How do humans define "intelligence" ?

This is a subject one could spend at least hours and likely months describing, but I will take a few minutes, must start the weekly cleanup in fifteen, tops. 


They way this has been handled lately and with the ongoing discussion about what to do in case we meet with aliens (and the usual anthropomorphic musings about how they might be seeing us, all drawing from past experiences in the long wars of humans against humans), leads me to define human intelligence unrelated to the rest of terran evolution, which is in any case being regarded by the noble human as "non-intelligent, mere animals", and come to the following conclusion.

Humans define an intelligent life form as one that dominates a planet and enslaves all other life n that planet, which calls for technology of a degree, and which is able to leave that planet and look out for others, even other solar systems  More technology, therefore intelligence, would be needed for this.
As humanity has been dwelling on Earth for literally MILLIONS of years without being space-going, the basic ability to evolve the technology would of course suffice... you can see how the definition of human intelligence is once more starting to come apart at the seams, probably for the reason that there isn't anything definable ? Wait - it gets better.

Humans have always defined their intelligence as a marvellous state of elation way above "all animals", and part of that definition was the desperate and narcissistic wish to be better than thou, an evolutionary striving. So in fact, the real definition for human intelligence is that the human primate is quite a bit more clever than the next lower primate, and can kill and/or enslave him with complete impunity.  And that's basically the gist of it.

But we found another thing of interest, taking for granted that human intelligence has evolved over those millions of years, and not just the technology, then what would he do if he met with another species ? Well, it's entirely CLEAR what would happen.
Humans have met with other species before, in fact frequently and through all of history - just not in space, but on Earth, which was as unfathomable for them then as space is for them now.

When I write this, practically NONE of these species remain.
Humans have exterminated them all. It's them or us, always.
Maybe this enlightenment will lead us on in our further quest for the definition of human intelligence,
I'd rather spend the remaining five minutes to prepare for the weekly cleanup.

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