one typical school night my mom and I
were sitting together eating dinner she
began to talk about the funny video she
stumbled upon Facebook that day
these included babies trying lemons for
the first time a clip from an old TV
show shoes to watch and a video of a dog
opening a fridge and retrieving
something for its owner I smiled at the
fact that she was so entertained by
these videos I didn’t quite absorb the
detail she went into to describe each
one except for the video of the dog why
do we find this so intriguing why do we
thoroughly enjoy watching a dog partake
in human activities I’ve come to realize
that it’s because the closer their
cognitive function resembles that of
humans the more important it seems in
other words it’s because we think we
know what the dog knows take a video of
a dog opening a door over that of a
caterpillar transforming into a
butterfly there’s an obvious disconnect
here because we don’t know what the
butterfly knows somehow it doesn’t
matter as much to us but because we
think we know what the dog knows we feel
in control we assume things and assume
their validity and somewhere in this
process these assumptions turn into
facts we do this because we believe that
our credibility is the dominant species
lessons when we admit to not knowing
something it makes sense the saying
knowledge is power is something we take
very seriously as a species the more you
know right knowledge is human food it is
how we survive in nature our purpose as
a species is to survive and to reproduce
and we have the advantage of being able
to be completely aware of this but have
we taken this advantage for granted
scientific American says climate change
could eliminate
a quarter of all species if global
temperatures rise by two degrees Celsius
to most of us this is just a statistic
but what if I changed the wording a
little bit Scientific American says
climate change could eliminate a quarter
of all humans if global temperatures
rise by two degrees Celsius suddenly we
become more aware we think this is
affecting us what do we do why do we
process this differently it may be
because we value each other as humans
and connect through our humanity but it
also and connect through our humanity we
would take a bullet for another human
being but when it comes down to another
animal or living organism suddenly it
doesn’t seem just as dire this feeling
is normal we are built to want to
survive and sometimes our survival means
the death of others we know the effect
of death on humans but not on other
species but once we believe we do we
become more empathetic it may be innate
this desire to survive but it also might
be the selfishness that we have so
strongly built the species that we are
in control and we are the most important
let’s circle back to the dog video as
you saw in the video a dog opened a door
for its owner you might have been quick
to think wow what a good boy he opened
the door he got something out and he
didn’t even eat it you aren’t wrong he
is indeed a very good boy and there is
little evidence that he isn’t a good boy
researcher Clive deal win from Arizona
State University writes the dogs ability
to invade gle.a larger stronger and
surely more intelligent species is
itself striking enough and I’m not
discrediting a dog’s title of man’s best
friend
this title in fact carries a lot of
truths a dog is an extremely intelligent
creature we can learn a lot through its
actions and the same goes for it
learning through ours for example I know
that if my dog is standing by the front
door whining she needs to go out and my
dog knows that if she stands by the
front door and whines I will take her
research shows dogs are highly attentive
to humans communicative cues like
pointing and eye movement
but existing research also provides
little evidence that dogs have a
meaningful and thorough understanding of
humans motivations and mental states as
well as the ability to reflect on their
own mental state researcher wind
continues to state just because dogs are
incredibly skilled when it comes to
social interactions with humans doesn’t
necessarily mean that they have more
advanced cognitive abilities than other
animals do we can best identify aspects
of our own cognitive functions and that
of the dog and thus we assume that it is
experiencing the same things this is a
problem and it has a name
anthropomorphism anthropomorphism it’s a
pretty big word but luckily a pretty
simple idea
anthropomorphism is defined as an
interpretation of what is not human or
personal in terms of human or personal
characteristics it helps us to simplify
and make more sense of complicated
entities anthropomorphism doesn’t just
pertain to animals but to natural
phenomena as well for example giving
hurricanes and other storms names such
as Sandy or Katrina is our way of
attempting to portray the natural world
as a reflection of ourselves and
according to the World Meteorological
Organization the naming of hurricanes
and other storms a practice that
originated with the names of saints
sailors girlfriends and even disliked
political figures simplifies and
facilitates effective communication
here’s an example in terms of animals
when I was around six years old I had a
pet hamster my brother and I decided to
call her sizzle because her cage looked
like a grill and I’m still not quite
sure when my mother didn’t suggest
another name I used to feed this little
green lettuce not purple lettuce because
the little house she slept in was green
and I knew it was her favorite color the
mistake I made here is assuming the
reason why zazul ate the green lettuce
she may have eaten it because it tasted
better she may have eaten it because it
gave her more energy or sizzle may have
actually eaten it because it was her
favorite color I assumed the
Wise’s will eat the green lettuce I
assumed I knew the reason or I assumed I
knew a possible array of reasons but for
some reason I didn’t accept the fact
that I didn’t truly know this is not to
say that there aren’t methods of
communication between man and animal
there are one example in fact includes
Coco the gorilla Coco is a 44 year old
gorilla currently held at the gorilla
foundation in Woodside California she
has the vocabulary equivalent to that of
a three-year-old child after learning
1000 words of American sign language
while this is an incredible feat for
both man and animal it still lacks the
complexity of human to human
communication this we know because Coco
cannot take your place in the audience
right now and absorb the same amount of
information as you are currently this
feat may not however lack the complexity
of gorilla to gorilla communication this
we do not know because you and I are not
gorillas Holly dunnsworth an
anthropologist at the University of
Rhode Island says there’s a key
difference between signals and
understanding and expanding upon
abstract ideas and concepts we can best
explain behavior separate from the way
humans think in a study regarding
anthropomorphism patricia ganea
psychologist at the university of
toronto ran a series of experiments on
three to five year olds in which they
were given information about animals in
a straight factual way and then in a
more fantastical way within the
experiment she discovered that the
children were more likely to attribute
human characteristics to other animals
and less likely to retain the straight
factual information when told the
explaining animals in the natural world
to children is effective in generating
empathy for mistreated animals however
as g’day abuts it anthropomorphism can
lead to an inaccurate understanding of
biological processes in the natural
world and common depictions of animals
and children’s entertainment are likely
this all leads back to the idea of
humans knowing things we like to know
what’s coming
we like to anticipate consequences that
is why when we fall it is so frightening
we don’t know what to expect when we
land how can we be so closely tied to
something yet know nothing about it by
simply looking at the works of the
natural world and the expansive
capabilities of species throughout we
can comfortably soak in the fact that we
cannot know what these species are
thinking there are times where we need
to sit back loosen our grip and feel
completely and utterly out of control
considering what has been said I invite
you to re-examine your perspective on
the world around you and the role you
play in it here’s your first opportunity
to begin looking at the world through another lens
were sitting together eating dinner she
began to talk about the funny video she
stumbled upon Facebook that day
these included babies trying lemons for
the first time a clip from an old TV
show shoes to watch and a video of a dog
opening a fridge and retrieving
something for its owner I smiled at the
fact that she was so entertained by
these videos I didn’t quite absorb the
detail she went into to describe each
one except for the video of the dog why
do we find this so intriguing why do we
thoroughly enjoy watching a dog partake
in human activities I’ve come to realize
that it’s because the closer their
cognitive function resembles that of
humans the more important it seems in
other words it’s because we think we
know what the dog knows take a video of
a dog opening a door over that of a
caterpillar transforming into a
butterfly there’s an obvious disconnect
here because we don’t know what the
butterfly knows somehow it doesn’t
matter as much to us but because we
think we know what the dog knows we feel
in control we assume things and assume
their validity and somewhere in this
process these assumptions turn into
facts we do this because we believe that
our credibility is the dominant species
lessons when we admit to not knowing
something it makes sense the saying
knowledge is power is something we take
very seriously as a species the more you
know right knowledge is human food it is
how we survive in nature our purpose as
a species is to survive and to reproduce
and we have the advantage of being able
to be completely aware of this but have
we taken this advantage for granted
scientific American says climate change
could eliminate
a quarter of all species if global
temperatures rise by two degrees Celsius
to most of us this is just a statistic
but what if I changed the wording a
little bit Scientific American says
climate change could eliminate a quarter
of all humans if global temperatures
rise by two degrees Celsius suddenly we
become more aware we think this is
affecting us what do we do why do we
process this differently it may be
because we value each other as humans
and connect through our humanity but it
also and connect through our humanity we
would take a bullet for another human
being but when it comes down to another
animal or living organism suddenly it
doesn’t seem just as dire this feeling
is normal we are built to want to
survive and sometimes our survival means
the death of others we know the effect
of death on humans but not on other
species but once we believe we do we
become more empathetic it may be innate
this desire to survive but it also might
be the selfishness that we have so
strongly built the species that we are
in control and we are the most important
let’s circle back to the dog video as
you saw in the video a dog opened a door
for its owner you might have been quick
to think wow what a good boy he opened
the door he got something out and he
didn’t even eat it you aren’t wrong he
is indeed a very good boy and there is
little evidence that he isn’t a good boy
researcher Clive deal win from Arizona
State University writes the dogs ability
to invade gle.a larger stronger and
surely more intelligent species is
itself striking enough and I’m not
discrediting a dog’s title of man’s best
friend
this title in fact carries a lot of
truths a dog is an extremely intelligent
creature we can learn a lot through its
actions and the same goes for it
learning through ours for example I know
that if my dog is standing by the front
door whining she needs to go out and my
dog knows that if she stands by the
front door and whines I will take her
research shows dogs are highly attentive
to humans communicative cues like
pointing and eye movement
but existing research also provides
little evidence that dogs have a
meaningful and thorough understanding of
humans motivations and mental states as
well as the ability to reflect on their
own mental state researcher wind
continues to state just because dogs are
incredibly skilled when it comes to
social interactions with humans doesn’t
necessarily mean that they have more
advanced cognitive abilities than other
animals do we can best identify aspects
of our own cognitive functions and that
of the dog and thus we assume that it is
experiencing the same things this is a
problem and it has a name
anthropomorphism anthropomorphism it’s a
pretty big word but luckily a pretty
simple idea
anthropomorphism is defined as an
interpretation of what is not human or
personal in terms of human or personal
characteristics it helps us to simplify
and make more sense of complicated
entities anthropomorphism doesn’t just
pertain to animals but to natural
phenomena as well for example giving
hurricanes and other storms names such
as Sandy or Katrina is our way of
attempting to portray the natural world
as a reflection of ourselves and
according to the World Meteorological
Organization the naming of hurricanes
and other storms a practice that
originated with the names of saints
sailors girlfriends and even disliked
political figures simplifies and
facilitates effective communication
here’s an example in terms of animals
when I was around six years old I had a
pet hamster my brother and I decided to
call her sizzle because her cage looked
like a grill and I’m still not quite
sure when my mother didn’t suggest
another name I used to feed this little
green lettuce not purple lettuce because
the little house she slept in was green
and I knew it was her favorite color the
mistake I made here is assuming the
reason why zazul ate the green lettuce
she may have eaten it because it tasted
better she may have eaten it because it
gave her more energy or sizzle may have
actually eaten it because it was her
favorite color I assumed the
Wise’s will eat the green lettuce I
assumed I knew the reason or I assumed I
knew a possible array of reasons but for
some reason I didn’t accept the fact
that I didn’t truly know this is not to
say that there aren’t methods of
communication between man and animal
there are one example in fact includes
Coco the gorilla Coco is a 44 year old
gorilla currently held at the gorilla
foundation in Woodside California she
has the vocabulary equivalent to that of
a three-year-old child after learning
1000 words of American sign language
while this is an incredible feat for
both man and animal it still lacks the
complexity of human to human
communication this we know because Coco
cannot take your place in the audience
right now and absorb the same amount of
information as you are currently this
feat may not however lack the complexity
of gorilla to gorilla communication this
we do not know because you and I are not
gorillas Holly dunnsworth an
anthropologist at the University of
Rhode Island says there’s a key
difference between signals and
understanding and expanding upon
abstract ideas and concepts we can best
explain behavior separate from the way
humans think in a study regarding
anthropomorphism patricia ganea
psychologist at the university of
toronto ran a series of experiments on
three to five year olds in which they
were given information about animals in
a straight factual way and then in a
more fantastical way within the
experiment she discovered that the
children were more likely to attribute
human characteristics to other animals
and less likely to retain the straight
factual information when told the
explaining animals in the natural world
to children is effective in generating
empathy for mistreated animals however
as g’day abuts it anthropomorphism can
lead to an inaccurate understanding of
biological processes in the natural
world and common depictions of animals
and children’s entertainment are likely
this all leads back to the idea of
humans knowing things we like to know
what’s coming
we like to anticipate consequences that
is why when we fall it is so frightening
we don’t know what to expect when we
land how can we be so closely tied to
something yet know nothing about it by
simply looking at the works of the
natural world and the expansive
capabilities of species throughout we
can comfortably soak in the fact that we
cannot know what these species are
thinking there are times where we need
to sit back loosen our grip and feel
completely and utterly out of control
considering what has been said I invite
you to re-examine your perspective on
the world around you and the role you
play in it here’s your first opportunity
to begin looking at the world through another lens
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