Does intelligence equate to a desire to kill? Why?

Question

Dolphins and the octopus rank near the top of the list when it comes to intelligence. Octopii have demonstrated complex puzzle-solving tasks and are notorious for their ability to escape captivity. Dolphins are highly social, have excellent memories, limited ability to understand the language of another species, and have demonstrated altruistic acts.
Other animals in the wild have been known to kill for food, dominance, defense, and territorialism. Octopii have recently been witnessed drowning sharks seemingly for no reason. Dolphins have been witnessed killing porpoises for fun and then playing with the corpse. Humans, of course, also possess intelligence and the ability to kill for sport. If you accept the premise that high intelligence also leaves you with a species capable of killing for fun, what theories might you have that explain the correlation between the two?
This idea fascinates me and I'm interested in any serious response.

paul · Accepted Answer

I think you missed a step.  High intelligence equates to success at obtaining your food.  Animals that have much more time on their hands because they are successful hunter find the time to do things for other reasons.  Even children when they are not hungry play with their food.  (or they play with it when they don't like it which means there is not shortage of other food)

sebscola · Answer

I think with higher intelligence there comes a greater need to entertain the more complex mind.  Then again, these seemingly sport killings may have an as of yet undiscovered purpose.

Anonymous · Answer

yeah come to think of it you may be right, although i haven't studied to that high a lvl to know about the theories, but i agree with you. I'm a very smart student and i'm in one of my country's top schools, and i always want to kill people, although i never really tried/did. OR maybe i'm just crazy.

Does intelligence equate to a desire to kill? Why?

3 Answers