Several years ago, I discovered a paper wasp nest hanging from one branch of a rhododendron plant in our front yard. The nest was about four feet up from the ground. By the time I discovered it, the nest had achieved an outer diameter of about eight inches with many, many wasps going in and out, flying off to unknown places and coming back again.
This did not look safe so with great care, I undertook the nest's removal.
I approached the nest with a spray can of insecticide, I gave the nest a short burst of spray and immediately beat a hasty retreat away. The following day, I did the same thing and then the following day again, the same thing.
Another two days after that, I looked at the nest and there was no sign of activity so I set up a garbage can with a plastic liner underneath the nest and snipped off the branch to which the nest was attached. The nest fell into the bag, I tied the bag closed and on the next collection day, it was taken away.
A couple of more days later, I saw several wasps hovering where the nest had been. One wasp was holding a steady position where the nest had been and then that wasp rose about one foot, hovered there for a while and then it went back down and hovered there. It was actually looking for the nest that I had removed.
Looking at that wasp, it was evident that thought processes and reasoning were taking place.
We readily accept that in their various ways, dogs and cats and mice and snakes and cattle and sheep and chickens and birds and fish and so on have their own thoughts at their own respective levels. However, I submit that trait is not limited to critters with spinal columns.
Insects, arachnids and take your best guess as to what else, have their individual thinking capabilities as well.
While Project SETI is looking for intelligent life "out there", I think we tend to overlook the presence of a lot of intelligent life right here. Thus, if the SETI folks were to really come across something alien and intelligent, would we even recognize it?
