Smarter Than the Average Bear?

About this episode

The episode explores the concept of intelligence, questioning traditional measures like IQ and considering intelligence in the animal and plant kingdoms, as well as AI.

Search Google for the 'most intelligent' people who ever lived and the names most commonly thrown up are Galileo, Da Vinci, Einstein, Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawkin. All men, all western, all united by their contributions to science. Why is our idea of intelligence so skewed? How did IQ come to be our standard measure for intelligence? Is there a deep intelligence in the more-than-human world of animals, plants, fungi and bacteria? What about AI? Or politicians? Big questions for one episode but with the help of an eminent guests, James Bridle, Emma Kilbey and QI's John Lloyd – none of whose IQs we could give two hoots about – let's see what we can uncover. With guests Emma Kilbey, Sir John Lloyd and James Bridle https://www.qi.com/ www.jamesbridle.com https://www.emmakilbey.com/

People in this episode

Host: David Bramwell

Guests: James Bridle, Emma Kilbey, Sir John Lloyd

Topics covered

• intelligence
• IQ
• human and non-human intelligence
• science
• cultural perceptions

Keywords

• intelligence
• IQ
• Galileo
• Einstein
• non-human intelligence
• AI
• cultural perceptions

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: QI

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