The mirror test--are we smart enough to test animal intelligence

[Catherine]

I think we have a problem with  testing. We always want to test and measure things. It is an obsession with humans. Who is first? What is your favourite colour/flavour etc.  We miss a lot by worrying about such things.

Testing children to understand how they do things would help them to learn. Some people learn better from what they see others do better with verbal instruction.  It is okay to test hearing and sight, but only if we plan to use the information to help people.
When we test so we can exclude and categorize people we do harm. Sometimes serious decisions were made about children based on one test.
A lot of children's potential was lost because they were labeled by testing. Those labels will follow a person their whole life.

Yes you could have still gone on to be a vet, but often there is a time in our lives when we move in certain directions. If we miss that window we don't go back. You had already moved on to other things.

When the testing has to do with animals it can have a nasty side. We test and label a species as unintelligent and then we feel it is okay to farm them in cruel and inhumane ways. We justify it because we have labeled them unintelligent.
There is a real dark side to our testing. Sometimes we use it to justify cruelty that we are already guilty of.
Lab workers are already using the animals. They can feel better about it if they can prove they are not smart anyhow.

Shouldn't we treat unintelligent animals an people with more kindness. What does it say about us that we don't?