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by jaharios
495 days ago
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I agree, I am not saying that it is not nurture, in fact the opposite. Hyper focused on "human way of thinking" is not something you are born with, you adapt to it. In fact if you don't do it early you will never be able to 100%, in a way we rewire our brain to cope with how we want it to operate to be able fit in. Our language for example, requires to be "forced on us" from early stages or you will never be able to "get it" [1] > Most humans simply ignore animals when they communicate. Both because they're ignorant and because they won't bother to listen. You can't expect an animal to talk with human words, but they talk all the time. Pets actively have conversations with us. With my dog I can understand angry/playful/sad/afraid/(give me food) barking/sounds and especially body language. But hearing "dog words" in random barking? Impossible. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_deprivation_experimen... |
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No what I meant is that animals use body language, smells and all kinds of non-auditory cues in order to communicate. And they rely a lot on behavioral reinforcement in order to communicate efficiently with us.
They don't really use verbal language like we do and therefore they also lack the tools that are required for abstract conversation.
They don't talk about complex topics like astrophysics. They usually just talk about their immediate needs but they can also convey more complex emotions like trust and guilt -- displaying a rudimentary theory of mind.
Regardless, there are many interactions you can have with your pets that entail a string of questions and answers.
Example:
1. My cat comes up to me and sits there staring. She means: "I need something of you, but I can wait"
1a. If I don't get up in a while, she will come closer and bump my leg. She means: "come on, please"
2. I ask her what's up and get up from my chair to signal that I am ready
3. She recognizes this signal, having seen it many times before, and heads for the bowl/the door/the balcony/the cat tree depending on what she needs
4. I understand her need and give her what she wants
5. She trills or purrs to tell me that I'm on the right track/my assessment is correct/to thank me
That is clearly a conversation, albeit a simple one.
Lately she's become addicted to bird and mice videos on Youtube so she comes up to me and stares intently at my laptop and/or desktop until I put those on for her.