It was once believed that the basic distinction between humans and all other animals on the planet is our ability to think.

When people started thinking about it, however, they realized that other animals think, too, to varying degrees.

So they figured the real distinction was that we鈥檙e smarter than all the other animals.

But we鈥檙e only 鈥渟marter鈥� than all the others because we鈥檙e the ones measuring intelligence. It could be argued that other animals are smart enough not to bother. After all, if cats were doing the measuring, their yardstick would be based on cat intelligence鈥� and they鈥檇 think we were pretty stupid because we don鈥檛 even know how to catch a mouse with our teeth.

So maybe the distinction is in the direction our thoughts take us. Some people suggest that only humans have developed religions. But those people probably never enjoyed the unfettered adoration and mindless devotion of a dog.

What does set us apart from all other species is our need to believe in our own superior intelligence.

We all seem to have this driving need to believe that we鈥檙e smarter than all other animals.

And each other: most of our humour is based on laughing at stupidity 鈥� usually someone else鈥檚.

But some 鈥� satire, for instance 鈥� is about being able to laugh at yourself while you鈥檙e laughing at someone else.

Case in point: satire has no effect on stupid people who believe stupid things. They just don鈥檛 realize you鈥檙e making fun of them. Meanwhile, others just think you鈥檙e one of the stupid people being seriously stupid. So you just have to join in when everyone is laughing at you. And they won鈥檛 know that you鈥檙e actually laughing at them.

It sometimes makes me wonder if Donald Trump and his followers are secretly laughing all the time.

If all this has you thinking that maybe you鈥檙e smarter than I am, you鈥檙e probably wrong. No one has the intelligence to see beyond their own intellect, so there鈥檚 no real way to gauge the intelligence of anyone smarter than you are. And that may be what is creating the illusion of your own perceived intelligence.

If you think maybe I鈥檓 smarter than you are, you鈥檙e probably wrong, and I鈥檓 laughing at you.

On the other hand, if you鈥檙e laughing at me, then I鈥檓 laughing with you.

We鈥檙e all only human.