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Comment by kyleschiller | Hacker News Reader

It's funny how we attribute human qualities to animals that literally lack the neurological capacity. Sharks are not ferocious, dogs do not love you, cats are not independent.

There's nothing wrong with reasoning by analogy, and to be perfectly honest I don't know enough about animals to argue convincingly that cats don't, on some level, want to be alone, but we should understand that having this discussion is mostly just anthropomorphism.

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I think this sort of argument is inherently troublesome because it assumes that our experience of consciousness is totally unique and no non-human animal shares any part of it in any amount. If you fail to draw that line precisely between humans and everything else, then you can't draw it anywhere else either. I think it is not possible to do the former (some animals clearly demonstrate significant cognitive capabilities), so it follows that there is no line that can be drawn.

I think it is good to keep in mind that the majority of non-human animals likely see the world through a very different lens than we do, but I think we must also keep in mind that we are related to the rest of the animals and not maybe as special as we think we are.

Also, the idea of "anthropomorphizing" emotions in animals (like love) is IMO kinda silly since I'm not sure we can precisely define or quantify just what it is we are supposed to be experiencing that animals definitely aren't.

Not trying to be hostile; just registering my two cents.

While I agree, anthropomorphizing is still a problem when it comes to relations with animals. I mean we are a wee bit special and we tend to expect too much from other animals. They really are simplier beasts in comparison.

But then again sometimes we can't explain how or what we feel to ourselves, let alone what other fellow humans do. So I belivie it is presumtious to say "animals do not have emotions like we do!" or "they do!". The best we can do is being "optimistically cautious" I says!

Edit: also the article is a great guide on how to drive your cat insane.

All I know is that when a cat walks his paws up my leg, insistent that I grasp him under the armpits and lift him into my arms, and subsequently puts his paws over my shoulder and purrs at the top of his lungs once I indulge his wishes, he derives some form of succor from my having been there; and that is no small thing indeed!

You don't know enough about animals to make a convincing argument, but you feel comfortable enough in your knowledge of both animals and neuroscience to say that they are neurologically incapable of being ferocious, loving or independent? That doesn't make a lot of sense. I think you may be a little bit blinded by your biases here — it sounds more like anthropocentrism than reason.

>dogs do not love you

care to explain where between our common - for dogs and humans - ancestors and us you think this capability for love appeared? In particular - did Australopithecus had it? Or did we get it after Australopithecus? Or do you think dogs lost it?

To me your position looks to be exactly the very clear expression of that typical religious dogma of "only humans have soul".

We don't. We, as humans, share the qualities of other animals, in our own species-specific mix and flavour, of course.

I have no idea where you picked up the notion that "dogs do not love you" or "cats are not independent". Why shouldn't they do or be? Don't or aren't you?

If dogs don't love us in the deepest way available to a mammalian neural architecture, then people don't either.

Love is not exactly long division.

i agree, i think love is actually a low level emotion available to most animals. though i'm not an expert on neither love nor animals

Some evidence that cats and dogs do love (or some approximation thereof) their owners:

https://mic.com/articles/104474/brain-scans-reveal-what-dogs...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/its-finally-pr...

Dogs most definitely do feel love. Watch videos of soldiers returning from their tours. Watch how their children react. Then watch how their dogs react. Dogs have been bred to have strong emotions and empathy.

Spoken like someone who's never interacted with a shark, dog, or cat.

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