nothing will change though. Just as nobody cared when Craig Venter created "synthetic" life, no human will care when we encounter a sentient species on earth.

 

[Raven_Operative]

I don't know who would cause it, but here's my theory:

Animals gain sentience
Animals start to attack humanity due to habitat loss/farming/pollution
*Que machine gun sound effect*

OR

Animals gain sentience
PETA goes crazy with their protests
Eventually riots start
*Que machine gun sound effect*


Both of these outcomes would be bad, (unless the second one lead to the destruction of PETA)
so lets hope this never happens.

 

[siahsargus]

Animals already are sentient, and dolphins, apes and some others have quite a bit of intelligence.

If you mean sapience, I expect there'd be a war. There's always a war.

Clearly, Rise OF THE Planet OF THE Apes would happen. But in all seriousness, if war did not eventually break out, there would still be a long, hard road of speciesism, hate crimes, and questions of inter-species relationships.

 

[Deadpan Snarker]

They'll still have a hard time with us if they plan to coup d'etat, we have a bit of a headstart in the technology department.

All our stuff is designed to be used with thumbs, they don't have those so we're in the clear.

Also this. I guess we planned ahead.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

We might finally stop eating them... though many are sentient now and we still nom on them.

Really? I don't remember any animals except monkeys and dolphins being sentient.

 

[Sneezeguard]

Then consensual Bestiality would exist and perverts of the world would rejoice....

You know it would happen...
and that's why talking animals are far more disturbing that Disney would lead you believe and that's why planet of the apes should never happen, that and the whole enslavement of mankind.

 

[Sordak]

it would be problematic with Apes, they can wield guns!

but imagine it would be Pidgeons, or Birds

what would they do? (yess i know "The Birds" BUT WE HAVE GUNS)

 

[holy_secret]

We might finally stop eating them... though many are sentient now and we still nom on them.

Really? I don't remember any animals except monkeys and dolphins being sentient.

How about elephants and Whales? I thought they were sentient...

 

[Stilkon]

We might finally stop eating them... though many are sentient now and we still nom on them.

I think the rule of thumb is if it can talk, you don't eat the damn thing.

Still, though, some animals are quite intelligent already. Even crows: I remember reading an article in TIME magazine about a study where crows were actually capable of making basic tools, like hooks. They also dropped pebbles into a body of water until its level was high enough for them to drink from, meaning that they have a basic understanding of water displacement and the constant of volumes.

 

[triggrhappy94]

Arent they already
Out of everything possible, that was the first thing that came to mind

 

[Jordi]

The first thing I thought when reading the topic title was "Pokémon"!

I presume you mean more sentient and intelligent? Some animals are supposedly smarter than humans. I think dolphins were one of them?

I don't really think anyone thinks any animal is smarter than humans. I have recently seen news articles that dolphins and elephants may be as smart as (some) (other) primates though. Anyway, I don't think there is a widely accepted theory for higher levels sentience or intelligence to really compare the different species. But even on flawed measurements like encephalization quotient [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalization_quotient] humans vastly outmatch any other species. Which makes sense, because I really couldn't think of any metric that would allow dolphins to outsmart us. There is no indication that their communication is anywhere near as complex as ours, or that they have extensive planning, reasoning or tool use/crafting capabilities.

Anyway, if animals suddenly achieve human-level intelligence, it depends on the animal what would happen. Physical capabilities and numbers are important factors to decide if they would be a threat to us. From the trailer I saw of The Rise of Planet of the Apes, it seems that it will be gorillas (or at least large apes). Since they are physically vastly superior to people, a group of them will pose a large initial threat, but since their numbers aren't that big, we could easily deal with them (with a couple of casualties). Maybe if the apes would be willing to negotiate we would allow them to live, but I think they'll be judged to dangerous to set free. The same would happen with most other larger animals (although some would be too weak to even try to fight us).

Very small animals will initially pose less of a threat, because they can't really harm us individually. However, because they generally have larger numbers, they might also be harder to exterminate should the need arise, and may be more capable at getting away from us. However, I think our head-start with high-level intelligence will be hard to overcome and the best any species can do is to stay out of our way.

 

[Samurai Silhouette]

It'd probably be something like a communicative pet like Pokemon or how the Covenant in the Halo series works together, complete with the social hierarchy. I believe we'll somehow invoke a new sentient race on earth through experiments. Starting with monkeys, then maybe dogs. But I believe it'd be fascinating to talk to dolphins.

 

[FalloutJack]

The new movie, rise of the planet of the apes, yes does look ridiculous. But it makes me wonder if animals ever would become sentient or intelligent.

What do you think would happen if animals did become sentient or intelligent? Would it be bad, or good? Would humans cause it, or simply nature?

It's Doctor Dolittle, all over the world. But if you mean with evolution and such, I would say you'd be combining elements of Planet of the Apes (only without the stupid), Thundercats, the Forgotten Realms, and The Island of Dr. Moreau.