Animal Minds

The Search for Animal Intelligence

Nullius in verba, is the motto of the Royal Society. Take no-one’s word for it. Yet we do.

We are told that animals cannot think. We must ignore any subjective anecdotal evidence to the contrary, because that is anthropomorphising. The very existence of the last word means we are intellectually inferior to whoever says it, because we cannot spell it. Or pronounce it. Evidence with anecdotal in front of it, means wrong. Subjective means from a stupid person. It doesn’t change whether animals can or cannot think. Just whether we look for it.

What damage has not heeding nullius in verba done? Animals use tools, they have calls with specific meanings, they plan, they have self-awareness and an awareness of others, you’ve seen the documentaries. Yet our path to “do animals think”, was always blocked by politics and social taboos foisted on us by the elite. Not an elite who are thinking, but who have jumped ahead to their assumed outcome.

Citizen science might be everybody doing the same well-known experiments and building robots using 3D printers, all for their moment in the lime light. What if citizen science also means, doing real science? What if thousands of everyday people, really do understand why example after example of animal behaviour, is not showing evidence of animals thinking? Could we collectively find the far fewer examples which at least raise the question? Could we filter through anecdotes to find something, which could then be put to the test? Not by Spot the dog repeating on a video what he reputedly did, but by lots of dogs proving that as a species they are capable of something we never expected. If we only knew what to look for.

A project like this will encounter problems. Where we can predict them, correctly or not, we can prepare for them, effectively, or not. The flow of information from highly dubious claims which might be trolling, to widely accepted, through tests which anyone can do, is a process. A process which should filter out and correlate, whatever that means. Otherwise we have a nightmare of unrelated stories. What would a website look like to provide that process? What behind-the-scenes work might be necessary, on a frequent basis.

To crowd-source enough people to give this project the necessary impetus, a Kindle was written. It will also help to finance the project. There is a plan to contact various groups who might have an interest. Drawing people in, who are passionate enough to help, is key.

Providing a website which enables them to contribute, is useful.

The what, who and how are such little words. The project becomes not one of talking about animals, but enabling others to talk about animals. Getting the project started has little to do with animals, more to do with, projects. The website is the tail end of it.

Phase One needs to develop the idea, before we drum up too much support and sink. With that in mind, the Kindle sets the scene for why we are doing this, but also how. It invites ideas on what the problems might be and how we might overcome them. It envisages a process which can take in raw anecdotes and categorise them, like with like, by animal, by behaviour, so others can search for patterns or make suggestions. A process where something once observed, can be looked for by others in their animals. Not just building up the anecdotes, but allowing that concept to advance through the process as we reason why something might be so. Ecology and evolution have surely left an imprint in the minds of animals. Our unscientific anthropomorphising emotional attraction to furry things with big eyes, wrongly suggests that we can empathise with them. Or does it?

We might end up with a reasonable guide to describe the minds of, at least erudite examples from within different species. We might see patterns developing through evolution, or in different ecological niches. We might see why there is such a gap between ourselves and other animals and it might not be any of the things we previously believed. More likely we will fail miserably and will be scratching around for evidence of what we achieved. The thing is, there are people who want to try.

The plan is therefore, to publish a Kindle and a website, seeking better ideas on how to do the plan, then go for it.