top tier (self-aware): rick and wheatley are the only cores in the series who have unique names that they've given themselves. i know wheatley is meant to be stupid, but i think there is this intelligence that comes with being able to name yourself something that goes beyond a title that states your purpose (intelligence dampening sphere, in wheatley's case.) both rick and wheatley also refer to chell directly and assess the situation that they are in. what they say make sense within the context of whatever situation they're in, for the most part. wheatley often winds up being incorrect, but his train of thinking at least seems pretty logical, even though it doesn't work out for him. a couple of examples of this: that one part during the escape sequence where he says he's absolutely sure he's going the right way, then turns into a dead end. we, the player, have no reason to think that that WASN'T the way. it's not like he turned directly into a wall or anything. second example is when he hypothesizes that bringing you closer to him will increase the effects of the testing euphoria. glados shoots this idea down, but it at least kinda makes sense. anyway for all of this, i do believe that rick and wheatley are the most intelligent of the cores. tldr they have their own identity, which shows self-awareness, and you could actually keep up a coherent conversation with them.
second-highest tier (inetlligent): the only things keeping the curiosity core from being in the highest tier is that i don't think she could keep up a conversation very well, plus she doesn't have the self-identity that rick and wheatley have. still, she acknowledges you, and even recognizes you as "the lady from the test." she's also very aware of her surroundings, even if she does seem a Bit confused by everything. her stream of questions make sense, kind of, save for the vague "that"s that she refers to. she's also very adorable and she is my favorite core and i love her
middle tier (lucid): the fact core and the intelligence core do not seem to have any perception of you or the situation that they're in, as they just talk endlessly. however, what they do say can at least be followed, even if their logic is faulty or if what they say is absurd. you can still follow along with what they're saying, though.
second-lowest tier (verbal): the space core is mostly unaware of what's going on, except for when he's in space. otherwise, he's mostly just babbling about space in broken sentences.
lowest tier (unintelligent): JUST PUTTING IT OUT THERE. i do NOT think that not speaking = unintelligent. however i do think that with the cores, it's really hard to gauge what's going on in their head if they aren't giving any verbal indicators. the anger core, at the very least, shows some amount of situational awareness, as it goes from growling to whining once its near the incinerator. i can't say much else about it because that is it. It just. Growls and sometimes whines. the morality core shows no sign of. Anything. to be honest. it does not talk or make any noise at all, so it's impossible to tell if it has anything going on inside its head. it gives no reaction to being thrown into the incinerator, either.
PLEASE NOTE that this is completely subjective. this is just my opinion and is not based off of whatever clinical definitions of intelligence might be out there. this is just my opinion. ok bye
