lol

http://boingboing.net/2008/02/29/ted-2008-crow-vendin.html

Actually, it's disturbing to see that we are no longer the smartest servants of our dolphin overlords. Our fall to less pleasant form of slavery is inevitable. I hope my new pigeon overseer will treat me fairly and won't peck me everytime I fail to meet my production quota.

Less pleasant, perhaps, but they ARE more pheasant.

Also:

"This doesn’t mean that pigeons are “smarter than humans” as some news stories have claimed..."

Fun fact:
When asked to do basic math like addition and subtraction and the basic times tables Chimps can complete the math on average 15% faster then students at MIT.

Does that make them smarter?
Until one of these animals can do derive and solve relativity problems (which granted most humans can't do themselves) I refuse to believe that any pigeon is smarter then me. Same goes to Dolphins, Chimps and Rats

"On the first day of testing, the pigeons switched on just a third of the trials."
Well on the first trial I bet humans switched at around the same amount.
But I bet on the second trial most humans would switch.

Also this test doesn't show that humans are more intelligent. It showed that we can do a better job at training animals to do our bidding.

"I refuse to believe that any pigeon is smarter then me. Same goes to Dolphins, Chimps and Rats "

Sounds to me like this thread has touched a nerve Fasces349. I think you secretly resent pigeons and chimps etc for being smarter than you; hence you dost protest too much.

Apart from being an unfunny Captain Obvious, you evidently missed this part:

"Hebranson and Schroder presented 13 students with a similar set-up to the pigeons. There were limited instructions and no framing storyline – just three lit keys and a goal to earn as many points as possible. They had to work out what was going on through trial and error and they had 200 goes at guessing the right key over the course of a month.

At first, they were equally likely to switch or stay. By the final trial, they were still only switching on two thirds of the trials. They had edged towards the right strategy but they were a long way from the ideal approach of the pigeons. And by the end of the study, they were showing no signs of further improvement."

That was @Fasces, of course. Eden was merely being exercising his evilness when he tried to ruin the fun and spyman made a thorough e-psychology diagnosis.

How is pretending to be stupid fun?

Well, I thought it was obvious that the average human is about as smart as a flea... Doesn't mean I am.

lol

Playing stupid forms a bulk of skills any comedy stands upon. Far behind are skills of playing drunk, playing extremist in anything and others. Although there is e.g. a nice synergy between playing stupid and playing extremist, that's true.