Animals - Alexandra Brown

Previously I mentioned that I just got a dog. He's super sweet, but everyone keeps treating him like he's a dumb animal. That really bugs me. As humans, we may have a higher intelligence, but just because we can't understand animal speech or even understand why they do some of the things they do, that doesn't mean that they're dumb. Brain size may dictate just how complex their thinking is, but THAT doesn't indicate intelligence. I treat animals as if they were humans in a different shape. When they're in pain, I feel their pain as if it were happening to me, and I sympathize because I know that, although they can't tell us just how they feel, they probably feel the way we would. Dogs are intelligent enough to get jealous, and to learn their names, and to follow commands. Granted, dogs have much bigger brains that a lot of animals. But how many humans do you know that can follow commands? I know, that seems like a really stupid question...and I might be disproving my point here, but i'm going to charge ahead. Humans only follow commands when they can see what's in it for them. When we do our homework, we see that it will give us a good grade, which will raise our GPA, which will get us into a good school, which will give us a good education, which will allow us to get a good job. And THAT is why we do our homework. Most people would say that's because we're more intelligent and we can SEE what's in it for us. But I think that's false. We may be able to have that complex thought pattern, true. But that doesn't necessarily define intelligence. I guess my question here is, what would you say defines intelligence? So many people have so many answers, but none of them seem satisfactory. The closest I can get is having common sense, and being able to apply what knowledge you own using that common sense. I'm entirely happy with that, but it's definitely better than "being smart".