Once intelligent beings achieve technology and the capacity for self-destruction of their species, the selective advantage of intelligence becomes more uncertain.

Carl Sagan
About This Quote

Once intelligent beings achieve technology and the capacity for self-destruction of their species, the selective advantage of intelligence becomes more uncertain. This quote is an argument in favor of the idea that intelligent animals are not necessarily superior to unintelligent animals. This is because technology allows intelligent animals to destroy themselves. If only unintelligent animals were subject to technology to kill them, then they would have no selective advantage. This means that the advantage gained by the original developers, who were probably also intelligent, would be lost to humanity.

Source: Dragons Of Eden: Speculations On The Evolution Of Human Intelligence

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