Thread: The conscious perception of aniamls

Animals do have have the same consciousness as humans. Further, all the animals that we know of do not have a sense of self-awareness. At least, this is as of yet. (Edit: I am making room for aliens and life we have no yet encountered here.)

(I will try to make this post interesting so I included several videos)

First, self-awareness:
- The ability to recognize that there is an external environment that exists independent of the individuals mind and externally operates mutually exclusively.

How do we know this?

- Animals fail rogue tests, mirror tests, and further individuality tests to show that animals can demonstrate a sense of self-awareness.

- These tests are often to place the animal infront of a mirror and see if it can recognize that it is, in fact, themselves that they are seeing (thus making the conscious effort to notice an external environment that can recognize them) or if it is another cat (not being able to distinguish an external environment)

Videos to demonstrate animals inability to separate an external environment from an internal:
- Cat vs. Mirror: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O67wbZ7BcMo
- Dog vs. Mirror: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO9mTq3nbdE
- Goat vs. Mirror: http://jumpcut.com/view/?id=7A204148...92000423CF4092

Videos demonstrating when humans first recognize external reality transcending from an introvert reality:
- Child rouge test: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?doc...arch&plindex=1

- Why do we find the animals amusing and videotape them? Because we know that they are not recognizing an externally exisiting reality outside of their own minds. To these animals, solipisim is the only way of life.

- There are no anomolous activities of animals expressing self-awareness. For example; the movie "Happy Feet" depicts the penguin dancing and entertaining the humans while he is in the zoo. If a penguin (or any animal) actually did this in the sense that it is recognizing that an external mind is being entertained by what you do, this is a recognize of an exclusive consciousness existing independent from your own.

- Note that humans are guilty of all these introverted activities up until they
become self-aware. Once a human becomes self-aware, they can never go back without some form of brain damage.

What causes us to believe that they do?

In one word, Anthropomorphism.

Anthropomorphism is the transference of man's traits and human attributes to the external forces of nature.

This mentality has been around for a long time. Xenophanes early expressed the view that man created gods in his own image, and that if oxen could create gods they would certainly conceive of them as oxlike, while lions would consider them leonine.

When you watch these videos of animals, read stories, or communicate with these animals, we are inclined to attach human traits to them. By human traits, I mean self-awareness.

Here is a perfect example of anthropomorphism:
Ikea's Lamp Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I07xDdFMdgw

Notice how we are inclined to attach human feelings of loneliness, negligence, and pain to the lamp. These feelings are the same inclination towards animals.

Instances of further anthropomorphism:
+ Attaching human words to animals:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tayhKuJe44Y
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBhE6LNdBEs
+ Process of teaching animals words via operant conditioning:
- Husky learns "I love you": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-fEeT6ChQk
+ Attaching human language and activites to furniture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqWgbrzbGj4
+ Attaching human activites and language to random sounds:
- Guy interprets basement sounds to ghosts telling him "lost ball" and to shoot his cat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaqrLtFkEMc

These dogs do not know English, that is simple fact. They may respond to it and the tones and sounds that they emmit are conditioned and reinforced due to the owners response. Notice the owners response once the animal makes the right cue. This will be the reinforcement. Further, I had trouble even noticing some of what I was "supposed to hear" until the human said the word. This is then subject to a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the animal can learn and understand English at a full level, then they would probably also be paying taxes and writing books.

What we should expect:

The strongest incidence of animal communication I have found:
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=46752

Also, look for "Kiki" and other apes that can talk through sign language. These are the developments we should be looking for and encouraging - not random sounds and reinforcement. These animals have complex thoughts, sentence development, and creativity! It is just apes so far, but this is why we have descended from them - because of the potentiality for self-awareness.

But, I love my pets..

All this is, by no means, suggesting that you stop doing these funny activities with your pets. I am saying do not make the mistake of thinking that they have self-awareness. Instead, encourage these activities knowing that they could eventually one day help an animal develop self-awareness. I still talk through my pets, you know, impersonating what they would likely be saying. But I never think that they are aware of what I think.

My cat will never draw a picture, write a poem, get me food because she thinks I am hungry, buy me a Christmas present, etc.

I hope this has been enlightening. What do you think...?
~