Lies

I'm not going to talk about the ethical conundrum that comes from lying, yes it's problematic. That's obvious. What I'm more interested in is the interesting notion that the capacity to lie shows a higher intelligence level.
Fear, guilt, and loneliness are all associated with lying. But what is lying really? It's pretty damn clever. To be able to deceive someone, whether successfully or not, proves a lot about someones intellectual capacity. This is not to argue that lying is good, right, or fair by any means. I don't want to open that can of worms because some jerk is just going to come along and say "well what if you had to lie to save your friend? What's moral then?". Honestly if I was confronted with such a situation I would probably lie, knowing its immoral, and accept. People get so caught up in the is it moral/ethical question and forget the big picture: what would you actually do, and does it really matter that it's immoral? But I digress...
To lie one must not only have a realization of those around them, but also a realization of the self. Beyond that to feel guilt one must have some concept of other being's feelings, rules/norms, and right and wrong. Without these three concepts guilt would be empty and nonexistent. However guilt is more often the product of lying, rather than the root of the lie, so it therefore may be a test for an even higher level of comprehension, learning, and intelligence.
However, I must recognize the fact that many lies are simply rooted in self preservation and betterment. Even here intelligence must be present because to attempt to manipulate and deceive one must have some understanding of their surroundings and their current state. A child may lie to their babysitter to get an extra cookie. A hopeful job-seeker may "fluff" a resume to get the job.
To cover all of my bases I must also entertain the idea of those who lie just for the hell of it, whether the root is in some psychological condition or they're just an asshole, lying is still a true test of some kind of higher thought.

The concept of lying seems so simple, but in actuality it requires not only the understanding that there are other beings around us, but also that those beings can be deceived for our own gain.

This finding brings me to an important point: humans lie, but we aren't the only beings capable of such higher thinking. Koko the gorilla constantly blows my mind. A friend of mine did a class presentation on her, and it really broke down some barriers I put up as a human, because it's kind of alarming. Gorillas are not only huge and strong, but they're also incredibly intelligent. For those of you reading who aren't familiar with Koko's story, she is a gorilla that was taught sign language, can comprehend the language, and communicate pretty freely. This opens so many doors philosophically, ethically, and scientifically. Not only can Koko communicate with us, but she also lies. That's right, a gorilla, a savage beast in most people's eyes, tried to deceive us. That should knock us down a few pegs, we aren't so high and mighty anymore, because a mere animal has the ability to try and manipulate us after mastering our language.
Koko broke a steel sink, and when confronted by her handlers she signed "cat did it", referring to her pet kitten. Not only did Koko try and take advantage of her human handlers but she also recognized the fact that she did wrong by breaking the sink, for if she hadn't come to this realization why would she have blamed the obviously innocent kitten. Sure this lie may seem childish, but it is shocking to think of an animal having the intelligence of a 5 or 6 year old human blaming the crayon marks on the wall on their dog (That was me, just ask my mom, she loves telling that story).
What does this mean? Koko clearly has the same if not greater mental capacity of a human child, so doesn't she deserve the same respect we give a child? The same protection? The same opportunities? I'm not proposing we enroll gorillas into elementary school (although that would be SO COOL), I'm merely suggesting everything we assume about animals may just be because of a communication gap.

I move now to an animal more domesticated; the dog. Can a dog lie? This would be hard to determine because communication with a dog is difficult if not impossible right now. What about guilt; Can a dog feel guilt? I previously stated that guilt may show intelligence because it shows an understanding of other being's feelings as well as right and wrong, but can a dog feel guilt?
I have a dog. I have come home to shredded toilet paper on the floor, maybe a turd or two on the carpet, and as soon as I see Sookie (my dog) her tail goes between her legs, her head drops to the floor, and she retreats. It seems like she feels guilty because she knows she did something she wasn't supposed to. HERE'S THE PROBLEM HOWEVER: how can we determine the difference between guilt and fear without a reliable form of communication? Sookie knows that if she poops inside she'll get yelled at and tossed outside. She doesn't enjoy this. So maybe her sudden retreat is merely a sign of fear because she has been conditioned to learn that if she goes inside she gets in trouble. This does not show guilt (although it does show an adaptive thought process).

Question what you know about animals. Question your assumption that we are superior, that we deserve any respect from them. I get it; we have thumbs, we have computers, cell phones, tv, school, and so on, but when stripped down to our basic thoughts we may not be that different. It would be interesting to see how gorillas truly communicate with each other, because clearly they are capable of not only language, but understanding other beings well enough to try and manipulate them, and really when you look at it we're just a bunch of gorillas wearing clothes lying to each other through cell phones, the news, and reality tv. I hate reality tv.