JoshuaZ comments on The Limits of Curiosity - Less Wrong

26 Post author: Elizabeth 10 March 2011 03:20PM

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Comment author: komponisto 12 March 2011 10:41:53PM 2 points [-]

Can you show some research on that claim?...Having observed a puppy gleefully searching new stuff found in his territory...I'm uncertain that we could claim they were non-curious.

Number of species according to Wikipedia: at least 7 million, of which:

  • at least 5 million (71%) are bacteria
  • 1,203,375 (17%) are invertebrate animals
  • 297,326 (4%) are plants
  • 59,811 (0.8%) are vertebrate animals, of which 5,416 (0.07%) are mammals (the category that includes humans, chimpanzees, dogs, and every other species to which the emotion of "curiosity" might conceivably be attributed).

"Species" != "things like cute puppies".

Comment author: JoshuaZ 12 March 2011 11:12:43PM 4 points [-]

While this is true (and I've upvoted your remark) I'd be curious if there are many examples of smart species that don't exhibit curiosity. As far as I can tell, pretty close to all species which are fairly intelligent and raise their young exhibit curiosity. Canines, felines, most primates, corvids and many other species of birds, and elephants all seem to do this.

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