How would humans treat dogs that are more intelligent than humans and can speak?
Suppose that there is a species of dogs that are much more intelligent than humans and can speak. The humans know that the animal is smarter too. The only reason these animals can't rule over humans is because of their physical limitations (no aposable thumbs). They can learn faster, they are more creative, and they could build better technology if they had humans to actually implement it. They are easily able to communicate with humans because they can learn and speak languages.
How would humans treat these dogs? Would we be hostile to them because they could be a threat or would we work with them?
Note: the dogs have only shown signs of being peaceful, but humans are paranoid
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1 answer
While there would certainly variations, I think for the dominant treatment there would be only three possibilities:
- Enslavement. If we can keep control over the dogs despite their intelligence, then the dogs will effectively be enslaved. Note that this is true even if those dogs are loved: We love dogs as pets; we don't usually love straying dogs. An intelligent pet would effectively be a slave as well.
- Competition. If neither species can dominate the other, the end will be that both species treat each other as equals. Humans would appreciate the dogs' superior intelligence, and the dogs would appreciate the humans' better dexterity. Of course that does not mean that this would be true in every individual relationship; after all, human slaves existed through all of history. However in the whole picture, there would not be one species that enslaved the other. All in all, dogs and humans would compete against each other in the same way humans compete against each other.
- Dominance. If the intelligent dogs were sufficiently intelligent that they can control the humans, they most probably will do so. In that scenario, the world would be ruled by the intelligent dogs, with the humans fulfilling whatever role the dog society assigns to them. If the dogs are very intelligent, they will be able to do so in a way that the humans don't even notice that they are dominated by the dogs.
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