How do animals have thoughts?

[Ian H]

Let me see now I think therefore I am.

Long-discredited as a serious philosophical argument on the grounds that you haven't proved that "I" exists. Or, to put it another way, you have "I" on both sides of the equation.

 

[classic33]

Paul King, fmr UC Berkeley Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience

What we call "thought" can be viewed as an internal behavior that generates and transforms transient beliefs and potential actions into new beliefs and new potential actions. These potential actions are prioritized according to their expected effectiveness and translated into evolving internal goals and planned actions. Throughout all of this, extensive feedback pathways in the brain keep the various representational maps aligned and consistent with each other.

 

[SteCenturion]

Bollocks.

Does he still have his bollocks? More importantly is your woofer a 'classical liberal' like my woofer is. I don't think they can help it, where as cats are just intolerant hedonistic nazi a'oles, well my cat is. When I mean classical liberal, my dog is firm but fair, doesn't bully other dogs into thinking thoughts that they approve of but will get growly if other dogs start to take the mick. He also thinks small dogs are left wing and are out of touch with the real dog world.

By far the best post so far !

 

[slowmotion]

So you can google and paste...

I rather liked it. Are all links forbidden now? Do we have to do all the thinking ourselves?
[media]
]View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2gJamguN04[/media]

 

[Pedalbob]

Thought can be pictured

 

[Illaveago]

Thought can be pictured

Downhill skier's and Bob sleigh drivers do a similar thing before going down the course. Visualization I think the term is.

I can remember a programme years ago which featured a young chap who after having caught a virus discovered that he could learn languages really quickly. He also discovered that he could do amazing mathematical sums by visualizing numbers as different coloured shapes which would then become another coloured shape.
I find it hard to understand how the process works but we are all different and have our own way of doing things.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

This is one of the best CycleChat threads I've read for a long time, and from its beginning you'd never have guessed it would be this interesting.

 

[Sharky]

13 pages long already - good job it's not National Dog Day today

 

[SpokeyDokey]

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Visualization I think the term is.

I do that when I read Accy's threads, visualising him sitting in his pants with his trees, munching away on tins of Pal, with a line of neighbours and the warden outside his door...

 

[MontyVeda]

Of course animals think... how else can the make a decision in 'fight or flight' situations? They must be able to experience fear and/or courage in order to preserve their existence. They must be able to think 'is this edible', 'can i outrun it', 'can i beat it' and so on just to get through the day. I'm sure i was capable of thinking stuff before i learnt to verbally articulate my thoughts with language... and as for dogs, a growl, a yelp, a pine is what they have to express themselves verbally.

someone's probably said all this but i haven't read all 13 pages yet.

 

[S-Express]

CBA to read the whole thread. Surely the real question is - 'does accy cyclist have thoughts?'

Someone may have posted that before, but like I said - the prospect of trawling through 13 pages of one of his threads was simply not appealing, in any way.

 

[growingvegetables]

CBA to read the whole thread. Surely the real question is - .......

... what other interesting questions, diversions, digressions, and meanderings can the CC chapel come up with?

"CBA?" - your loss, mate

 

[S-Express]

My loss? Maybe - but I'll take that chance...

 

[Illaveago]

This has been a thought provoking chat. It may have wandered off track a bit at times and some people may have joined in half way through and not fully understood what the initial question was about.
My wife has just been reading through all of the comments and has been so engrossed in the chat that she feels that she wants to join although she doesn't cycle. She does own a bike, it's just that it hasn't moved.
She says it's because of her phobia's.