[cm2012]

I have 7 cats now and have had had 15 cats in my life. My whole extended family has always had lots of cats.

Two things stick out at me:

1) Cats really do respond to being talked to and interacted with. Cats that are talked to often get more responsive and communicative.

2) There is huge genetic IQ gaps, lol. Some cats are so smart they blow your mind, others are mouth breathers. The normal distribution is real.

[neuronic]

Not just IQ, they have full blown personalities that you could probably write Shakespeare dramas about.

[otikik]

Or Brodaway Musicals.

[throwanem]

Or The Lives of the Caesars...

[hunterb123]

I believe those go hand in hand. The smarter the animal usually the more personality they have.

[hunterb123]

This. Not limited to cats either. I've noticed the same in dogs and even some cows.

Same rules apply to humans as well. Interaction early on develops personality and intelligence varies genetically by a wide margin.

[ensan]

Intelligence is not well-defined even for humans, and we have little understanding of what goes on in an animal's "mind", yet people like you use terms like IQ for cats like they're established facts. For all we know, it could be that some animals/cats just don't "care" as much about interacting with humans. Just like some humans do.

[throwanem]

> we have little understanding of what goes on in an animal's "mind"

Maybe you do. Behaviorism went out with disco and bell bottoms, and good riddance; more recent researchers often take an ethological approach - Goodall, not that pervo freak Skinner - and what we've learned from corvids only scratches the surface of the extent to which we're lately discovering that animals other than humans are a lot smarter than we tend to give them credit for.

The human animal, on the other hand - well, that you put quotes around "mind" in your comment earlier suffices alone to demonstrate that your confident assumption of knowing what you're talking about here lacks quite a bit for congruence with reality. Hell, I've met crows who proved to have a very accurate theory of mind for me - much more so than you here give the impression of having for them.

[hunterb123]

I just meant general intelligence over all varies among animals. I'm not stating facts, I'm stating my observations.

Personally, it's pretty easy over time to tell the difference between apathy and intelligence when you spend a lot of time observing interactions.

"People like you" should check your tone btw.

[ensan]

"There is huge genetic IQ gaps, lol. Some cats are so smart they blow your mind, others are mouth breathers. The normal distribution is real."

I'm very curious about how well someone with a "lot of experience in digital advertising" is positioned to define "genetic IQ gaps", "smart", etc. as it applies to cats & others. Perhaps instead of throwing these terms around like they're candy, you should submit your findings to an scientific journal (and get rejected :) ).

[hunterb123]

You seem to be really offended by this statement, you even went to his profile to find something to attack him?

GP isn't trying to write a paper, he's stating an observation based on his experience with the animals he's had.

Feel free to dispute the above statements with research or anecdotes, but solely insulting people and getting angry just reflects poorly on you.

I can only assume you are one of those stupid cats seeing how you handled yourself in this thread :)

[jeremyjh]

This might be the worst post I’ve ever seen on HN.

[root_axis]

No need for the condescending disrespect.

[jamiek88]

This isn’t what hackernews is about. I’m quite shocked at this post.