>>But in the meantime, we'll just go
>>with the fantasy that they actually love us.
Well the fantasy may really not be that far off the truth. Perhaps you
heard about the article in Science one of the two most prestigious
scientific journals on earth (with Nature) providing evidence that even
rats MAY display cognitive empathy. The behaviourists will poo-poo
this of course.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/6061/1427
http://www.nature.com/news/rats-free-each-other-from-cages-1.9603
What is so surprising? The Limbic sysytem (seat of emotions) is
phyogenetically ancient.
Whenever human hubris inserts itself into science, it typically leads
to catastrophically erroneous results. History is littered with this
and I don't need to enumerate the examples. I don't know where this
notion of humans being so qualitatively neurologically soooo different
than their animal cousins than they aren't even on the same plane came
into Western thought. I am sure Thomas Aquinas had something to do with
it---the preposterous notion that the first true man was truly human
and qualitatively different than other beings upon coming into
existence. These differences are clearly quantitative only , IMO.
When Othello body blocks the office door to open it and jumps in my lap
and purrs contentively, I will think whatever I please.
So interpret my post with a grain of salt,
Humble servant of Othello, Mike
--
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