[MD] Collective intelligence

[pholden at davtv.com]

Quoting ian glendinning <psybertron at gmail.com>:

> Platt, Arlo
> 
> [Platt]
> My cat has a self, a very individual, unique self. You don't have to be human
> to be a self. A dog's response to a fire is not DQ; it's a static biological
> pattern.
> 
> [Arlo]
> I have no idea how you reconcile those two statements. You cat has no concept
> of "self", it responds only biologically. It has no culture, and therefore it
> does not think, and therefore it has no "I am".
> 
> You Platt (a human so far as we can tell) see that your cat has a
> self, "a personality" but there is evidence (in antelope) that Arlo is
> right, in that animals themselves appear to have no useful conception
> of their own self.
> 
> Aaah but language, there's the rub ... for another day maybe.
> 
> Ian

My cat has all the attributes of a "self" except complex language. But "himself"
has no problem communicating his needs to me.




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