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Animal intelligence



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 20th 08, 01:55 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
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Posts: 3
Default Animal intelligence

According to biology human and animal nature are the same, so the
basis for human and animal intelligence ought to be the same too.
Thinking means forming a correct picture of what the world is like.
That is very much the job of the senses: if we know what things are
like and where they are in the world, we know quite a lot. Seems that
many dogs fail already at this phace: they concentrate on the muscle
sensations, smells and social things instead at the organisation of
the memory in a spatial way. That is propably a question of learning:
I have been teaching my spitz puppy to use the sense of sight for
organising sensory impressions in the mind and he seems to learn it
easily. So it may be that the dogs' culture, what they copy from each
other, isn't beneficial for objectivity while humans are nowadays so
educated that we inevitably learn something of objectivity from just
about anyone.
But what about thinking then: thinking means observing how things are,
so it is based on sure observations. The most sure observations are
unaaltered sensations (NOT words!!!): this is like this and that is
like that. We can use our senses to look at the pictures in our mind's
eyes. For example we can notice that this sound appears at the same
time as that seen object which is also socially connected to the
sound, in other words we can learn to read a language which, like the
Finnish language which is my mother tongue, is written exactly the way
that it is pronounced. Is the any real reason to suppose that a dog or
a rabbit or any other animal with keen senses cannot do the same if it
wants to and has the chance of being taught friendlily and
respectfully enough (it needs room for its intellectual self-
confidence in the social relationship)?
Now, this is a serious question and I would like to get really
objective answers to it: can an animal connect things that happen at
the same time? It can hear something and from the sound deduce what is
happening - that is in its nature. It is quite likely that in its
nature is also the other possibility: to see some traces and deduce
based on them what has happened: the sound too and the meaning in that
happening. So in theory an animal could learn to read. Is it only the
education and the abundance of tools and the history of our species
that separate us from the other animals? And no, I do not want any
deductions about brain size (dolphins' brains are three time bigger
than humans'): practical observations about animal behaviour and
skills must come first! Science says that the practical observations
are primary, the deductions get falsified if they do not agree with
the first hand observations! I ask this partly because it seems that
my own pets have learned to read Finnish: see www.YouTube.com/khtervola
: playlists Intelligent Rabbits and My Puppy. Besides, this is a
question of great importance: can we trust the human and animal nature
which is the real base of all our functioning, or do we have to count
on artificialities: What does the future look like for us?!
  #3  
Old February 22nd 08, 12:58 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
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Posts: 3
Default Animal intelligence



FurPaw wrote:
discrimination learning. The latter is
what you are attempting to teach your rabbits, to discriminate
between two patterns of marks on paper. You'd have to do a lot
more work to demonstrate that they are reading.


Yes, that's what I am interested in: what do I exactly have to show in
order to show that a rabbit can read? Or that a dog can? That is one
reason that I bought a dog: it is much easier to get to obey commands,
so it is easier to show what the dog can notice. But that of course
demands good obedience. I am working on that... My rabbits will not
obey a thing even though they sometimes do things to please me.
I do not see any problem in a rabbit discriminating between the
different letters: the wild rabbits can surely see the difference
between a fox's paw print and that of a rabbit's front paw - otherwise
they would not stay alive - even though it is much more slight a
difference.
I think that the problem here is that the most common ways to write
are not phonetical. And Finland as a country is very small: no-one
here dares to try things that others abroad have not gotten to work
well first! Absurd.
A stupid human can learn to read and write - why not an intelligent
animal?!
  #4  
Old February 22nd 08, 02:17 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
diddy[_2_]
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Posts: 3,108
Default Animal intelligence

" spoke these words
of wisdom in news:dab869fb-a90c-424a-ab32-f89c4d1ead91
@t66g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:



FurPaw wrote:
discrimination learning. The latter is
what you are attempting to teach your rabbits, to discriminate
between two patterns of marks on paper. You'd have to do a lot
more work to demonstrate that they are reading.


Yes, that's what I am interested in: what do I exactly have to show in
order to show that a rabbit can read? Or that a dog can? That is one
reason that I bought a dog: it is much easier to get to obey commands,
so it is easier to show what the dog can notice. But that of course
demands good obedience. I am working on that... My rabbits will not
obey a thing even though they sometimes do things to please me.
I do not see any problem in a rabbit discriminating between the
different letters: the wild rabbits can surely see the difference
between a fox's paw print and that of a rabbit's front paw - otherwise
they would not stay alive - even though it is much more slight a
difference.
I think that the problem here is that the most common ways to write
are not phonetical. And Finland as a country is very small: no-one
here dares to try things that others abroad have not gotten to work
well first! Absurd.
A stupid human can learn to read and write - why not an intelligent
animal?!


Tuck is learning to read. He can now read 6 words on flash cards.
Amazon.com sells "teaching your dog to read" by Bonnie Bergen
  #5  
Old February 22nd 08, 02:26 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
diddy[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,108
Default Animal intelligence

" spoke these words
of wisdom in news:dab869fb-a90c-424a-ab32-f89c4d1ead91
@t66g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:



FurPaw wrote:
discrimination learning. The latter is
what you are attempting to teach your rabbits, to discriminate
between two patterns of marks on paper. You'd have to do a lot
more work to demonstrate that they are reading.


Yes, that's what I am interested in: what do I exactly have to show in
order to show that a rabbit can read? Or that a dog can? That is one
reason that I bought a dog: it is much easier to get to obey commands,
so it is easier to show what the dog can notice. But that of course
demands good obedience. I am working on that... My rabbits will not
obey a thing even though they sometimes do things to please me.
I do not see any problem in a rabbit discriminating between the
different letters: the wild rabbits can surely see the difference
between a fox's paw print and that of a rabbit's front paw - otherwise
they would not stay alive - even though it is much more slight a
difference.
I think that the problem here is that the most common ways to write
are not phonetical. And Finland as a country is very small: no-one
here dares to try things that others abroad have not gotten to work
well first! Absurd.
A stupid human can learn to read and write - why not an intelligent
animal?!


You might want to check out
"http://www.epetwork.com/display.php?user_id=264&pet_id=385"
 




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