
On the Benefits of Anthropomorphizing - jger15
https://lithub.com/deb-olin-unferth-didnt-expect-to-be-writing-from-the-point-of-view-of-a-chicken/
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jbotz
Awesome.

"Our error is not anthropomorphism, but the opposite. We refuse to believe, to
the point of absurdity that we and they are first animals, that there is no us
and them in this regard, only us, all of us."

I raise chickens (and various other animals) and more and more this is exactly
how I feel. All higher lifeforms (and I don't care to speculate where "higher"
ends) are conscious, and all conscious life is essentially alike... there is
"I" and the "the other" and we all have desires and fears and relationships
and curiosity. What else is there to life?

~~~
simonh
I agree, clearly we had common ancestors with other higher animals that had
emotional lives, were creative, played games, had social lives, even mourned
their dead. We do have higher brain functions than other animals, there’s no
doubt, but clearly having those higher brain functions isn't necessary for
having the faculties I described above. I see no reason to assume it
fundamentally changes the nature of those faculties and experiences. It may
change our ability to reflect on them and express them, but is likely to be
independent of their fundamental nature and experience.

~~~
jbotz
Actually I think this something that goes far beyond relatedness and the
capacities of our common ancesters... consciousness appears to be an emergent
property that is substantially similar even when it emerges in physically
radically different beings with completely different neural structures.

The biggest piece of evidence we have for this is from octopi... they are
about as alien as anything we can image (radial symmetry, distributed brain,
visual input and output spread over the entire skin) and the last ancester we
have in common with them was some kind of worm with just handful of neurons.
Yet they seem to problem solve and explore and manipulate their environment
much as we do, and people have developed surprisingly close relationships with
some octopi in captivity. Even with an octopus, when you get to know it you
begin to feel the kinship that seems to always be possible between one
conscious being and another.

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JadeNB
I think that no discussion of anthopomorphisation is complete without "don't
anthropomorphise inanimate objects. They hate that."

~~~
hinkley
The version I know is "Don't anthropomorphize computers. They hate that."

Also I agree, and damn you for beating me to it.

~~~
Green_man
reminded me of this speech by Dijkstra that i believe was linked on an HN
thread last month.

[https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD09xx/E...](https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD09xx/EWD936.html)

