@futurebird
Yep, I've been thinking about this for a long time.
One issue that some of us face in these discussions is that we were inculcated very early on, via science fiction (& sometimes fantasy), with more-expansive concepts of 'intelligence.' It's not universal in the genre(s), but especially during the proto-New Wave / #NewWaveSF periods, you could readily find explorations of what it meant to be intelligent that didn't presume language.
Inner Space
In case you missed it, be sure to check out Kattullus' post on "A Space of Her Own by Mary E. Papke," an essay about Pamela Zoline and her 1967 science fiction story "The Heat Death of the Universe."
https://www.metafilter.com/198786/the-aliens-destroying-this-world-are-us
#literature #ScienceFiction #SpeculativeFiction #SF #ShortStory #feminism #FeministSF #Zoline #PamelaZoline #Papke #MaryEPapke #NewWave #NewWaveSF
FeralRobots
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