Does it depend on the host? Is it dumb until it mimics a host and gets it's knowledge/intelligence level? I've also noticed that once they get discovered they outright panic and resort to a mindless animal. I'm wondering if they can't control themselves when in that form?
shareI dunno, the dog seemed pretty smart at the beginning of the movie...
The dog seemed like one of the smarter ones. Some of the human ones actually seemed less intelligent. I wonder if it's because all the ones that duplicated part of the research team were "newer" and younger; and thus less intelligent.
shareI don't remember one instance in which a Thing "panicked" unnecessarily. The dog-Thing, Bennings-Thing, Palmer-Thing, and Blair-Thing were either transitioning to an imitation or outed (Palmer, Blair). Its reaction was purely a matter of survival. The Norris-Thing, I'd argue, was either suffering genuine health issues inherited from the original Norris or else saw an opportunity to take out the remaining humans with a surprise attack (Doc certainly wasn't expecting it). It might also be that the Norris-Thing thought that it would be discovered through the emergency medical procedures.
shareThe dog was transitioning and attempting to absorb the other dog. That's different.
but almost every other instance, the SECOND it's identified, it just stands there, screams, and starts freaking out.
"but almost every other instance, the SECOND it's identified, it just stands there, screams, and starts freaking out."
That's true to some extent (I object to the exaggeration), but in that aspect it's very human. Think of Windows freaking out. He resorted to trying to get a shotgun to threaten the rest of the outpost into submission, which was a dumb idea, but a mental calculation nonetheless that wasn't purely a lower-intelligence animal motor reflex. When outed and surrounded (Bennings, Norris, Palmer), The Thing didn't have the shotgun option and went into freak-out mode like a cornered animal would. It was its version of intimidating predators by growling, standing on hind legs, etc. I don't think it indicated a lack of intelligence. Human beings in that sort of impossible situation would either meekly submit or shout obscenities. You could argue that the Norris-Thing showed some ingenuity by distracting the gawkers of Outpost 31 with the spiderhead while Norris's former head snapped off and crawled away.
Going by the lore, the larger a Thing is then the more intelligent it is. It’s able to use duplicated memories/knowledge/anatomy to build objects, such as how Blair-Thing was building a spaceship.
However, when it breaks off into smaller things (like Norris-Thing’s head) it is not as intelligent and more like a mindless animal. Each separate Thing is also its own entity, so there is no shared hive-mind.
Each time the Thing revealed itself it was on the verge of being discovered. However, it is able to assimilate people by silently attacking them as well, such as how Blair-Thing fused its hand with Garry’s face to muffle his screams.
Where did you read that? The lore, I mean. Because the dog always seemed like one of the smarter ones. I assumed because it was older and more experienced than others.
shareIt was from the novelization by Alan Dean Foster:
When attacked, it looks like even a fragment of one of these things will try to survive as best it's able. Even a sample of its blood. Of course, there's no higher nervous system, no brain to suppress a natural instinct like that if it's in the best interests of the larger whole to do so. The cells have to act instinctively instead of intelligently. Protect themselves from freezing, say. Or from incineration. The kind that might be caused by a hot needle, for instance"