alt Hacker News> Ascribing a lot of power to intelligence (which doesn't quite correspond to what we see in the world)
Which animal would you say has god-like power over all other animals?
Replies
optimalsolver • today at 2:13 PM
Do you consider viruses to be animals?
forlorn_mammoth • today at 2:29 PM
fungus.
Oh, wait, that's not an animal. My bad.
I don't think any of them do. Some organisms/viruses or groups of organisms could destroy humans more easily than humans could destroy them.
There's no doubt humans possess some powers (though certainly not godlike) that other organisms don't, but the distinction seems to be binary. E.g. the intelligence of dolphins, apes, and some birds doesn't seem to offer them any special control over other organisms (and it didn't even before humans arrived). So even if there could be such a thing as superhuman intelligence, I don't think it's reasonable to assume it could achieve control over humans (now superhuman charisma may be another matter).