Comparative cognition researcher Edward Wasserman, a University of Iowa professor who has studied pigeon cognition for more than 40 years, is highly skeptical of the idea that intelligent behavior can be equated with internal subjective experience, according to Nautilus. The article cites earlier findings suggesting capacities in other animals: a bonobo named Kanzi, now deceased, was shown to interact with imaginary grapes and juice; a review from last year suggested insects possess subjective experience, citing bumblebees who roll balls without reward and honeybees that opt out of difficult tasks; and other studies suggest some birds and flies have lasting fear memories or that some corvids show causal reasoning. Wasserman’s findings show pigeons are quite intelligent, and he is increasingly interested in what intelligent animal minds can tell us about the nature of intelligent machines. He was recently included on a list of 100 researchers working on provocative and difficult to answer research questions published by The New York Times, with the question attributed to him: “Will we ever understand consciousness in a way that could apply to nonliving entities?” The article also describes how B.F. Skinner, in the middle 1940s, got involved in a project ultimately supported for a while by the military to have pigeons guide missiles via screens, and how he and his students developed training by reward, which is how “shaping” came about.