Recently, I received an Aeon / Psyche email including an article that caught my immediate interest: Why are humans so good at cooperating? That question about cooperation had once been on my mind too, but I chose to ignore it.
Actually, its second article contains a glimpse of an answer to the question above: Why large language models are mysterious – even to their creators. Indeed, human language separates us from animal communication.
“A large language model (LLM) is a type of machine learning model designed for natural language processing tasks such as language generation.”
Wikipedia: Large language model
Recent studies revealed that “Birds have developed complex brains independently from mammals” (Phys, 2025). Those studies may explain a 2008 article: Why are there so few smart mammals (but so many smart birds)?
“Birds’ brains have perplexed scientists over the years because they lack a cerebral cortex – the area of the brain in mammals responsible for advanced cognitive skills. But now researchers have made an exciting discovery that may mean they’re way smarter than we ever thought.”
Source: Are Birds More Intelligent Than We Thought? (2023)
My focus on birds is also about their competition and cooperation as well as their constant) communication (eg, “singing”). Bird intelligence also explains this 2016 NYT article: Pigeons resist misguided leaders (eg, NIH-2016).
The level of bird intelligence might surprise you:
“From parrots that can communicate with words to crows that use tools, psychologists and other researchers have found that birds can be as smart as primates or even in some cases human children.”
Source: APA–2024, Some birds talk, but do they understand you? Also see Scientific American (2024): Crows Rival Human Toddlers in Counting Skills
In my view, the explanation on “why humans are so good at cooperating with each other” relates to my 2020 diagram on Needs, Wants & Beliefs:
- All living organisms are in the first collective layer: Needs.
- Only humans and some animals (eg, birds) are in the second collective layer: Wants (eg, use of tools).
- Only humans appear to be in third collective layer: Beliefs.
- Subsequent layers are individual and only for humans (eg, Awakening).
To be fair, some animals (eg, chimpanzees, crows, dolphins, elephants, magpies, orcas) show signs of proto-religious beliefs (eg, mourning).
Only humans show the 7 Belief systems (eg, 2016 version), being Love, Money, Politics, Religion, Philosophy, Science, and the Truth. Generally, those belief systems require human cooperation.
Blackbird (1968) by The Beatles
band, lyrics, video, Wiki-band, Wiki-song
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.
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