1. One of the divers from Animal Minds explains, "when
she was only inches away from my chest…she stopped and
pushed me on the chest backwards, then released then pushed again… she swam to
the surface and just stared at me, she wasn’t looking at anything else. She was
just looking directly at me…she went to the next diver and did the same thing…one
by one”. I completely agree with this! At
the beginning of this story they describe the wall as first being very cautious
of the divers until the whale soon begins to learn what the intentions of the
divers are. The divers soon begin to cut these ropes that was holding the whale
down, when she becomes free her gestures towards the divers is a gesture
somewhat like a thank you. I believe that her gesture shows how animals other
than humans also have a sense of feelings. The whale has full gratitude towards
these divers, which leads me to believe that the mind of other creatures could
be as complex as the brain of human beings. I don’t believe that the whale was “distorted”
in this scenario, I believe the whale learned what the divers were doing and
full heartedly showed her gratitude after she was freed. When thinking about
feelings in other creatures, I just believe that they have another way to show
feelings unlike we do. There are so many things in our world that we aren’t 100%
sure about but that is because with some things we don’t have the power to
study. For an example, we have not even been able to study the brain to its
complete capacity, so it is hard to say that another creature does or doesn’t have
feelings and can connect with other beings. I believe that all creatures have
the ability to feel the same emotions as all.
2. I do
believe that dogs and other creatures are able to sympathize with others, in
this TED talk, Abumrad and Krulwich describe the scenario on how dogs began to
feel shameful when talked down to. These dogs although may not fully understand
what they have done they are still able to decipher our feelings and have
reactions to our words or emotions we portray. I also do believe that animals
do have a sense of knowing what is happening with another creatures thoughts or
feelings. Especially dogs, I believe are able to decipher many things. It has
been seen before that dogs have empathy with those around them. With humans dogs are really prone to feel what their “master”
is feeling. In some cases it has been seen that dogs have a sixth sense almost
that allows them to feel differently than we do. In many cases, dogs have been
the reason humans have found cancerous tumors or other medical deficiencies.
This could be evidence that dogs do feel and are able to communicate with
others, this is seen usually in drastic situations when things are needed to be
communicated.
Serpents of Paradise
1.
I do also believe that animals are a superior as human
beings. Growing up my dad consistently reminded me the value of animals. He had
a sense of relation with every creature he came in contact with. I believe that
sometimes more than others, people can have relations with creatures. In this
reading, Abbey states, “the snake is passive, apparently contented, and makes
no resistance when I pick him p with my hands and drape him over an arm or
around my neck”. I personally viewed experiences like this many times while I was
growing up. My dad always had a way with animals, every animal loved my dad and
consistently remember their relationship with my dad. I fully heatedly believe
that we are all connected with animals but others are more empowered to this
connection and are more susceptible to act on it.
It's very interesting that you bring up special relationships humans have with animals and that certain people are more accepting of animals. I'd like to hear why you think this may be in terms of peoples inclination towards animals. This affinity could be linked to the way society has brought up people to exclude animals from a sense of consciousness, or is it rather that humans are naturally predisposed to either love or hate animals?
ReplyDeleteI also believe that animals such as whales and dogs have emotions similar to humans. I recently saw a documentary title "Blackfish," about a whale that was "harvested" at a young age and separated from its mother/whale family. This whale, Tilikum, went on to have a troubled life and is responsible for more the one attack on humans. Similarly, in reference to dogs I once read a story and viewed the accompanying photograph of a military dog that was so faithful and protective of its master that when the master was fatally wounded, the dog would not even allow the master's comrades to get close enough to treat him. It was a very touching and inspiring story. I believe that dogs or wolves in human presence are still animal-like as always just they learn obedience. In response to Edward Abbey's relationship with his environment he describes himself as a park ranger and states that he would rather "kill a man than an animal." He loves nature and feels that even man must play a symbiotic role in nature. He is very fond and protective of the environment. He sounds like a modern day Captain Planet if you will.
Delete“Animal Minds” Radiolab
ReplyDeleteIn the Radiolab, the hosts imply that animals without spindle cells, the cells that connect thought to emotion, that were raised by humans are familiar with our behaviors. For this reason, in the experiment they discussed, the dogs immediately went to the cup of food humans pointed to because they are more aware of what we are trying to get them to do. Whereas the chimpanzees or wild wolves who were not reared by humans were perplexed by the researchers’ actions and could not grasp the concept of finding the grape under a cup. So if animals learn “human”, then just as Mowgli did in the jungle book, humans can learn “animal”, but only if the human is reared in that animal’s natural setting. Therefore dogs are more human-like because they’re domesticated creatures who’ve come to accept our helping hand and “friendship”, whereas wolves are more animal-like because they’re born and raised in their natural, instinctual state.
“Serpents of Paradise” by Edward Abbey
Abbey regards the natural beings around him very highly. He definitely feels a connection to the world around him, as evidenced when he closes with, “all living things on earth are kindred.” While Abbey also concedes that he does not intend to portray animals anthropomorphically and that these animals function only for themselves and not [necessarily] for anything or anyone else’s enjoyment, he still asserts that “it’s a foolish, simple-minded rationalism which denies any form of emotion to all animals except man and his dog.” His relationship with the snake represents the possibility that snakes show “affection” to each other through dancing and even him, when the gopher snake wrapped around him for warmth.