I consider myself to be the most fortunate human being on this planet because I am privileged to share my home with the most beautiful cat and dog in the world and also a couple of young, well-educated human beings. We all get along very well together. I feed them. They provide all the laughs.
I got into an interesting discussion with one of the young human beings who are of the opinion that dogs can only be taught tricks if they are given a reward when they do the right thing. Okay, that seems to work, but she also believed that cats and dogs don’t actually understand what we say to them because they cannot respond to us in our language. I said that if you have a good enough rapport with them you become aware of the fact that they can understand what we say and we should be able to understand what they are saying to us. After a spirited exchange of opinions, something dawned on me. I said, “You are assuming that we are more intelligent than animals.” She said, “Well, of course, we are.”
Okay, let’s examine this in more detail:-
1). Human beings are so “intelligent” that they invented Capitalism, which has caused world-wide poverty and suffering in a world of abundance.
2). “Intelligent” human beings have invented cigarettes and other addictive drugs which are responsible for millions of deaths.
3). “Intelligent” human beings have destroyed vast acres of native forests which provide our oxygen.
4). “Intelligent” human beings have polluted the atmosphere in several countries where people now have to wear a face mask in order to go outdoors and walk in their city streets.
5). “Intelligent” human beings invented plastic bags which have ended up in our oceans and caused the deaths of thousands of sea turtles.
6). “Intelligent” human beings are polluting our waterways and destroying our native fish.
7). “Intelligent” human beings have destroyed the habitat of many animals and birds causing them to become extinct.
Do you need more examples? All I have to do is to look at my beautiful stress-free cat luxuriating in the sunshine while I am rushing around doing all the work, to see which of us is the intelligent one!
Moggie Grayson
New Zealand
I got into an interesting discussion with one of the young human beings who are of the opinion that dogs can only be taught tricks if they are given a reward when they do the right thing. Okay, that seems to work, but she also believed that cats and dogs don’t actually understand what we say to them because they cannot respond to us in our language. I said that if you have a good enough rapport with them you become aware of the fact that they can understand what we say and we should be able to understand what they are saying to us. After a spirited exchange of opinions, something dawned on me. I said, “You are assuming that we are more intelligent than animals.” She said, “Well, of course, we are.”
Okay, let’s examine this in more detail:-
1). Human beings are so “intelligent” that they invented Capitalism, which has caused world-wide poverty and suffering in a world of abundance.
2). “Intelligent” human beings have invented cigarettes and other addictive drugs which are responsible for millions of deaths.
3). “Intelligent” human beings have destroyed vast acres of native forests which provide our oxygen.
4). “Intelligent” human beings have polluted the atmosphere in several countries where people now have to wear a face mask in order to go outdoors and walk in their city streets.
5). “Intelligent” human beings invented plastic bags which have ended up in our oceans and caused the deaths of thousands of sea turtles.
6). “Intelligent” human beings are polluting our waterways and destroying our native fish.
7). “Intelligent” human beings have destroyed the habitat of many animals and birds causing them to become extinct.
Do you need more examples? All I have to do is to look at my beautiful stress-free cat luxuriating in the sunshine while I am rushing around doing all the work, to see which of us is the intelligent one!
Moggie Grayson
New Zealand
1 comment:
You give examples of 'unintelligent' behaviour which, of course, does not exclude the possibility of intelligent behaviour - working for socialism being an example.
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