How often do you think about...

[Divinus Arma]

...life from the perspective of an animal? Any animal?

I look at my dog and he just seems bored unless I take him out. My cat, on the other hand, is bored with dignity. I used to think fish were really stupid but then I noticed that even they learn too. Whenever I open my fish tank to feed them, they come swimming up, expecting food. Pretty neat.

I wonder what it must be like to be in the mind of an animal, essentially pre-programmed. I think about that every now and then. Not often, but rarely.

Do you imagine all animals as at least viewing the world from a semi-similar perspective as us, though interpreting it differently?

[Bar Kochba]

once every 25 min

[naut]

Hmmm, deep question.

Never really though what it would be like etc.

[Byzantine Prince]

We are animals. Arguably the only animal.

But I don't think about what other animals think about. Their brain functions are unique to them. My guess is that they are just a really really dumb version of us.

[macsen rufus]

Eclectic ...... Strange question ...... you've lost your MTW CD, haven't you?

[R'as al Ghul]

In my opinion, animals are as intelligent as their natural surrounding demands.
Every animal needs a different kind of intelligence, birds and fish share rather
little due to their surroundings.
Most animals are able to learn and adapt pretty good.
There's so much that we don't know about animals or simply don't understand that we should question our own intelligence.
Example: Communication.

Ever heard of the Ravens that learned a) it's easy to open muscels or open nuts when you drop them on the street and wait for cars to run them over, b) when picking them up, it's safer to wait for the pedestrian light to turn green.
Amazing, isn't it? There's a video of it online. Holler if I shall search it.

[Keba]

How often do you think ...

I try not to.

[English assassin]

Google : Nagel, Thomas. 1974. "What is it Like to be a Bat?" Philosophical Review 83: 435-50, which should get you into papers on the topic

And enjoy.

[R'as al Ghul]

Amazing, isn't it? There's a video of it online. Holler if I shall search it.

I was wrong, I've seen it in David Attenboroughs documentary.
Here's a short description:

In another chapter Sir David shows birds adapting to human environments. A crow learns that a nut dropped from a height may break open on pavement. A walnut, dropped repeatedly, remains intact. Ah, the crow drops the stubborn nut into traffic! There, after a time, is the meat, accessible: amid the speeding vehicles. Next Sir David shows a crow in a city in Japan dropping his walnut into the pedestrian crossing. The light is with the vehicles. The crow flies to the curb and waits. The bike misses the nut, the car misses ... Ah, the bus got it. The light changes to Walk. And the crow walks out amid the pedestrians and claims his snack.

[Quid]

Never. Seriously, never even considered it. Not going to, either, I reckon. Sort of doesn't serve any purpose, does it?.

Would suck to be a mosquito, though. Always afraid of being slapped one...

Quid

[edyzmedieval]

Eclectic ...... Strange question ...... you've lost your MTW CD, haven't you?

I think sometimes, but I guess I like the human life better.

[naut]

I was wrong, I've seen it in David Attenboroughs documentary.
Here's a short description:

Sounds like a good documentary, must watch it sometime!

[Mikeus Caesar]

I thought about what it's like to be my dog. Sitting around all day in the living room while someone watches TV and occasionally getting up to bark at my reflection in the window.

Sounds fun.

[Taurus]

I have a dog and I think it's inevitable to any dog owner to think about your dog's thinking and what it would be like to be him or her. But yeah I thought about it a few times. I wonder what they do think?

[naut]

Actually I have tought about what it would be like to be a bird, and what they are thinking. Perhaps the though will cross my mind more often when my dog arrives.

[GoreBag]

Well, humans are animals, and I kind of like being one of those.

I had this discussion last night, though, about being a lion. It would rule. You don't need to hunt, since the women do it for you. You just lay around all day, look tough and make lion cubs. Every once in a while, you get up, roar and fight another lion for the spot on top of the mountain. It sounds great to me.

[Lemur]

Do you imagine all animals as at least viewing the world from a semi-similar perspective as us, though interpreting it differently?

I suspect animals have a very similar perspective to ours, with a few obvious distinctions. Most of them have no complex language, so the level of idea exchange is factors lower. Other than that, I expect it's much the same.

People who insist that we're completely different from other living things puzzle me. There's a breed of scientist who insist that animals are akin to robots without emotion. I find that perspective utterly odd. Emotions are great survival tools; why shouldn't animals have them?

Let's take the example of zebras at a watering hole. Let's say an alligator is coming up from the water. Which response is more effective?

Example1 (in which animals have no emotions): I see a predator moving toward me. The optimal action would be to move away from the edge of the water. I shall do that now. Now my body re-positioned, predator thwarted. Resume normal programming.

Example 2 (in which animals have emotions): What the -- oh heck oh no BACK BACK BACK lizard water death NO NO NO run, run, get away as fast ... whew ... that was close ...

[R'as al Ghul]

There's a breed of scientist who insist that animals are akin to robots without emotion. I find that perspective utterly odd. Emotions are great survival tools; why shouldn't animals have them?

The pinnacle of arrogance is when they act surprised when they find it out eventually.
In my opinion, their presumptions are often wrong.
"Oh, look there's life in the deep sea. Who'd have thought it?"

[The Spartan (Returns)]

hardly. until you brought this up.

[Csargo]

Sometimes but then it just pisses me off.

[Comrade Alexeo]

I have two cats, a dog, and a hamster, so this thought comes up more often that you might think...


I remember reading in Carl Sagan's Dragons of Eden in which he suggested that animals that are not self-aware (that is, everything that's not a human, orangutan, or chimpanzee, and possibly some whales/dolphins) exist in a "dreamlike state," in which symbols rather than absolutes are recognized - like how when you dream, you don't hear words when people talk but you understand what they're saying, or how you can see a red octagon* and "know" that it means STOP even if you don't know how to read.




*FYI, a red octagonal sign with white letters saying "STOP" is an American signal for drivers, though I assume most non-Americans know that just because of Hollywood...

[Justiciar]

I imagine the thoughts of animals vary between species, their enviroment, and more importantly, what they need to survive. Some creatures are very mechanical, they know what they need and they go for it. Others (generally larger animals) tend to be more idle, and therefore may have room for more complex thoughts.. whether or not all animals feel emotion (I'm certain that many do) can't really be answered though.

[Blodrast]

I've had cats for about 20 years, so the answer to "whether" is yeah, you bet.
I've envied the lazy buggers for having nothing to do other than lying around looking important, eating and sleeping, and demanding attention so many damn times !..

Also, looking at them, I've often thought that they are a bunch of shallow careless bastards. "Hmm, I've had my fill. Yeah, a nap sounds about right. Damn, this litter stinks ! Oh well, I'll just throw it around for 15 minutes; ok, much better; *pees*; Now I'm kinda hungry, let's check out the food place. *eats* Hmm, I've had my fill...." etc, etc...

[The Stranger]

barely ever...

[Alexanderofmacedon]

I think about it all the time. That's why everyone thinks I'm a tree-hugger...

I might be

[A.Saturnus]

Google : Nagel, Thomas. 1974. "What is it Like to be a Bat?" Philosophical Review 83: 435-50, which should get you into papers on the topic

And enjoy.

Daniel Dennett's answer was "what is it like to bat a bee?"

When you put a mouse in a Skinner-box (that is a machine in which an animal can be conditioned) and you take your time to watch it, you can see that behaviorism must be wrong. I trained mice to poke their nose into a hole in order to get food dropped at the other side of the box. The mouse pokes the hole, looks around and you know it's thinking something like "did the food drop yet?"