Animals Are Organic Robots

[skankhunt42]

I have a hell of a time discussing this topic in the wild. OMG, folks go apeshit when I insinuate that little Feefee is replaceable, or that farm animals are anything more than food. I like my dog, but I like my iPhone too. I'll ask you guys, which would cause the most concern in your life if it was gone?

My Sheltie Maggie ftw.

[Two Man]

The thing is, you develop relationships with animals much like people. I have never cried when I lost or broke my iPhone but I certainly gushed like a baby when my pets have died.

[DrYouth]

The question is Marty...

Do you form emotional bonds?

If you are a self-contained kinda dude... and you don't get attached...
Then you just move on when the pooch croaks... and get a new one.... like a new iphone.

In that case it might not be that the animals don't have depth.... it's that your own emotional world doesn't.

[Martin Hash]

I can remember as a kid being debilitated when my dog died, same as grandma. Obviously attachments at that level are evolutionary, like a mama & her child, and not a logical reaction. As I was able to overcome profound loss as I matured, so was I able to identify its nature. As stated in the OP, I could write a simulation that would pass Turing for a dog, but not grandma. In fact, grandma is so deep that explanations of our existence outside of evolution are a distinct possibility.

[DrYouth]

I can remember as a kid being debilitated when my dog died, same as grandma. Obviously attachments at that level are evolutionary, like a mama & her child, and not a logical reaction. As I was able to overcome profound loss as I matured, so was I able to identify its nature. As stated in the OP, I could write a simulation that would pass Turing for a dog, but not grandma. In fact, grandma is so deep that explanations of our existence outside of evolution are a distinct possibility.

Do you not get the idea of really knowing something.

Something could trick you into thinking you know it... but really knowing it is something different.

If you really know a dog... and someone switches your dog with another identical looking dog... how long will it take you to figure it out?

If your attachment is superficial or projected... you might not be able to tell the difference.

But if you have a deep connection to the actual being... you will be able to tell in your gut that something is off.

None of this is logical... it's not cognitive... it is deep and organic. We can get to know other beings at a grass roots organic level that our logical brains cannot fully process. The bond between animal and man is no different than between man and man or woman in this respect.

[Two Man]

Well put.