So here’s the thing. Creatures in nature usually suspend the complete specification of identity. This means that they use a different mode of intelligence than ours.

For this reason, when seeing their own reflection in a mirror, they do not ‘recognize’ it, because it is not anything… specific. They will determine what it ‘is’ by relating with it, or avoiding it, or …

So although they do not look intelligent to us, we should realize that the way humans relate with identity, while extremely effective in some mechanical contexts, is actually -actively stupid- when compared with the other method.

Try it. Incompletely specify identity. You’ll get a -very- different experience of what intelligence is, may be, can do, or may become.