> More generally, it can be described as the ability to perceive or infer information, and to retain it as knowledge to be applied towards adaptive behaviors within an environment or context.
I think this lines up with what I consider intelligence. The "we" is the human race and most of us acknowledge we are the most intelligent life on Earth using the measure we invented (retaining, passing on, and using knowledge). I won't be convinced otherwise unless some other being out there proves to us that they can do it better.
I’ll give up and admit defeat, but I still think it’s stupid to dismiss animal intelligence. Perhaps some day we’ll discover how to communicate with octopi and we could then work with them, perhaps. Call me crazy, but imagine we could work with them to go to places humans couldn’t because of needs we have that octopi don’t? Maybe it’s easier to send them to the nearest star, or something, I don’t know.
I don't think it's crazy to think what you're suggesting and I'm open to the possibility of pretty much anything being possible in the future. Of course we'd have to work out if we are actually communicating with them, whether they actually understand what we're proposing to them, and if we can unambiguously confirm their consent to be sent to another star in an effort to save all of Earth's species.
Before all that happens I think it'd be better to work out an arrangement where they help us crack some of the mysteries in the ocean first.
