[khedoros1]

> First off, everyone would agree that humans, apes, dogs, squirrels, spiders - all "think" in essentially different ways.

I wouldn't, and a lot of the other comments on this story imply that they wouldn't, either. As an example, when I think, it's not usually in the form of words until I try to map my thoughts and feelings into a more concrete form. I'm particularly conscious of this because I frequently wrack my mind looking for the word that closest matches the thought that I'm trying to convey. The thought itself starts in a wordless form.

I can force my thoughts into an "audible" internal monologue, and I do when I'm reading, writing, or conversing, but it's a relatively forced way of thinking for me.

[Koshkin]

An insect's "thinking" consists mostly of following instincts and some acquired reflexes. There's (much, much) more to the human thinking than that, and there are a few levels of consciousness in between.

[khedoros1]

If you'd stuck to that in the original post, I would've upvoted and moved down the thread. I was replying to the stronger claims that things like other advanced mammals "all think in essentially different ways", and your characterization of the nature of human thought.