So Long and Thanks for All The Fish

Dolphins talk to each other in complete sentences.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/09/11/dolphins-recorded-having-a-conversation-for-first-time/

One of the key ‘Science Fiction’ themes in my Singularity’s Children series, is that animals are much smarter than we generally assume. 
Teach a parrot to talk and it has surprisingly clever things to say. 
It seems unfair that an animal has to first learn our language before sitting its IQ test.
I am convinced that animals will sound smarter in their own languages, just as my kids tell me I come across as a dimwit when I speak in German.

Cambridge Declaration of Consciousness

Key scientists, including Stephen Hawking, agree that consciousness is not reserved exclusively for humans.

(This was in 2012, so I am clearly very late to the party with this one but I wanted to blog it down on paper as it is such a key theme in Singularity’s Children)

http://youtu.be/W9QIOj3IYuk
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_consciousness#Cambridge_Declaration_on_Consciousness
http://fcmconference.org/img/CambridgeDeclarationOnConsciousness.pdf