Re:Why Is That Dog Looking at Me?
by zamalek on Wednesday September 16, 2015 @06:01AM
(#10225587)
The intuitive conclusion I have is that "dogs are uncanny," and I somewhat doubt if the answer will ever get better than that: we simply can't communicate with them to the degree that is required to answer these questions.
> He asked what color he was, and learned "grey" after being told the answer six times. This made him the first and only non-human animal to have ever asked an existential question.
There's a little evidence[1] to suggest that the influence of a sentient (or intelligent) species can, to some degree, rub off. You could definitely cherry-pick specific traits of any species that would imply that it is not intellectual, including humans (e.g. war, intolerance). Maybe dogs don't have an intellectual reason for looking at us but that's not conclusive as to the intellectual capacity of the species.
At the end of the day I think it's inconceivable for a person to form an emotional bond with an animal such as a baboon - yet we do that with dogs and that's got to mean something, even if it's not scientifically quantifiable.
> He asked what color he was, and learned "grey" after being told the answer six times. This made him the first and only non-human animal to have ever asked an existential question.
There's a little evidence[1] to suggest that the influence of a sentient (or intelligent) species can, to some degree, rub off. You could definitely cherry-pick specific traits of any species that would imply that it is not intellectual, including humans (e.g. war, intolerance). Maybe dogs don't have an intellectual reason for looking at us but that's not conclusive as to the intellectual capacity of the species.
At the end of the day I think it's inconceivable for a person to form an emotional bond with an animal such as a baboon - yet we do that with dogs and that's got to mean something, even if it's not scientifically quantifiable.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_%28parrot%29