Tuesday, February 12, 2019
It's not that complicated
An overlong article in Atlantic on the overdue rethinking about animal thinking.
The article spends WAY too much time on the Jainists, who believe that everything has a soul. You don't need to go that far to find people who know the simple and obvious truth about all animals.
I'd separate human-animal relationships into three types. The separation shows why paid scientists are slow to perceive the truth.
1. People who work with animals as teammates have always known the truth. A policeman and his K9, a blind man and his guide dog, a farmer and his plow horse, a milkman and his horse. These people treat their teammates as equal intelligences. Each member knows his own strengths and the other member's strengths. Each trusts the other to learn new situations and help solve problems.
2. People who work with animals as products may suspect the truth but can't afford to think it. Industrial farming of chickens and cows and pigs ignores the individual characteristics and minds of the animals. Feed, grow, kill.
3. People who own pets but don't work with them are in between. Pet owners treat their critters well, but don't need to rely on the pet's brainpower. Many pet owners believe that the animal is simply a mechanism without consciousness.
Where do scientists fit? Type 2. Rats and pigeons and bacteria are industrial products. Most lab animals are not expected to think. Even when rats are specifically used for experiments about intelligence, the scientist is not allowed to see the rats as individuals. It's "unscientific".
Labels: Blinded by Stats, Grand Blueprint
¶ 6:00 AM
