How do animals have thoughts?

[Bonefish Blues]

Hear of a whoosh parrot?

 

[MacB]

The deep contemplation on this thread has me thinking strange thoughts like, does Accy really exist?

 

[Accy cyclist]

Hear of a whoosh parrot?

Oh right. I thought you were genuinely concerned,not just after taking the piss.

 

[craigwend]

Schrödinger's Accy is a thought experiment, sometimes described as a paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. It illustrates what he saw as the problem of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics applied to everyday objects. The scenario presents an Accy that may be simultaneously both alive and dead, a state known as a quantum superposition, as a result of being linked to a random subatomic event that may or may not occur. The thought experiment is also often featured in theoretical discussions of the interpretations of quantum mechanics. Schrödinger coined the term Verschränkung (entanglement) in the course of developing the thought experiment.

 

[robjh]

Have you thought about getting it appointed as a therapy dog?

See what the dog thinks first.

 

[growingvegetables]

... I'm approaching it from that of linguistics, where the object of study is clearly what are conventionally called 'languages' ....

So am I (albeit in a wee bit of a career diversion many years ago!).

And I'm very happy with going way beyond a definition restricted to "what are conventionally called 'languages'." There are any number of ways in which humans (and animals!) express thought through symbols and syntax, whether gestures/attitudes/uttered-and/or-made sounds/visual symbols, whatever.

I'm fascinated by somebody I know, whose dyslexia is utterly invisible in terms of her Arabic. Totally, completely. She reads, writes, ... writes bloody poetry! Arabic is processed differently in the brain - it's a language driven by logical rules for spelling, grammar, even vocabulary creation (there's ONE single spelling irregularity in Arabic, and it's kinda hard to forget or get wrong. It's the word "Allah". I kid you not ). However, give her English to read or write, or a map to read, or a problem which involves a progression of dates (dotting backwards and forwards) --- wow, and then her dyslexia becomes obvious. Yes, I know the idea of brain-mapping for areas that "process language" - and I suspect they are they're quite defined by mapping "processing English", with its frightening acceptance and absorption of irregularities.

Another wee career diversion - I taught guitar for a few years. And, happenstance, found a way of showing music to pre-reading and about-to-read kids, so that they could play - solo, together, and in harmony. Conventionally, far too young to learn guitar ... but it worked. One reason (first, to let them succeed in playing; secondly, as a first, second, third, whatever step to reading music/tablature), was that it "matched" the language-reading abilities of 5 and 6 year olds really well; they weren't restricted to their ears and memory. I'll not pretend it was planned or developed; it was the purest fluke. [But am I chuffed that one of the wee lasses who came into that group will soon graduate from Leeds College of Music? ]

Just a very long-winded "language is a damned sight more than 'established languages'".

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Was there simultaneously a post that was and was not?

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Oh right. I thought you were genuinely concerned,not just after taking the piss.

You've done something more than your fair share, TBF!

 

[robjh]

So am I (albeit in a wee bit of a career diversion many years ago!).

And I'm very happy with going way beyond a definition restricted to "what are conventionally called 'languages'." There are any number of ways in which humans (and animals!) express thought through symbols and syntax, whether gestures/attitudes/uttered-and/or-made sounds/visual symbols, whatever.

I'm fascinated by somebody I know, whose dyslexia is utterly invisible in terms of her Arabic. Totally, completely. She reads, writes, ... writes bloody poetry! Arabic is processed differently in the brain - it's a language driven by logical rules for spelling, grammar, even vocabulary creation (there's ONE single spelling irregularity in Arabic, and it's kinda hard to forget or get wrong. It's the word "Allah". I kid you not ). However, give her English to read or write, or a map to read, or a problem which involves a progression of dates (dotting backwards and forwards) --- wow, and then her dyslexia becomes obvious. Yes, I know the idea of brain-mapping for areas that "process language" - and I suspect they are they're quite defined by mapping "processing English", with its frightening acceptance and absorption of irregularities.

Another wee career diversion - I taught guitar for a few years. And, happenstance, found a way of showing music to pre-reading and about-to-read kids, so that they could play - solo, together, and in harmony. Conventionally, far too young to learn guitar ... but it worked. One reason (first, to let them succeed in playing; secondly, as a first, second, third, whatever step to reading music/tablature), was that it "matched" the language-reading abilities of 5 and 6 year olds really well; they weren't restricted to their ears and memory. I'll not pretend it was planned or developed; it was the purest fluke. [But am I chuffed that one of the wee lasses who came into that group will soon graduate from Leeds College of Music? ]

Just a very long-winded "language is a damned sight more than 'established languages'".

Sort of my 'blurred boundaries' point. Of course language by my narrow definition is linked with other (prelinguistic? paralinguistic?) features of communication and mental processes, but "what are conventionally called languages" are something distinct, which is why I draw the boundary where I do. But give or take a little question of terminology I agree with everything you say.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

But how does all this Deep Stuff answer the OP?

My dog (long gone, sadly) used to work out various puzzles eg when working his way up a rock face in the mountains with me he'd take a look, work out a route and then off he would hurtle.

How did he think that through? What went through his head?

It is a bit of a puzzle.

 

[growingvegetables]

But how does all this Deep Stuff answer the OP?

My dog (long gone, sadly) used to work out various puzzles eg when working his way up a rock face in the mountains with me he'd take a look, work out a route and then off he would hurtle.

How did he think that through? What went through his head?

It is a bit of a puzzle.

If he's any sense at all, he's piss$d off to the pub again! And left the dog to think wise thoughts in his absence!

 

[Accy cyclist]

Have you thought about getting it appointed as a therapy dog?

Is this a serious question? If it is,then that's feasible. The old fogies would actually like him because he's one of those dogs that rolls over and likes to be stroked. I've had him in the home where my mum is and they love him there. Dogs are good for the elderly,as they bring back memories and they like the contact. I know the home's tell tale hates dogs as i asked him if he'd ever owned one. Mind you,he hates children,anyone under 70,the Japanese,seagulls,cyclists,people who don't have their own microwaves,those who use computers, You name it, he hates it.

 

[craigwend]

 

[Fnaar]

Miss Goodbody communicates very effectively through pheromones. If I've had my tea, the kitchen window is open, and there's a westerly breeze, it's a call I can't resist.

 

[Accy cyclist]

[QUOTE 4930473, member: 9609"]I am wondering now how she would have constructed the words in her head if she had never heard them spoken,[/QUOTE]
That's a very good point and question. I'm sat here trying to work that one out. I can't see how she could.