Invisible prisons — OZONE Asylum, home of the Mad Scientists

Philosophy and other Silliness

Invisible prisons

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Your Text: Insert Slimies » Insert UBB Code » Close Last Tag \| All Tags UBB Help	[quote]Fish don't seem to have self-esteem...[/quote] :confused: My comet is quite full of himself, actually. I think you are doing dogs a great injustice. They usually show little interest in their own reflections after their initial curiosity or excitement, simply because they have enough intelligence to recognise it as themselves, rather than another dog, threat, or potential shag. Stand behind them so that they can see you in the reflection, and they will show every sign of knowing there aren't suddenly two of you in the room. The dumbest dog I ever had (an English Bull Terrier - so much character, so little brain) used to watch his arse in the mirror as an aid to chasing his tail. Yes, he was [i]that[/i] daft. An old German Shepherd of ours (RIP, Regal Lord Robert), once his legs were no longer good enough for bouncing up and down the stairs, used to save himself the bother by menacing visitors via the hallway mirrors on their way up the stairs. If you were to approach him from behind, in full view of the mirror, he would look behind him. Dogs have a distinct intellectual advantage over most other animals in that selective breeding over many generations by humans has given them an almost unparalleled social intellect. A pup of just a few weeks can be shown to possess a greater intellectual ability to understanding 'persistence' (whereby something out of sight is in fact, still in existence) and 'theory of mind' (put yourself in another's shoes) than even a human child of four-five years old! To be perfectly honest, I feel that most of these tests are out-dated and based upon misconceptions about the nature of animals/intelligence. At one time or another, humans assumed they were alone in such things as experiencing sexual pleasure, using tools, solving problems / learning by example, or being aware of 'self'. By degrees, the certainty of these principles has been eroded so that now we have to accept simple and provable truths such as; elephants are self aware; crows make and use tools; dolphins shag for fun; apes sit and chatter with eachother in large groups; dogs can be taught to retrieve something referred to by its name alone - "fetch the ball", "fetch the squeaky toy", "put the rubber bone in the basket". Humans vastly underestimate the utility, social, and emotional intelligence of animals even today - a throwback to the religious assertion that we are god's special pets. We're just a few degrees more intelligent than your average balding ape is all. Loading...
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