The challenge, I think, lies in jumping the gap between simple intelligence and tool use to the sorts of things that civilization is built on - language, social coordination on large spatiotemporal scales, and a little je ne sais quois. Stuff that's hard to replicate in small populations and artificial conditions.
Urban raccoons have gotten measurably better and solving puzzles in just the last few decades, I'm told.
Evolution can happen real fast sometimes.
The challenge, I think, lies in jumping the gap between simple intelligence and tool use to the sorts of things that civilization is built on - language, social coordination on large spatiotemporal scales, and a little je ne sais quois. Stuff that's hard to replicate in small populations and artificial conditions.
Liberal part of humanity still is not on that level, nor they even want to be.